AFGHAN JOURNALISTS URGED TO HELP
SPEED UP DEVELOPMENT
OF AFGHANISTAN
The Information &
Broadcasting Minister, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad has called upon
Afghan journalists to use the skills of information dissemination
for speeding up the reconstruction and development of their country.
He said, the urge for development must be ignited among the people
so that they are fully involved and participate in development.
Shri Prasad was presiding
over the valedictory function of the Foundation Course in Journalism
for the second batch of Afghan journalists organized by the Indian
Institute of Mass Communication. Fourteen journalists including
three women journalists were awarded diplomas on the occasion.
Shri Prasad said
that the biggest beneficiary of the democracy is the media and
journalism. Since media has the biggest stake in democracy, the
journalists have to have a commitment to their profession, to
their nation of which they are citizens and democracy. He said,
newspapers must not be considered as a commodity. It has to be
a vehicle of learning, change and development. The world is changing
at a phenomenal pace and the developmental news has been the biggest
causality in the fast changing technologies and commercialization
of the media.
Referring to Afghanistan,
Shri Prasad said that Taliban crushed the spirit of the Afghan
people, sheer enterprise of Afghan women, their profound creativity,
beauty and openness. The spirit of the Afghan people has now been
restored but their creativity has to be fully vitalized and conveyed
effectively. It is here that the journalists have the greatest
role to play to involve the people.
The Secretary, Ministry
of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Pawan Chopra said that
in a democracy there are power frictions among different players.
But it is the media, which moderates the hard attitudes in a multi-ethnic
society in big countries like India and Afghanistan. It helps
to bring harmony among different groups. The Ambassador of Afghanistan,
Shri Masood Khalili thanked the Government of India for not only
organizing training for journalists but also assistance in re-construction
and development of the strife torn country.
