“Being Co-opted By An Ideology”: Chief Justice NV Ramana’s Advice To Reporters

Mumbai:

Chief Justice of India NV Ramana at this time stated the liberty of the press is a “helpful and sacred proper enshrined within the Indian Structure” with out which there might be no debate or dialogue {that a} democracy wants for its development. “Permitting your self to be co-opted by an ideology or the State is a recipe for catastrophe,” he added whereas nearly delivering the keynote tackle on the RedInk Awards for Excellence in Indian Journalism, which befell in Mumbai.

“Journalists are like judges in a single sense. Whatever the ideology you profess and the beliefs you maintain expensive, you could do your obligation with out being influenced by them. You could report solely the information, with a view to provide a whole and correct image,” Chief Justice Ramana stated on the ceremony, the place NDTV’s Saurabh Shukla obtained the award within the class of “Politics” for tv journalism.

“Nothing might be extra deadly to democracy than the lethal mixture of confrontational polity and aggressive journalism. Tragically, they feed on one another. Historical past is witness to this difficult reality,” he stated.

From the very starting, the Supreme Courtroom of India has upheld the liberty of the press “as an vital aspect of our Structure”, Chief Justice Ramana stated.

“Nonetheless, this freedom comes with an infinite duty that have to be borne by each particular person who’s a part of the journalistic enterprise, the journalists, editors, and administration,” he stated.

“The media will need to have perception and belief within the judiciary. As a key stakeholder in democracy, the media has the obligation to defend and defend the judiciary from motivated assaults by evil forces. We’re collectively within the Mission Democracy and in selling nationwide curiosity. Now we have to sail collectively,” he added.

Instituted by the Mumbai Press Membership a decade in the past, that is the tenth
version of the RedInk Award.

This yr, Reuters’ photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who died whereas being on an task in Afghanistan, posthumously obtained the award for the ‘Journalist of the Yr’ for 2020. Senior journalist and writer Prem Shankar Jha, 83, obtained the RedInk Awards for lifetime achievement.