Rajdeep Sardesai advises budding journos on ethics

Bangalore, May 10: Media forgets to respect an individual's privacy today - whether its Abishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai's marriage, Arushi Talwar's case or the most recent example of marriage of tennis player Sania Mirza with Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, said Manjunath, a student of Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media (IIJNM).

The budding journalist was responding to the President of the Editors Guild of India and Editor in Chief of IBN 18 Network, Rajdeep Sardesai's message to IIJNM's graduating class of 2010.

22-year-old Manjunath was one among the seventy six students, who graduated from premier media institute for the academic year 2009-2010 on Saturday, May 8.

"Mr Sardesai has rightly put it. Most of the journalists forget to respect the person"s privacy today. The journalists forget to think about it. As young journalists it is surely our responsibility to act diligently while covering such stories," he opined.

The senior editor also drew the student's attention towards the ethical challenges that a journalist faces everyday and the issue of accuracy in reporting.

"Get the story right," he said adding that it doesn't matter even it is a few minutes late.

"More media does not necessarily mean better media," he said expressing anguish over the sensationalism era which is leading to people like him "who should be giving you the right information are under pressure to hype up the information."

Further, he raised concern over the issue of trial by media as well as on the recent trends leading to media personnel compromising on ideals.

OneIndia News