Port Blair, Nov 16: The Daily Newspaper Association (DNA) celebrated National Press Day at Hotel Mansha Residency here on Wednesday. Mr. Abdul Salam, Managing Director, Hotel Mansha was the chief guest and lit the traditional lamp to mark the occasion. The topic for this year was ‘Media Role in National Building’. National Press Day is celebrated every year on November 16 to celebrate the foundation day of the Press Council of India and to discuss the role of media in the society.
Addressing the Journalists, Mr. Abdul Salam greeted the mediapersons on the occasion of National Press Day. He praised the Journalists for taking up vital issues concerning the people and society through the columns of their newspapers. He said the media is the voice of the voiceless and should continue to rake up issues of the general public before the authorities. He said with rapid development of internet services, Youtube channels are fast making inroads in the news casting services posting more challenges to the print media which has to face the dilemma of reduced circulation and shrinking advertising business, putting unprecedented pressure on the print media to survive. He hoped that print media in the islands will continue to do the good work for the larger interest of the people and the society as a whole.
Earlier, welcoming the chief guest and others, Mr. K. Ganeshan, President, DNA spoke about the importance of National Press Day and recalled how print media was started in the islands several decades ago. He said print media in the present scenario has to face many challenges, the foremost being non-support from the administration due to preferential treatment of the official media. Secondly, the fast emerging digital portals owing to speeding internet services has come as a big challenge to the print media. However, he said that with rigorous, objective, fair reporting style and ensuring honesty with its readers, print media can still survive the onslaught from the digital portals.
In his brief address, Mr. Vijay Kumar Roy, Editor-in-Chief, The Echo of India spoke about the challenges print media has to face in this digital era. He said that the development of online portals has now become a threat to newspapers and print media. The rapid development of the internet has encouraged people to access online portals easily through mobile phones. As it is easier for the viewers to get information and news in the digital portals, more and more dedicated readers of print media are likely to turn to online portals for news and other information, he said
The programme was moderated by Mr. Sanjib Kumar Roy, Editor, Andaman Sheekha. Mr. Roy also proposed the vote of thanks. He said that despite numerous challenges and problems being faced by print media in the islands, it will continue to play a positive role of disseminating relevant information, news and share views to its readers despite all odds.
