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Kuldip Nayar moots Media Commission

Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar, MP, has demanded that the Centre constitute a comprehensive Media Commission to study emerging trends in the country and redefine the role of journalists and managements.

At a meet the press programme of the Press Club in Visakhapatnam on Saturday, Nayar said the Centre should have thought on those lines long ago. Such a commission has become more necessary with 99 per cent of media units being managed by a few family concerns, he said.

This system, he said, had vitiated the atmosphere with the real classical professional editor becoming scarce and the difference between editor and proprietor almost vanishing.

The commission, Nayar said, was needed as more politicians were becoming sensitive to media reports. Efforts to open the floodgates to foreign media are underway as part of globalisation despite initial control through internal pressures.

Nayar expressed confidence that the Right to Information Bill, to replace the obnoxious Official Secrets Act, could become a reality in the next session of Parliament.

The mushrooming growth of dotcom editions of news serves only 10 per cent of the haves who have access to the Internet, whereas the print media continues to enjoy a wider readership, he said.

UNI

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