Report by Kahnu Nanda, Jagatsinghpur: The National Press Day was celebrated in a function held in the collector’s office Sadbhabana Sabha Gruha on Saturday, collector J Sonal chaired the meeting, Jagatsinghpur MLA Amarendra Das attended the occasion as chief guest, and others participated in the event as Jagatsinghpur SP Bhabani Shankar Udgata, sub-collector Prasant Kumar Tarai, municipality chairperson Archana Singh and DIPRO Pratichi Tanaya Mohanty and educationist Subash Chandra Rout.
Speaking on the occasion chief guest legislator Das reiterated the role of media in democracy and unparalleled changes of journalism across the globe over the past two decades. The constitution gives freedom of speech to every citizen under Article 19 [1] , by using the right media shows its performance exposing wrongdoings of government, ostensibly works as a watchdog of democracy and its three pillars as well as educating the public about events and issues around the society. Media is an ombudsman in policy making and its implementation in governance, chief guest Das revealed.
Collector J Sonal discussed the changing pattern of journalism in recent times and said newspapers have increasingly embraced digital platforms, providing online editions and engaging with social media. Meanwhile, newspaper houses have opted to use Artificial intelligence [AI], which offers new tools for news gathering, data analysis, and content generation, the collector said.
The district public relations department organized the function, and a few senior journalists spoke on the occasion. They raised their voices over several demands of scribes pending at the government level for fulfillment. MLA Das assured the grumbled journalists that he would take up the matter with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and raise the issue in the coming Odisha assembly session.