Today the Goa Government celebrated National Press day. The Press has to be free from political, government or any other interference. But sadly today most of the journalist fraternity in Goa have become a mouth piece of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Infact on the illegally mining issue that has dogged Goa it has been only the Marathi daily Lokmat under the stewardship of Raju Nayak that has consistently and aggressively highlighted the very adverse environmental impact on Goa due to illegal mining. Let us hope the people of Goa stand up and care to felicitate Lokmat along with Claude and Norma Alvares with their team for their tireless efforts to salvage what remains of Goa. Freedom of the press and Freedom of expression are fundamental human rights. Journalists’ infact should be totally independent and unbiased with no leanings to any political party or politician. On this, as with the current sordid state of affairs in Goa, less said the better. Manohar Parrikar through his doctrine of carrot and stick has currently been managing and manipulating most of the press. This is nothing new for the Chief Minister who is very intolerant to any criticism. Infact during his earlier tenure as Chief Minister, he had in 2002 served a legal notice warning the editors of all newspapers in Goa. But for the social networking sites like Face book and some other Goa related websites, we would have been in the dark about the true state of affairs in Goa. But Manohar Parrikar’s muzzling and manipulation through his chums can even be seen targeting the internet sites with fake IDs galore. Freedom of expression is one of our most precious right without which there cannot be true democracy and as a consequence it will not ensure good governance. The threat to freedom of the press in Goa hangs like the proverbial sword of Damocles. The current government cannot be boasting of respecting the freedom of the press. The press is considered to be the watchdog of democracy. Sadly, there is scant regard for this truism in Goa though ironically, our country is the worlds largest democracy. Journalists should not fall prey to the crumbs of favors and largesse bestowed to them by those in power in return for censored news. The press, on its part, should also bear in mind that freedom of the press does not mean a license to write anything that suits those in power. This freedom is precious and it has to be used judiciously and fairly. When this freedom is misused to keep those in power content, the public respect for this profession is bound to diminish. The press has to guard against this. The Right to Information which has now been extended to the political parties could soon see the media also being brought under its ambit. May the words of Thomas Jefferson inspire all those in that noble journalism profession “When the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.”
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 15:54:20 +0000