'No room for sensationalism in true journalism'

“It will be sheer sacrilege. True journalism is courageous, truthful, inspiring and exalting,” he said addressing a host of journalists and members of the Press Club of Bangalore (PCB).

Delivering a lecture on ‘Media a partner in inclusive growth,’ he suggested that it was essential to have research wings in every newspaper for training media personnel in reporting news and event analysis.

“This research wing has to be linked to media research in academic institutions, which will enable our journalists to carry out original research on topics of national interest and provide solutions to medium and long-term problems,” he said.

Further, he said that in a country that has a billion people of whom 750 million live in villages, it was essential that media concentrated on rural development and other related issues.

“In a mature democracy, different views are essential to move towards citizen-centric, constitution-guided policy directions and it is thereby essential for the media to represent all the people,” he said.

And for this, he said, it was necessary for the media to spread its wings. “To begin with, I think the PCB should have a centre in every district of Karnataka.”

Commending the contributions of the Press in Bangalore, he urged that the PCB create a unique website that will feature all kinds of news and becomes a reference point for journalists.

FTC for corruption cases

Kalam insisted that an exclusive fast track court should be created to report, diagnose and pass verdicts on corruption cases in the country.

On an average, 30 per cent of every household (200 million in total) in this country is corrupt, meaning about 60 million households are corrupt, he said, adding that it was important for people to cleanse themselves before they talk about other ‘corrupt’ people.