The Hindu : Media should not spread misinformation: Verma

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 09, 2003

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Media should not spread misinformation: Verma

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI FEB. 8. The former Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, J.S. Verma, today called upon the media to take a rights-based approach while covering development issues.

Speaking at a two-day conference on "Media and Right to Development'' organised by the Press Institute of India here to coincide with its 40th anniversary celebrations, Mr. Justice (retd.) Verma said the right to development was a basic human right enshrined in the Constitution and it incorporated the people's right to know the measures being taken by the Government to address their issues.

``The role of the media stems directly from this right of the people to know what is being done for them. And the media should see to it that it spreads information and not misinformation,'' he said.

Aruna Roy of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Magsaysay Award winner, said the media was an important part of the right to information campaign launched by them in Rajasthan.

"People in the villages take the printed word very seriously and we made them realise that the right to information was not only against corruption but also against arbitrary use of power.''

Emphasising that "a great, grand alliance'' between the media and the development sector was the need of the hour, she said it was regrettable that much of the mainstream media did not project the people's voices. "Public hearings are, therefore, a powerful tool to begin debates on democracy and it is heartening that the media was able to discharge its responsibility in so far as Gujarat is concerned.''

Prabhash Joshi, journalist, said the media unfortunately had fallen prey to the market forces and "right to advertising had become a fundamental and sacred right''.

Ajit Bhattacharjea, Director of the Press Institute, said that while people's awareness of their rights had increased and the view that development was a human right had taken root, the media took limited interest in these issues.

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