President has a poem for journos!

New Delhi, July 17: Charting out a new agenda for journalists, President APJ Abdul Kalam has coined a new poem for them.

Journalism is truth expressed in intelligible language for information and education of the readers, he said after giving away Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards here last evening.

''True journalism vitalizes the nation. There is no room for sensationalism in it even if in the short run it might sell. It will be sheer sacrilege. True journalism is courageous, truthful, inspiring and exalting,'' he said.

The President then went on and recited a poem: Courage Courage to think different, Courage to invent, Courage to travel into an unexplored path, Courage to combat the problems, And Succeed in providing true information, Are the unique qualities of the achievers.

Such journalism can be an effective tool for economic and political development of the nation, he said.

The media has a tremendous impact on the impressionable minds of the younger generation and anything other than courageous, truthful and positive journalism would strike at the very root of the future of a healthy younger generation on whom the future of the entire nation would depend, he added.

UNI