Media conduct should be above board: Prez

Kottayam (PTI): The conduct of the media should be above board and the highest standards of ethics should be professed always, President Pranab Mukherjee said here on Saturday. Invoking a verse from Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali-- "where the knowledge is free...Where words come out from the depth of truth", the President said there should be conducive atmosphere for ensuring freedom of speech. He stressed that the media had an important responsibility in ensuring freedom of expression for the citizens and it owed accountability to the nation. "Gossip and speculation should not replace hard facts. Every effort should be made to ensure that political and commercial interests are not passed off as legitimate and independent opinion," he said.

"Integrity and independence are two sides of the same coin and both must be equally important for our media and for every one of us. There should be recognition that the media is accountable to its readers and viewers at large and through them to the entire nation," he said. "In our country, freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution and the influence, credibility and quality of our media is well recognised. But freedom of expression can never be guaranteed only through legal rights and enactments. "It must be ensured under conducive atmosphere," Mukherjee said in his speech during the 125th anniversary celebrations of the Malayala Manorama Group here.A The President said media had an important role to play in cleansing public life. "However, to undertake this role the conduct of the media should be above board. Malayala Manorama Chief Editor Mammen Mathew, Kerala Governor H R Bhardwaj, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Union Telcom Minister Kapil Sibal were present on the occasion.