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Investigative journalist from the Czech Republic Pavla Holcová, who was selected Mediaperson of the Year by the Kerala Media Academy, being feted by Industries Minister P. Rajeeve at Cutting South-2023, a global media festival organised by the academy in Kochi on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called for a new international information order to preserve the interests of developing countries as the functioning of media has become increasingly centred on imperialist forces.
He was delivering his inaugural address virtually at Cutting South, a global media festival being organised by the Kerala Media Academy (KMA) in association with Newslaundry, The News Minute, Confluence Media, and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists marking 175 years of Malayalam journalism here on Saturday.
Mr. Vijayan said that such a new media culture alone would help protect the political and economic interests of developing nations. He observed that all news agencies disseminating information were based in imperialist countries. Some of them even have sister concerns manufacturing weapons. “On the one side they are creating rift between nations through news, while on the other they sell weapons to both sides,” Mr. Vijayan said.
The concept of global south and its celebration have immense political relevance. It amounts to the celebration of languages, media, and cultures, which the imperialist interests have been attempting to eliminate. It amounts to showcasing the media culture from areas, including Latin America and Africa, before the world, he said.
The Chief Minister observed that people-centric journalism and journalists swimming against the current were facing an existential crisis. The world over, right-wing politics and finance capital pose significant threats to humanity’s freedom. Journalism can survive only in an ecosystem of freedom.
Industries Minister P. Rajeeve, who was among the chief guests, said the move to weaken democracy in India had gathered further momentum as reflected in the case of Rahul Gandhi. Over the recent years, India is moving from being a secular nation to an increasingly religious one and from being a democracy to an autocracy.
Mr. Rajeeve lamented how the mainstream media in Malayalam, especially news channels, had failed to focus on the fast-depleting media freedom in the country.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan warned that George Orwell’s fictional work 1984 had turned a reality with citizens now being under State surveillance. He warned that Kerala should resist the tendency to curb media freedom citing the recent alleged restriction on accredited journalists to film Assembly proceedings.
Investigative journalist from the Czech Republic Pavla Holcová was awarded the KMA’s Mediaperson of the Year 2022, Raghu Rai was bestowed with the Global Photography Award 2021-22, and Josy Joseph with the Global Media Book Award for his work The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State.
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