Ghaziabad: “The new media throws challenges while at the same time provides unique opportunities to make a big difference in this world,” said Sarah Jacob, Senior Editor of NDTV and anchor of ‘We the People’ show while delivering the keynote address at the National Media Conference in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, on Friday. The event was organized by NISCORT Media College.
Speaking on conference theme, ‘Contemporary Media Landscapes: Challenges and Opportunities’, Sarah had a word of advice for students of media and encouraged them to draw inspiration to be good professionals despite the challenges in today’s world.
Research scholars and academicians from different parts of India attended the conference. It comprised four sessions in which four research scholars presented their papers, respectively. Each session was followed by an interaction between participants and paper presenters.
A paper on “Paradigm shift among brands from traditional to new media for promotions and marketing” by Jolly Jain, senior account executive at ‘Ad Factors PR Pvt Ltd’ at Jaipur branch, was awarded the best research paper at the conference. Incidentally, Jolly is also pursuing her Ph.D. from International College for Girls, Jaipur.
Later, a panel discussion on the main theme of the conference was conducted in which Vinod K Jose (Executive Editor, Caravan) and R.J Simran (Founder Director, Speak for Change Foundation) were the main speakers. It was moderated by Fr. Stanley Kozhichira, the President of SIGNIS India. “Any radio which goes hand-in-hand with the society will survive and it will have a future,” said Simran. Vinod K Jose spoke about the three challenges – ownership of media houses, digital advertising, and authoritative government – existing in the media landscape and elaborated it with numerous examples.
In the valedictory function, Chief Guest Dr. K. G Suresh (founder dean, School of Modern Media, Dehradun and former Director General of IIMC) dealt at length on the opportunities and ideas the media industry presented. He also invited the participants to be creative and imaginative, to be successful professionals in the media industry. Later, he distributed certificates to various categories of participants and organizers of the function.
It’s a challenging mission and a noble vocation. Media persons are yet to do justice to their enormous potential.