MEDIA & KARGIL

The faculty and the students of AAFT assembled to pay their homage to the martyrs of Kargil conflict. Lt. General P. D. Bhargava, PVSM (Retd.) who was present on this occasion said that Kargil situation had been created due to the void in the system as also due to the constant neglect of the armed forces. Subsequently a seminar chaired by Ms. Malti Sahay, Director, Directorate of Film Festival, Government of India, in which Ms. Vineeta Deepak, Producer Associated Press Television; Col. P.N. Khera, former head: PTI Television; Mr. Prem Chand Arya, Veteran journalist and former head of doordarshan news and Mr. Harbhajan Singh , President, Association of Small & medium Newspapers participated, very interesting facts came to light. It was mentioned that the new generation television professionals covering the conflict has neither the experience nor the training for covering the war. The armed forces were somewhat unprepared to bear the kind of pressure exerted by hordes of media professionals descending in that area. It was also pointed out that the coverage of an armed conflict of the TV network of the country at war and that for the other networks can never be the same as the professional judgement the individual producer will be influenced by the policy of the network to which he or she may belong. It was mentioned that media professionals have to follow the code of conduct in such a situation as well as help keep up the morale of the public at large. The speakers agreed that the India media had indeed helped the nation establish its credibility and to win the war both at the battlefield and the diplomatic fronts.