The Great Media meet at MIC Manipal

MANIPAL: “Scrutiny of Media is possible by you and me”, said the Vice-Chancellor of Central University, Tamil Nadu, Professor B. P. Sanjay at the inaugural ceremony of National Seminar on Media Conscience: Changes, Challenges & Chances organized by Manipal Institute of Communication, the constituent institute of Manipal University(MU) on 17^th March at Chaitya Hall, VALLEY VIEW Fortune Inn.

Day 2 at the National Seminar at Manipal

The Social Responsibility theme seriously forced people to ponder upon the issue, increasing change and Challenge represents the dilemma faced by the masses in the current scenario. Professor B. P. Sanjay on this occasion said, “This the very same Media that during National Struggle embedded Goals to reach Freedom and accountability and played active role to aid, cooperated to build nation in the Post Colonial era. The only time when the Media had to bow down before somebody is the Dark Era of vulnerability of Media to the Political prowess. This is the Boom in Media when the private sector started mushrooming as capitalism bestowed itself the purity and the principles got reversed, we can see a change as of now “the focus is not on developing ideologies but of spreading propaganda”. Today the Media is working more in the favour of Marketing and many dimensions of media are changing today.” he added.

“Media is not a monolithic enterprise, embedded in the activities of industries and the readers who combine to form a collective introspective. Hence there should be a balance in the wants of public, their needs and what the industry can give.” Prof B. P. Sanjay being in the field of Media education expressed that as ethics in the profession are diminishing the civilians are more and more disoriented as mostly everything is biased, we say we have freedom of expression, little do we know news is still censored although in a different method.

Chandan Mitra And MV kamath

Dr M. V. Kamath (Padmabhushan), the only living journalist who is working in the Media since Pre-independence said, “It is our responsibility to raise the reputation of Media as a reliable & remarkable Public Service.” Dr. Ramdas Pai (Padmabhushan),Chancellor Of MU,  Dr. H. S. Ballal Pro-Chancellor of MU and Renowned Media Professionals- Alok Mehta, Gyani Shankaran, Mukesh Sharma, Manasi Kundan Vyas marked their Presence.

 Following the inaugration, Mrs. Sandhya Pai, Managing Editor of Taranga (a Kannada Magazine) was the first speaker to address the gathering. Speaking about – “Print Media – Where is it going?”, Mrs Pai raised concerns on how free the media is  today since most of them are owned by corporate houses, and how Media ethics that once existed are now amiss.

She also spoke on what the media should print and the future that lies ahead for the Print Media which gave a splendid beginning to the conference.

Mukesh Sharma, Director Prasar Bharati said, “The Digital Divide is creating a generation disconnect and this is because of the advent of technological and digitized world. The Thinking and processing of information by ‘Gen- Next’ is becoming fundamentally different.” Further he added, “The younger generation approximately spends 10,000 hours medling with video games, 20,000 hours talking on mobile or browsing, 10,000 hours on texting SMS, whereas they spend merely 5000 hours reading books.”

Mukesh Sharma  with Padmabhushan MV Kamath

Mr TS Sudhir, Resident Editor  of NDTV, Hyderabad  and Ms Swati Vashisht, Chief Bureau of CNN IBN (Rajasthan) preceded with second session of the seminar with the topic – “Television – Blurring Vision”. Mr Sudhir during his speech concentrated on the role of social networking and other new media. He further went on telling about the concept of citizen journalism incorporated by NDTV and how it was playing a major role.

The Chief speaker of the Session, the Editor of Outlook Magazine Vinod Mehta, made the best out of this opportunity to discuss the intricacies of his Profession. The Chief speaker of the Session, the Editor of Outlook Magazine Vinod Mehta, made the best out of this opportunity to discuss the intricacies of his Profession.

“Media is no more a Public service, but a commercial business”, said Vinod Mehta explaining cause behind it to be the large amount of investment spun around for it mostly invites loss. He alerts the gathering that media is a profession where one must be ready to take up risks, but also oblige if one does a mistake no matter if one has to give up the job. According to Vinod Mehta the key survive in this field is to live with idealism and work to your best possibilities without sacrificing at them.

