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Journalism based on human values will never disappear: Murmu

Harshad Dewangan 20 March 2025

New Delhi President Draupadi Murmu has stressed the importance of free and fair journalism for democracy and said that if citizens are not well informed, democratic processes will lose their meaning. Mrs. Murmu said this while presenting the 19th Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards at a function here on Wednesday. She said that a thriving newsroom full of ideas is essential for the business of news.

He highlighted the importance of a research division to ensure quality and accuracy of news. He said the soul of journalism, i.e. news gathering, must be strengthened. He urged media organisations to devote more resources to encourage a culture of grassroots reporting.

The President said that earlier, newspapers and magazines tried to produce quality reporting and analysis and readers bought their copies. A good number of readers meant a good platform for advertisers, which brought down costs. In recent decades, however, this model has been replaced by a number of hybrid models, he said.

He said their success should be measured by their impact on the quality of journalism. He said there are only limited sources of funding, which could be the state or corporate entities or readers. The first two have their own advantages and limitations, while the third option of putting the reader at the centre is the best option. There is only one limitation and that is that it is difficult to sustain that model.

On the issue of content, the President expressed confidence that we will soon reach a stage where malicious content will be removed and so-called post-truth will go out of vogue. He said technological tools are also being used for that goal. He advised accelerating this process with active campaigns to educate citizens about these pitfalls.

He said that the dangers of deep fakes and misuses of artificial intelligence compel us to sensitize all citizens about this important aspect of news. The younger generation in particular must be educated to identify bias and agenda in any form of news report or analysis.