Journalists must summon their inner Narad Muni, a mythical character/message bearer, who went around enlightening the celestial world, while reporting on issues, believes Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
Speaking at an event organised by RSS-affiliated Indraprastha Vishwa Samvad Kendra on Wednesday, Mahajan asked journalists to maintain objectivity, use “beautiful language” and at times, abstain from reporting “unpleasant truth”.
An Indian Express report quoted her as saying:
But whatever is said, should be said in beautiful language. A lot can be communicated to the government using such (polite) language. Satyam Bruyat Priyam Bruyat, Na Bruyat Apriyam Satyam (Tell the truth. Tell nice things. Do not tell unpleasant truth) — this is also required sometimes.
Speaking on militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, Mahajan said that more soldiers have laid down their lives in the Valley than the total number of martyrs in all the wars since 1947. But, who will show this, she asked, followed by a quick response, “The journalists”.
Therefore, I request you to think on this issue and bring forth the reality, through the media, before the people and tell who is responsible for this.
A Daily O article said that Mahajan is prescribing “churnalism”.
It’s abundantly evident that what Sumitra Mahajan is prescribing, is a form of journalism that should better be dubbed “churnalism”, or churning out government propaganda, or pro-regime pieces, without uncovering what she calls the “unpleasant truth”.Daily O article
Calling her statements “ironic”, it further talks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at the 2016 Ramnath Goenka Award ceremony in 2016 when he asked press to “report freely”.
A Hindustan Times editorial asks Mahajan whether the journalists need to “varnish” or “dress up” information for public which wants access to “authentic” news, and not to report on the shortcomings of the government initiatives.
In fact, Ms Mahajan is discounting the intelligence of citizens/voters if she thinks only good news from the media can shore up a party’s prospects in an election. People vote for a party when they think it can bring something to the table for them, not because the media creates some kind of hype around a party or politician.
‘Truth Is Mostly Unpleasant’
Her statements unleashed Twitterati’s wrath, with many pointing at the fact that truth at times can be “unpleasant”.
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