AMN /
Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley today said the days of ban on the media is gone. Delivering the Sardar Patel lecture organised by All India Radio in New Delhi, Mr Jaitley observed that it is literally impossible to implement ban on media. He said free speech is an aid to good governance and noted that the right to freedom of expression has expanded in India through successive judicial verdicts.
The minister noted that while print media and to a large extent electronic media adopt discretion in their content, social media completely lacks such a mechanism.
Mr Jaitley said that in a changing media landscape, with the arrival of electronic media, news became more sensational. He said that there is now a difference between actual news and channel driven news.
Speaking about social media, he said while citizens have got a voice, it is an unregulated medium and there is also a large amoun of false, defamatory and also damaging content.
Paying tributes to Sardar Patel, Mr Jaitley said the country owes its present geography to the Iron Man. A recording of Mr Jaitley’s speech would be broadcast by AIR on October 31st, the birthday of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, incidently, the first Information and Broadcasting minister of the country.