‘Journalists should disseminate accurate, unbiased information to every citizen’
HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Oct 17: “Journalists need to be digitally skilled in the present scenario,” said Dilip Saikia, Member of Parliament, Mangaldoi while addressing the press in a regional media workshop ‘Vartalap’ organised by Press Information Bureau, Guwahati in collaboration with district administration, Nalbari on Monday at Nalbari.
He appreciated the effort of the Press Information Bureau, Guwahati, for organising such a media workshop in the district. He urged the participating journalists to play a positive role in highlighting major government schemes.
“Government is taking initiatives to help common people through various schemes and the important part is to make the people aware about the benefits of the schemes,” he said.
He urged the journalists to spread positive messages about those schemes and help the government to make those initiatives a success.
Addressing the gathering, B Narayanan, director general, ministry of Information and Broadcasting highlighted how the government initiatives are implemented by the government departments and how media should play the role of disseminating the right information to the public.
He said, “Vartalap provides a platform to interact with journalists about government policies and programmes, so that they can disseminate information about these policies, programmes and schemes to the masses.”
Gracing the occasion, Jayanta Kumar Goswami, CEO, Zilla Parishad, Nalbari appreciated PIB Guwahati, for organising the media workshop. He further added that the prime aim should be to make the laymen aware of such programmes so that they can avail benefit of the schemes.
As part of the Vartalap programme, a panel discussion was also held. Participating in a panel discussion on ‘New Tools of Journalism’, Naresh Kalita, editor of Assamese daily ‘Niyomiya Barta’ said, “Journalist must have the sense of correct news.”
Kalita also added that journalists should work for the welfare of the society and disseminate accurate, unbiased information to every citizen.
Speaking in the panel discussion, Ankur Lahoty, RNU head, Doordarshan said, “Journalist must use social media wisely.”
Lahoty further added that it is the responsibility of the journalist that authentic information should reach the masses.
The panel discussion was moderated by Smita Saikia, Media and Communication officer, PIB Guwahati.
Pavni Gupta, deputy director, PIB Guwahati briefed the participants about the publicity activities undertaken by PIB Guwahati. She also urged the journalists to inform the people about programmes and policies of the government at the grassroot level.
Special technical sessions about various schemes implemented in the district of Nalbari were discussed in the Vartalap. Dr Subhash Chandra Sarma, joint director, Health spoke extensively on ‘Ayushman Bharat’ bringing transformation in the health scenario of Nalbari. Troilokya Saloi, Fisheries officer, Nalbari spoke on Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana. Likewise, Simanta Deka, DEEO, Nalbari spoke on Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya and Habibul Haque, agriculture expert from Nalbari spoke on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.
Barnali Mahanta, field publicity officer, Central Bureau of Communication, Guwahati in her welcome address highlighted the objectives of the workshop. Sucharita Sahoo, field publicity officer, PIB Guwahati gave the vote of thanks.
Notably, the workshop was aimed to act as an interface between PIB and the journalists working at district and sub-district levels. The workshop was a part of the government’s media outreach strategy with the aim of establishing direct contact with working journalists. More than 60 journalists across the Nalbari district participated in the one-day event.
