Bhubaneswar: A two day National Media Conclave took off at KIIT Convention Center, Bhubaneswar on 3rd May 2017 involving media practitioners, academia, policy makers, bureaucrats, researchers and students. Organised by Institute of Media Studies (IMS) along with OdishaLIVE as knowledge partner, the conclave aims to commemorate with World Press Freedom Day, observed internationally today.
The conclave is set to discuss the explosion of traditional and new media impacting today’s society. Theme of the conclave ‘Media and Social Responsibility’ has been inspired from UNESCO’s theme of World Press Freedom Day 2017.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Prof. B P Sanjay, Pro Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad and the chief guest pointed that “In recent time media persons are more focused on small or big political developments, which are not always useful for the democracy instead of the people’s voice. The social media came with the promise of unearthing the truth but have lately become a territorial viewpoint sharing platform and hence hindering harmony”. “These limitations and new age mindset of media professionals must be changed towards a more responsive and faithful reporting mechanism, which will largely contribute to the society” he added.
The inaugural session was also graced by Ms. Sevanti Ninan, Editor, The Hoot, Santosh Bhartiya, noted Journalist, R. N. Dash, Secretary, KIIT & KISS, Prof. Upendra Padhi, Convenor of the conclave and Director, Institute of Media Studies (IMS), Nilambar Rath, Co-convenor of the conclave and Founder Editor & CEO, OdishaLIVE and Dr. Gayatri Patnaik, Senior Faculty, IMS.
Sevanti Ninan, Editor, The Hoot shared about the alarming number of journalist attacks in India while criticizing the persons behind it for hindering investigative journalism. She also mentioned about the need of our media to be free or at throwaway prices thus hindering the quality of content that comes out.
Apart from discussions on the core subject at the inaugural and valedictory ceremonies, the event is going to have deliberations on a broad spectrum of ideas and stakeholders covering subthemes like Media & Governance; Media, Social Harmony & Identity Politics; Dissent, Protest & Media; National Integrity: Issues & Narratives in Media; Privacy & People’s Right to Know; Citizen Journalism; Social Media & Digital Impact and Media Ethics & Practices – Changing Global Scenario.
Similarly, the plenary and technical sessions in the two day conference will have heavyweight speakers from the domains of communication like Prof. DVR Murthy (Andhra University), Dr. Ravindran Gopalan (Madras University), Dr. Sisir Basu (Banaras Hindu University), Dr. Sunil Kanta Behera (Tezpur Central University), Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee (IIMC Dhenkanal), Snehasis Sur, (veteran TV journalist), Ramendra Kumar (Rourkela Steel Plant), Sampad Mahapatra (Nitidin) and Sashiprava Bindhani (State Information Commissioner), Odisha.
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