Laxmikant Sharma Lauds Role of Media in Development
Bhopal: Addressing a regional convention of All India Small Newspapers Association in the state capital on Wednesday, Public Relations Minister Laxmikant Sharma announced Madhya Pradesh government’s decision to accord district level accreditation to editors of small and medium newspapers.
Reiterating the state government’s commitment for the promotion of rural journalism, he said that rules for providing accreditation to tehsil level journalists had been simplified and added that the accreditation was now available to journalists with high school qualifications.
Terming the media as the voice of the poor, Sharma underlined the role played by newspapers and magazines in development.
Addressing the gathering, Commissioner Public Relations Manoj Shrivastava said, the effective presence of small and medium newspapers, in the era of media megacorps, was a sign of a flourishing democratic environment.
He said that small and medium newspapers represented an alternative stream of life and human values and urged media organisations to give serious thought to formulating a self-regulatory mechanism to check yellow journalism and heighten credibility.
He underlined that in comparison to other states, Madhya Pradesh channeled a large chunk of its advertising budget to small and medium newspapers.
The convention, attended by a large number of journalists was also addressed by Pushpendra Pal Singh, Head of Department of Journalism, Makhanlal Chaturvedi Journalism University and KK Mishra, National President of All India Small Newspapers Association.
