“It is business oriented and supports local political parties for its survival. This is the latest trend started by Eenadu in Andhra Pradesh. All newspapers either in favour of government or in favour of opposition parties.”

“Journalism is just reporting news the way it is perceived by the owner. News that does not suit their particular business interests does not get reported. It is commercialized and money driven. It is a career and not a social cause.”

“Preoccupied with the lives and times and sayings and doings of the ‘bold' and the ‘beautiful’, the rich and the famous, the pampered and the powerful. Focused on ‘India Shining,’ sweeping ‘Bharat’ under the chattai.”

“It is getting more commercial and is not professional enough. Development issues are side-tracked.”

“Journalism today is a combination of PR and copy and paste of one’s own earlier articles and other’s stories.”

“In the English print , I feel it is slowly moving towards Page 3 and a few dailies are already catering only to page 3. But in regional press at least we can see a bit of a shift in priorities in spite of all the globalisation and modernisation.”

“Journalism today is caught between the market where globalisation’s influence has been all pervasive and ethics are considered old-fashioned. Any new comers coming into the field with ideas of ethics, objectivity in reporting or editing has to simply forget them for a while. It is celebrity-driven and profit-oriented profession.’

“Journalism today is not a mission but a job that avoids topics that would lead to disputes or controversy. More accent is on photos at the cost of text material. It’s competition between TV coverage and print media….”

“Today’s journalism has made trivia a fine art. However, what is surprising is that there is still a miniscule segment devoted to social justice, which indicates that we have not lost all our sense of social responsibility. Without knowing how the other half lives or dies there can’t be any effort to create an egalitarian society. Media has a crucial role to play here, a role that has been eroded by spin doctors, corporates, business interests and the prevailing communal politics. I feel the future is not bleak but we have a hard fight to get back those spaces we had and that we need.”

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• To add your comments / thoughts / inputs on the NWMI second national meeting, write to editor@nwmindia.org
• NWMI's second national meeting
• Responses of the participants on 'journalism today', at the meeting
• A feminist analysis of media conglomeration —by Carolyn M. Byerly, presented at the NWMI second national meet
• NWMI website report
• NWMI second national meet —in retrospect —comments sent on the NWMI second national meet by those present

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