Freedom of expression was not only a constitutional right, it was also a constitutional duty especially for journalists, editors and anchors who exercise that right every day, Aiyar said.
Chennai, May 3 (PTI) Former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar today said the democracy was facing serious danger due to the lack of a right kind of relationship between media and politicians.
He made the remarks while delivering the Lawrence Dana Pinkham Memorial Lecture on the topic “Media and I: Writing well is the best revenge” organised by Asian College of Journalism.
“Nearly 30 years of my association with the Parliament, I find that Parliament is going from bad to worse and worse still. Today, democracy is in serious danger because we do not have the right kind of relationship between media and politicians,” he said at an event here.
He noted that a politician needs “oxygen” of publicity and journalists need politicians to write about. “The interaction between those who are using the powers of their office and those who are exercising their constitutional right to freedom of expression determines the manner in which democracy gets constructed and moves forward,” he said.
“The fact is that we seemed to have moved very far away from the happy old days of a constructive relationship between the political establishment and the media establishment”, he said.
Stating that Parliament was regarded as the “shrine of democracy” and newspapers were attempting to pay homage to it, he said, “We used to have a very well disciplined Parliament. It was a forum for discussion. Now, it has become a forum for demonstration.”
Aiyar said earlier bylines were awarded by newspapers for exceptional performance of journalists but now it has become “totally routine”.
Freedom of expression was not only a constitutional right, it was also a constitutional duty especially for journalists, editors and anchors who exercise that right every day, he said. “Freedom of expression is too precious to be sold down the river for a mere commercial game”, he said.
The occasion was also convocation for the students of 2017-18 batch of the college and Aiyar presented degrees to meritorious students.
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