The objective of journalism is to serve people: Peter Adani
Source: The Sangai Express / Newmai News Network
Imphal, November 16 2018:
Presenting a paper during a workshop organised today in Imphal as part of the National Press Day celebration, Peter Adani, Editor of The Hornbill Express, underlined the challenges.
He categorised these challenges into three parts- concept of news, authenticity of news and business of media.
According to Peter Adani, with the coming of internet and digital media, in addition to print, radio and television journalism there are now cyber journalism, online journalism/digital journalism etc.
as such, the nature and ethics of journalism has undergone profound changes and with it also, numerous challenges.
He said that the "hallmark of journalism is to maintain credibility and accountability amongst other principles and ethics of journalism laid down by the Press Council of India (PCI)".
Talking from the perspectives of the many challenges of journalistic ethics faced today due to digitalization of media, Peter Adani pointed out some few principles and ethics of journalism being challenged in today's digital era.
"Accuracy and fairness, right to privacy, privacy of public figures, obscenity and vulgarity, promotion of violence, communal disputes/clashes" are some of the points he mentioned.
"It is understood that the objective of journalism is to serve the people with news, views, comments and information on matters of public interest in a fair, accurate and unbiased manner with professionalism," Adani also said.
Adani said that the challenge runs deeper than debates about one or another principle, such as objectivity.
The challenge is greater than specific problems, such as how newsrooms can verify content from citizens, he also said.
At the first level, Peter Adani said there is a tension between traditional journalism and online journalism.
The culture of traditional journalism, with its values on accuracy, pre-publication verification, balance, impartiality, and gate-keeping, rubs against the culture of online journalism which emphasizes immediacy, transparency, partiality, non-professional journalists and post-publication correction, he added.
At the second level, according to Peter Adani, there is a tension between parochial and global journalism.
"If journalism has global impact, what are its global responsibilities ? Should media ethics reformulate its aims and norms so as to guide journalism that is now global in reach and impact?," he asked.
The challenge for today's media ethics can be summarized by the question: Whither ethics in a world of multi-media, global journalism ? Media ethics must do more than point out these tensions.
Theoretically, it must untangle the conflicts between values.
It must decide which principles should be preserved or invented.
Practically, it should provide new standards to guide online or offline journalism.
According to Peter Adani, there are many more issues to be dealt with by way of framing new principles and media laws regarding online journalism keeping in mind the fast changing face of journalism.
"However, in spite of the media having undergone a sea change in the wake of the digital era, studies have revealed that in India, online news has not replaced print media unlike in the West, where traditional news circulation has gone down drastically", he said, adding, "Audience/ Readers are shifting online where news is available for free and media business had to keep up with the growing demand for free online content" .
Peter Adani added that one advantage of digital media is that latest news is available on demand through search engines and this might increase the gap between traditional media and digital media in younger generations who want ready and fast news.
Concluding his paper presentation, Peter Adani said that even while adapting to the change of times, "we must cross-check and verify the facts and adhere to the basic human values of morality and decency in practising journalism; and also follow the thumb rule of journalism in that, we are serving the people by doing public service" .