Writer Kuldip Nayar calls for setting up of Press Commission by Punjab government

Veteran columnist and writer Kuldip Nayar has sought the formation of a ‘Press Commission’ by the Punjab government to review relations between mediapersons and owners of newspapers and television channels besides re-determining issues like freedom of press and the right to privacy.

Speaking at the inauguration of a three-day seminar on “Challenges and Opportunities before the Indian Media” at Punjabi University on Tuesday, Nayar lamented that media is losing its credibility as the public had stopped taking the media seriously.

He said that it was most unfortunate that news was measured with money.

Nayar added that the media had undergone a sea change since the first two Press Commissions constituted by the Central government in 1962 and later in the 1980s. “After that, the Centre has not set up any such commission. Last year, we had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard but we have not got any response from the government till today,” he added. In this situation, the Punjab government can take a lead in this direction to quieten the rambling that “pressmen have lost their independence”, Nayar said.

Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune H K Dua, who inaugurated the seminar, made terse observations that commercialisation of media and changed journalistic values have threatened the ‘freedom of the press’. “At the same time, truth and free flow of information have also become a casualty. This poses a potential threat to the democratic set-up of the country,” he added.

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