Responsible media is more powerful: Santhosh Hegde

Bangalore, Jul 24: The journalism students at National College, Jayanagar Bangalore were a lucky lot today as they were provided with a close look at the enormity of corruption that is ravaging our country. Justice

, the former Lokayuktha of

who was the main speaker at an interaction with students called on the young people to join the fight against corruption.

Justice Santhosh Hegde spoke at length about how corruption had grown to enormous levels over the years and how the participation of media can play a major role in controlling the menace. He went on to add a responsible media is more powerful that three pillars of democracy - Legislature, Judiciary and Executive.

The former Karnataka Lokayuktha had chosen the topic 'Journalists role in controlling corruption' during his speech and it was filled with several anecdotes about how an effective media was able to reveal cases of huge corruption. However he also cautioned about corruption seeping in to the field of media too.

Addressing the young Journalism students at National College, Justice Santhosh Hedge said the youth must make a pledge to shun the corrupt. He added if the corrupt people are shunned by the people, it will lead to a revolution in the fight against corruption. He said he would always support the media which has the ability to expose the corrupt.

The event also saw Oneindia Editor S K Shama Sundara speaking about the growth of Online Journalism in India. During his interactive and entertaining talk, Mr Shama Sundara spoke about how the online media was now the fastest growing and most interactive media.

According to him, the future of journalism depend a lot on digital and mobile. Quoting Industry estimates he said by 2015 India is expected to have 350 million internet users. This gives a huge opportunity and challenge to young and aspiring journalists. "It is for you" he told a 600 strong student crowd assembled in B V Jagadeesh Science Center auditorium.

Writing for each medium is different - print, TV, internet/mobile. The future is digital. Print will never die in India (in our life time) Don't be foolish not to recognize the importance of digital and languages. If we think english is the only language in media we are being arrogant, he observed.

The talk was followed by an interactive session where the students spoke about how they as future media persons could become vital cogs in the fight against corruption. Justice Santhosh Hegde readily responded to the queries.

OneIndia News