The Fourth Dileep Padgaonkar Memorial Lecture was delivered by Mr. Karan Thapar, President, Infotainment Television Private Limited, on 25th November. This programme, conducted in association with the Symbiosis International University (SIU), was co-chaired by Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, President, PIC and Dr. S. B. Mujumdar, Founder and President, Symbiosis Society and Trustee, PIC.

The Dileep Padgaonkar Memorial Lecture is held each year in association with Symbiosis International University (SIU) where Dr. Padgaonkar was Chair Professor, to honour his legacy in furthering credible journalism.

Mr. Thapar spoke of how ‘news’ and ‘views’ had become increasingly mixed-up over the past decade. Television news, he explained, is by definition of an immediate nature. Further, in the competition to be heard and/or seen first, TV news has an inherent tendency to be (unnecessarily) sensational which leads to unintended distortions and imperfect interpretations. A limitation of televised news, he explained, was ignoring what does not get recorded, leading to a de-contextualised comprehension of certain situations.

Media itself, he stated, had become more judgemental, failing to speak or report the truth. He noted that television and print journalism needs to address these issues by providing context, analysis, specialised reporting, and a greater focus on current affairs and brevity of reporting. While the media has enthusiasm and the capability, it has of late failed to reflect the same, and not used the wisdom that should come with its age.