On the valedictory function of the two day NATIONAL SEMINAR on MEDIA CONSCIENCE: CHANGES, CHALLENGES AND CHANCES, organized by Manipal Institute of Communication held on 17^th & 18^th of this month, Mr. GK Prabhu (Registrar, MU), Mr. Vardesh Hiregange (Director, MIC) and Dr. MV Kamath (Padmabhushan) shared their experiences and thoughts about the changes to be brought in the society.

The Great media meet at Manipal...

Dr GK Prabhu gave away the certificates to the delegates present and then while addressing the gathering he congratulated everyone and expressed his pleasure upon being a part of the seminar. He stressed upon the idea of having more such events so that the students can learn in a more stressfree and interactive environment. Pondering upon the idea of information buried under Noise he innovatively related to the delegates and said communication must be SMART

The seminar ended on a high note with Dr. Padmarani giving the vote of thanks, some queries were answered some are yet formulating in the Grey cells

Manipal Institute of Communication (MIC) tries to embody the spirit of liberal democratic egalitarianism in eduction. A National Seminar on Media Conscience - Changes, Challenges and Chances was organised on 17th and 18th March at Fortune Inn Valley View Hotel Manipal.

A room with a view at the Valley View hotel 

The welcom speech from the Director of  MIC Varadesh Hiregange set the tone of the seminar, which was inaugurated by Prof B P Sanjay, VC of Central University of Tamil Nadu; along with Dr. Ramdas Pai, VC Manipal University, Dr. H S Ballal Pro VC Manipal University, Ms Sandhya Pai Managing Editor Taranga magazine and above all Padmabhushan Dr. M V Kamath the Honorary Director of MIC.

Let there be light...

The conference will see speakers of the caliber of luminaries like Padmashree Dr. Alok Mehta - Chief Editor of Nayi Duniya, Dr. Chandan Mitra - Editor and MD of The Pioneer, Vinod Mehta - Editor-in-Chief Outlook, Mukesh Sharma - Director Prasar Bharati, Kundan Vyas - Managing Editor and CEO Janmabhoomi, and T S Sudhir - Resident Editor of NDTV Chennai, to name some.

Kundan Vyas, Manasi, Dr Alok Mehta the stalwarts of print Journalism

The introductory remarks by Dr. M V Kamath set the ball rolling when he expressed his concern over the mind boggling change in media, paid news, trivialization of media, marginalization of editors and corruption at individual levels. He hoped that in the subsequent 48 hours this conclave would be able to come up with some solutions and answers.

Dr M V Kamath ..A father figure in the Media

Prof B P Sanjay 's inaugural address covered every aspect of Media functioning today in our country. He was hopeful that media institutions at Manipal can play a watchdog role over media.
The brochure on the national seminar was released by Prof Sanjay and the first copy was handed to Dr. Ramdas Pai. Dr. H S Ballal who was invited to say a few words, summed up his thoughts by quoting the famous lines "when you educate a boy you educate an individual but when you educate a girl you educate a family" he was happy to see an increasing number of women in the field of media education.
The vote of thanks was given by Padmarani the Associate Prof of MIC and a part of the orgnising committee.  Nearly 400 delegates are participating in the seminar.

Mukesh Sharma with Dr MV Kamath

11:00 am
The moderator for the First session was Dhanvantari Nayak, the speaker Ms Sandhya Pai. The topic - 'where is the print media going'. She explained this with a short narration of a traveler who asked a boy "where does this road go?" the boy answered "Sir, the road doesn't go anywhere, we are the ones who travel on the road." Her conclusion was that media is not going anywhere, we are the ones responsible to take it to greater heights with ethics and norms or just dump it in the doldrums.

Dr Sandhaya Pai during the 1st Session

After the tea break Mukesh Sharma addressed the gathering with his topic - 'The Great Digital Divide' He explained the difference between the digital immigrants and the digital natives in the present digital era where the gap is widening. The topic was well received by the delegates and students alike. The session lasted for a full hour with a lot of questions posed by the students.

All about the Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

(Dear delegates as promised the blog on the national seminar with limited pictures and paucity of content. It is now up to you to take it forward by providing me with content and photographs of the remaining days proceedings. you may email the same at   msharma5@hotmail.com )