JOIN USJournalist Sanath Kumar Belagali said, media should become the voice of the voiceless and reflect the public opinion without bias.
He was speaking after receiving the Khadri Shamanna Award, instituted by Khadri Shamanna Smaraka Trust, at Gandhi Bhavan, here, on Saturday. “Most of the satellite channels, which have the highest penetration in rural areas, are misleading the viewers. Most of them dedicate a major chunk of their air time for astrology, vaasthu, etc and encourage superstitions. Even though they broadcast useful programmes like discussions on problems facing the society, people are mostly attracted towards programmes that propagate superstitions, Belagali said.
He said, most of the news channels are controlled by corporates, so their views cannot be either pro-poor or pro-farmer.
Former MLC H D Chowdaiah, who presented the award, said, Khadri Shamanna, a native of Melkote, was a proud son of Mandya district. “The award was constituted when Ramakrishna Hegde was the chief minister. He had wished that the awards be presented at Melkote itself. MP C S Puttaraju, who is also a native of Pandavapura taluk as Shamanna, should make arrangements to organise the award function at Melkote,” he said.
Puttaraju said, the people still have some trust in the judiciary and media. So, the journalists have a great responsibility to keep that trust. Steps will be taken to hold the award function at Melkote from next month,” he said.
A collection of Shamanna’s write-ups ‘Arpana-1’ and ‘Pappa’, written by Rahul Belagali and Bhupesh Belagali were released on the occasion.
Trust president Vijayamma, secretary Khadri Achyuthan, Sumana Shamanna, District Working Journalists’ Association K N Ravi and secretary K C Manjunath were present.