Chennai: “Journalism facing its biggest threat of all times,” said veteran journalist and Chairman of the Asian College of Journalism Dr. Sashi Kumar, while delivering the keynote address at the 27th National Convention of Christian Journalists organised by the Indian Catholic Press Association (ICPA), a national forum of Catholic journalists in Chennai on December 10.
Quoting Pope Francis, Mr Kumar said, “Journalism is not an easy mission. It is complicated to think to meditate, to study more deeply, to stop and collect ideas, and to study the contexts and precedents of a piece of news.” He reminded journalists that their profession is not an easy mission. He decried television news debates as nothing short of gladiatorial shows where one is pitted against the other to titillate people and get eyeballs.
Mr Kumar urged journalists not to peddle propaganda disguised as news. He also warned about the “post-truth” culture, in which lies are repeated countless times until the public becomes gullible and they are force-fed. An informed citizen makes a better democracy, he said, adding that the sacred Constitution is slowly being eroded. In such challenging times, journalism itself is facing the biggest challenge of all times now.
Later, during a panel session on “Journalists called to be prophetic communicators”, Mr Kumar said journalism sans context was not journalism, and added that journalism without transformative content was sheer gossip.
“True journalism should not be a crony relationship with those in power, nor should it amplify divisive poisonous messages. The moderator of the discussion was Dr Bernard D’sami, Head of the Department of History of Loyola College, Chennai. The other speakers were Dr A. L. Antony Sebastian of JD Academy, Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore, and Ms Riann Maria Christus, a student of Don Bosco School of Excellence, Egmore, Chennai.
In his presidential address, ICPA President Mr Ignatius Gonsalves elaborated how the theme for this year’s event was chosen. He said the present filthy ‘mediascape’, the shrinking space for inclusiveness, and the Synod on Synodality led to the formation of this year’s theme along with the canonization of two prophetic voices — St Titus Brandsma and Lazarus Devasahayam.
Dr D’sami reminded the audience that the Holy Father’s message on the World Day of Communication was about fake news. He said everyone is going through a difficult time as there is an unholy alliance between the corporate giant-controlled media houses and fundamentalists.
In his talk, Dr Antony Sebastian gave a Biblical touch to journalism. He said one needs to stand up and speak the truth sans fear. He said the Bible commands us to tell the truth without bias. Citing the Epistle to the Ephesians, he cautioned against ‘corrupting talk’ coming out of the mouth. He also made a novel observation that the Gospel of Luke is a model for journalism. Luke verified the facts about Jesus and then told the truth.
Ms Riann began her address by quoting noted lawyer Fali S. Nariman: “Freedom after speech is real freedom of speech”. She said Christian journalists have a big responsibility as both believers and citizens of this country. They have to analyse the truth. She exhorted journalists with a quote from author JRR Tolkien who said, “There is some good in this world and it is worth fighting for.” She said that by imitating the example of Jesus, journalists have to upset money changers’ tables while working for the common good.
It was followed by an interactive session between members of the audience and the speakers. Some of the topics that came up for discussion were the relevance of online media at a time when media houses are being taken over corporate giants, fake news peddled on social media without any checks and measures, the bias of the mainstream media and how to deal with threats and intimidation. The questions were mostly answered by Mr Kumar in his own erudite, pithy style.
Fr Suresh Mathew, Secretary of ICPA, proposed the vote of thanks during which he highlighted the key points of each speaker. Later, Bishop D’Souza presented mementos to the speakers and moderator.
The session came to a close with a short video presentation on the making of the movie on Blessed Rani Maria, a nun who was martyred while working among the downtrodden in Indore. Titled “Face of the Faceless”, the movie was explained by its director Shaison P Ouseph. It is slated to be released on February 25 next year, on the day of the martyrdom of the heroic nun.