Govts have had to step back when they tried gagging freedom of

Journalism has played a major role in the 70 years of successful Indian democracy, Director General of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) K G Suresh said here today.
Speaking at the Pandit Jhabarmal literature-journalism award ceremony, he said that be it exposing corruption or making development reach villages, journalism had played a major role.
India might rank low in global rankings due to attacks on journalists or other issues, but by and large fundamentals were not compromised, he said.
He said that it was a tendency of governments across the globe to gag media, however there are various media houses that refused to bow down.

It was the beauty of democracy that governments, be it the Centre or State, had to go back when they tried gagging freedom of expression, he added.
Earlier, Chairman of State Human Rights Commission Justice Prakash Tantia said that truth becoming a slave of the powerful people was a challenge.
He said that it was required to write the truth to have a strong history. If we do not write truth now then our next generations will be served distorted history, he said.