DIBRUGARH, April 3 � The internal self censorship is one of the major interferences by the media owners that is obstructing freedom of the press. Today press in India is not free, given the continued effort of most of the media houses to push forward their political and commercial agenda. These remarks were made by Subir Bhaumik, a senior journalist with the BBC.
Bhaumik was addressing the open session of the 15th biennial conference of the Dibrugarh District Journalists� Association (DDJA) as a chief guest at the Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbarua Bhavan here today. He was a Queen Elizabeth House Fellow at Oxford University (1989-90) and is author of "Insurgent Crossfire", a definitive investigation on "proxy wars" of South Asia. He also worked for Time and Reuters, and before that for the Press Trust of India and the Calcutta-based Ananda Bazar Patrika.
Taking a dig into the affairs of media management in the state, Bhaumik said that the media houses in the state were not paying the reporters well. �How can the society expect quality news stories from media persons who are paid so little,� he questioned. Media houses who earn crores of rupees do not even like to spend for the training of their reporters, the BBC Correspondent pointed out. He said that the fourth pillar of democracy in the state was in a pitiable state because mediapersons were not getting what they deserve.
Senior journalist Mrinal Talukdar who also spoke on the occasion said that mediapersons were the least free people compelled to pursue �agenda journalism� of their employers. Labour & Employment and Water Resource Minister Prithibi Majhi, MLA Anup Phukan and Prasanta Phukan also addressed the gathering. The session was presided over Aditya Goswami, president, Dibrugarh District Journalist�s Association (DDJA). Earlier, Rohini Medhi, president, All Assam Journalists� Union delivered the welcome address. The conference souvenir was released at the meeting by Dr Ananda Bormudoi, Professor, Department of English, Dibrugarh University.
The conference of the DDJA commenced yesterday. DDJA president Karunjyoti Saikia unfurled the flag in the morning. A drawing and an on-the-spot news writing competition was organized by the organizers. Meanwhile, the Satirtha Book Fair was also formally inaugurated for the public by District Information and Public Relation Officer Satyendra Kar.
Earlier on Saturday morning, a discussion on RTI Act was inaugurated by the Dibrugarh DC, G D Tripathi, and was participated by additional deputy commissioner Bandana Dutta Tamuli, Subhash Dutta and Advocate Swapon Baruah. The discussion was moderated by Dr Satyakam Borthakur.
