He was delivering a lecture `Credibility and accountability in journalism', organised by Surat Shahar Patrakar Kalyan Nidhi, as part of the Ninth Shrimati Jaibala and Pravin Khatiwala lecture series. Comparing the present day journalism with the one in vogue before, he claimed that it has lost its credibility. Today's journalism was no more responsible, he added.

According to Shah, the standard of journalism and journalists had been going down from what it used to be, especially before independence when journalists were fired by nationalism. However, investigative journalism was unheard of few years ago, he pointed out.

Technological advances have made life a bit easier for journalists but they have not been able to make the most of it, he said, criticising the tendency by a few businessmen to start newspapers to advance their own interests. Shah did not spare the newspapers owned and edited by `shethias'', who passed on the control to their sons. ``Those who can't/won't write a single word decide the newspaper's policies,'' he said.

Yellow journalism has been around for quite some time, but the emergence of what he called ``blue journalism'', was more disturbing, he said. By ``blue journalism'', he meant paid journalism where politicians and businessmen were getting printed what they want by offering money or favours like air travel or foreign jaunts.

Shah, who covered the India-China and India-Pakistan wars, however, had a word of praise for the coverage of war in Kargil by the Indian media at large.

He observed that the electronic media would not push print media into oblivion. There was definitely a threat from the electronic media, but newspapers will survive, he stated.