Media is aggressive, but we need to be progressive: Venkaiah Naidu

Bhubaneswar: Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday said in recent times media, particularly electronic, has become aggressive to get high television rating points (TRPs), but at the same time the society has to be progressive.

Addressing the gathering on “Role of Media in CSR” at OTV’s CSR Conclave-2016, the minister said media must carry development news to people for overall growth of the society.

“Media’s role should be constructive and positive. Instead of making it a practice to run sensational stories for high viewership, they (news channels) must dedicate some space for developmental stories so that the society will get some good stuff and learn from it. In the long run, it will definitely leave an imprint on the society,” he stated.

The minister continued: “They (media organisations) need to highlight the best practices of the people which will encourage them to keep the good work going. It will not only motivate the good-doers, but the youths will be inspired for self-employable initiatives.”

During his hour-long speech, the parliamentarian expressed concern over the ‘degrading’ social consciousness of media and stressed that media should not dilute the country’s rich culture and heritage.

“Social consciousness is very important for media ….Obscenity, vulgarity and violence are causing havoc in our society due to the influence of western media…..It must be avoided…It is not in our culture and the media organizations must not dilute our culture and heritage,” he opined.

He invited corporates to come forward for the economic empowerment of people.

“We need socio-economic development of the society and the corporates must take steps for skill development programmes so that the image of rural India can be changed,” he maintained.