Corporate ownership of media is an inescapable reality: Tewari

Corporate as well as surrogate political ownership of media are "inescapable" realities, Union minister Manish Tewari today said and asked media industry to devise ways to separate commercial considerations and editorial autonomy.
The Information and Broadcasting minister was speaking at an event organised by the Press Council of India (PCI) to mark the National Press Day, where Vice President Hamid Ansari was also present and awards were given for outstanding journalism.
"Corporate ownership of the media is an inescapable reality as is surrogate political ownership as well as government ownership in the public broadcaster format," Tewari said.
With diverse interests always at play, the challenge is to always try and find the elusive golden mean so that public interest does not become a "permanent casualty at the altar of competing and contradictory private interests," the Union minister said.

He said the British government had promulgated the Royal Charter on Media Regulation recently and termed it unfortunate that this development had not found resonance here.
The media industry should consider evolving the means and measures of putting "Chinese walls cast in concrete" between commercial considerations and editorial autonomy, the Ludhiana MP said.

He lauded that recently in an influential publications, the editors had voluntarily relinquished their managerial responsibilities.
The Vice President said that the country's media should articulate consistently and effectively the Indian discourse on global issues. He said the "credibility and commitment of the press and media to objectivity and to that elusive search for truth" is crucial.

He said that some disconcerting developments also had been observed that "media often diverts attention from real issues to non-issues, often divides people and at times promotes superstition.