Corporate-controlled media failed in reporting from Palestine: Vijayan

The corporate-controlled media has failed in delivering accurate news from war-torn Palestine and a similar influence can be witnessed in the Indian media as well, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Saturday.

Inaugurating the three-day international media festival at the Kerala Media Academy here, Vijayan said at the global level, the policy of the media has greatly been to hide the atrocities of Israel.

"This is a time when media freedom is facing challenges across the world and in India as well. The world was in shock to know that over a hundred journalists lost their lives in the Israeli attack on Palestine's Gaza. Not just journalists, but women and children are also being murdered mercilessly," Vijayan said.

Palestine is a free country and Israel has made Gaza an open jail but the corporate media houses have managed to keep this fact from the rest of the world, the CM said.

The Left leader said, "The corporate-controlled media has failed in delivering accurate news from Palestine. A similar influence of corporates can be witnessed among Indian media as well," as he asked the Malayalam media to resist the attack on diversity in the country.

"The Malayalam media has the responsibility to protect and encourage the growth of the language. It can be possible only if we encourage diversity. In fact, it becomes the responsibility of the media to resist attempts against diversity. But I doubt whether the media takes the attack against the diversity in our country with the seriousness it requires," Vijayan said.

He said Malayalam will perish if those who attempt to destroy the language and cultural diversity succeed in their attempts.

"Considering this danger posed by the communal forces, the media should stand by the secular forces and resist the attacks against diversity of our country. That is essential for the survival of Malayalam media," Vijayan said.

Referring to the introduction of AI in media, Vijayan said some people have expressed concern whether there will be newsrooms without editors.

In today's world, it is not possible to keep away from technology, he added.