Mangalore: Sandesha Foundation for Culture and Education along with Signis Karnataka and Spearhead Academy organised a State-Level seminar on ‘Towards and Ethical Media’ in Mangalore on February 8, 2023 (Wednesday).
Media and Communications Students and delegates from all over Karnataka attended the one-day seminar to foster greater interest in media ethics, familiarize the participants with the different issues and provide a forum to exchange views on specific ethical issues in Media.
The seminar had in total six sessions including the inaugural session, valedictory session and the four technical sessions. Nearly 100 participants attended the seminar from different districts of Karnataka and students from the city colleges.
The seminar included a mix of lectures, technical sessions, and case studies through interaction with the participants.
The keynote speaker of the day, Bishop Henry D’souza, Chairman of Sandesha Foundation, Bishop of Bellary, called for accountability in media urging them to be accurate and factual. He also made the students aware of the twisting of facts citing examples. “Journalists should not tell what they want to but they should communicate what they ought to,” he added.
Discussions in the technical sessions revolved around Ethics of Indian Media: Aberrations and future challenges, Deconstructing Ethics in Journalism: How Indian Media is neglecting its social responsibility.
The seminar focused on specific ethical issues in media such as accuracy, verification, independence, allegiances, deception, fabrication, graphic images, image manipulation, sources and confidentiality, ethics and Citizen Journalist. Participants welcomed the opportunity to exchange views on all the papers discussed.
The resource persons who presented papers include Dr. Padmakumar K, Head of the Department, Corporate Communication, Manipal Institute of Communication; Fr. Sudeep Paul, Director, Sandesha Foundation for Culture and Education; Mr. Roshan Honest Raj, Vice Principal, Spearhead Academy; Mr. Prasad Shetty, Head of the Department, Alva’s College; Mr. Raviraj Kini, Head of the Department, Nitte Institute of Communication; Mr. Harsharaj Gatty, Research Scholar, Amrita University, Coimbatore; Mr. Verghese V Joseph, Editor, Indian Catholic Matters, and Mr. Raymond D’Cunha, Editor, Pingara.
Dr Cyril Victor, Director, Bangalore Archdiocesan Communications Centre; Mr Verghese V Joseph, Editor, Indian Catholic Matters, Mr Benedict, Editor, City Highlights, and Fr Anil Ivan Fernandes, Director, Canara Communications, moderated the panel sessions.
The speakers touched upon the present context of media and the disenchantment towards media, lack of trust, world press freedom index, cross ownership patters, pro-investor driven media, condition of journalists, etc. The ethical issues such as changing patterns of reporting, paid news, twisting facts, non-issues versus real issues, dwindling number of grass-root level reports, tendency to brand, fake news, values of balance and accuracy were highlighted. Gatekeeping methodology too was discussed.
Earlier, Fr Sudeep Paul welcomed the gathering and presented an overview of the programme. Fr Richard D’Souza proposed the vote of thanks.
Others who were present at the occasion were Fr Victor Vijay Lobo, President, Signis India, Mr Caute Jeevan Pinto, Managing Trustee, Village TV Trust, and Dr John D’Silva, Administrator, Spearhead Academy.