Monday 29th Apr, 2024
The officials of the State Information Department seem to be hell-bent to widen the gap between the Media and the State government, forgetting that their Department was created to work as Public Relations Office and reinforce ties with the Media Houses. But the Officials are engaged to push the majority of Publishers to the wall and are showering all benefits to a few chosen for inexplicable reasons. This is intriguing and seems to be a move against well-established Policy of the government.
The State government has also promulgated an Advertisement Policy–2016 which is harsh and self-contradictory. It is meant to give unbridled powers to the Information Department and its officials seem to have got swayed away allegodly by extraneous considerations. They ought to have implemented their mandate and developed cordial relations with the Publishers to pave way for the smooth communication of the Policies and Programmes of the government to the people of the State. All activities of the government need wide publicity to keep people abreast with day to day developments taking place in different Wings of the State Admintstration, but this objective has been defeated and bound to get further impacted.
The State Authorities must know that the Media Houses provide employment to both skilled and unskilled youth and thus need to be treated like Small Scale Industries which are entitled to incentimes to sustain their establishments. How can government push the Media Houses to the brink of closure when the Policy of the same is clear and lucid. It is committed to buttress the Fourth Estate and allow it to flourish without rideas.
Therefore, the Officials of the Information Department must shun their stubbornness and intransigence and discharge their obligations for which the ID stands created. They must ensure fair and transparent distribution of advertisements among all the Media Houses so that justice is done without any further delay. They should resist dictation from any quarter and perform duties without any fear and favour. They must remember that their actions are bound to come under scanner sooner or later and nobody will come to their rescue at that stage as “Actions Speak Louder Than Words”