PIB Imphal organises one day media workshop

IMPHAL, May 20 (NNN): Media is a powerful tool in a democratic country like India, said Union minister of State for External Affairs and Education, RK Ranjan Singh, in his inaugural function at a one-day media workshop ‘Vartalap’ hosted by Press Information Bureau (PIB) Imphal in Imphal on Wednesday. He added that knowing the fact, the media need to exercise the power in hand in a productive way. He also said that journalists should share in-depth information while disseminating about the schemes and projects.
RK Ranjan then acknowledged the role of media in making people aware about various aspects of society through their writings.
“The media plays a crucial role for dissemination of information regarding important government schemes,” the Union minister stated. “Such workshops will be helpful for the media to do developmental stories for the awareness of the society about various government initiatives meant for their benefit and upliftment,” he added.
Ranjan then said that the flow of proper information is very important so that people get authentic information at the ground level. At the same time, he appealed to the journalists to try their best to give a true picture of the implementation of the schemes on the ground.
The Union minister then urged the journalists to include feedback from the people while writing about the projects and schemes of the government. The feedback of the people also needs to be taken into account. It will act as an eye opener to the government as well, he also said. The Union minister added that the official confirmation of sensitive news must be followed strictly as sometimes it is a matter of national security which cannot be compromised in any manner.
He elaborated that social media has taken over everything but what is required is impartiality while reporting. He further said that there are many challenges in reporting at ground level which can be faced through responsible journalism. “The real objective of journalism is to serve people with news, views and information and media in every situation must be unbiased and without prejudice,” the Union minister further added.
He then laid emphasis on development journalism and the various responsibilities connected to it.
In his keynote address of the workshop, Additional DG of PIB, Imphal, B Narayanan said that the main objective of the workshop is to sensitise media on various schemes and projects of the government. He stressed the need for making media persons acquainted with the schemes and projects so that they can disseminate information regarding important government schemes effectively to the masses.
Around 40 media persons from different media houses based in Imphal and other districts of Manipur participated in the workshop held at Dynasty Hall of Classic Grande, Imphal.
During the technical session of the workshop, four resource persons elaborately explained about Imphal Smart City, National Education Policy 2020 and its impacts in Manipur, Health and Wellness and Plastics: waste to wealth at the technical session of the workshop.