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 )