Press is a multi-faceted institution

Describing the press as a multi-faceted institution, Supreme Court Judge Justice Deepak Mishra today said it also brings in reform and acts as a catalyst besides protecting individual liberties and taking up different issues.
"The press has an extremely important role. With multiple facets it has elevated itself to be an acceptable and powerful institution," Justice Mishra said at a function organised here on the occasion of the National Press Day.
"The press protects liberties of the individual, takes up the cause of the suffering groups, nurtures public opinion and on certain occasions brings in reformation by acting as a catalyst," he said.

While liberty of the press is accepted as an assumed proposition because the print media has added an element of power to the human race and it is the power of the brain and not that of the muscle, Justice Mishra said.
"But, the said liberty has to be nourished on truth and reason and not on rhetorics or sensationalism," he said asking the press to be accountable, answerable and responsible to the source of its power and the individuals who man it.
The function, organised jointly by Press Information Bureau, Field Publicity directorate, All India Radio, Doordarshan and National Journalist Welfare Board (NJWB), was also addressed by Odisha Health Minister Damodar Rout and deputy chairman of state planning board, Surendranath Nayak.

Seven distinguished journalists were honoured for their outstanding contribution to journalism, while accredited journalists were given health insurance facilities.