Comments
The Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that press freedom is the foundation for a successful democracy, the new Information and Broadcasting Minister, Prakash Javadekar, who assumed office on Tuesday said. Besides the I&B Ministry, he will also take charge of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
“We believe that freedom of the press is the essence of democracy. And to make democracy a success, we require this press freedom, because it gives people the choice in a rainbow of differing opinions. The whole polity and media have the responsibility to make democracy a success,” he told reporters.
He said the Government did not wish to introduce any external regulation. The media knows its responsibility well and has been working in the direction of self-regulation, he added. The Government will welcome “constructive criticism” he said, adding that dissent had its own place in a democratic set up.
Recalling 1975 as the time when media’s freedom was trampled upon, he said the people fought against it. “I personally was very active on this front because I belong to a family of journalists,” said Javadekar, who was earlier joint editor of Marathi daily Kesari .
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.