New Delhi
Union Minister Shri Anurag Thakur applauded the role played by Indian media during the trying times of COVID19 pandemic. Delivering his speech at the 17th Asia Media Summit via video conferencing the Minister said that Indian media ensured that the Covid awareness messages, important government guidelines and free consultations with doctors reach everyone in the country. That Doordarshan and All India Radio significantly delivered on their mandate of public service was proved by their role in setting the trend through prompt coverage, ground reports and organizing programmes on public health, he said.
Speaking on the other pandemic, of misinformation, the Minister said “unverified claims and fake content circulating in media had created an atmosphere of extreme fear amongst the people.” Crediting Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check Unit he added that strongly fought against this menace of fake news and misinformation by burstingit on real time basis.
Further highlighting the Governments achievements in the fight against COVID19, Shri Anurag Thakur said that while vaccinating a 1.3 billion population was hugely challenging, India has vaccinated a majority of its population due to combined efforts of the Government, Covid warriors and civil society.
Crediting media for sharing this burden and delivering, the Minister said “In this endeavor, the Indian media played a very important role in educating the people about the benefit of being vaccinated against coronavirus. We faced many road blocks. One of the foremost challenges was vaccine hesitancy. That was broken by media through right messages and education. Our Prime Minister Modi address the citizens through All India Radio programmes or through TV channels to reach out and clear this to give clear message about the vaccine. “
The theme of Asia Media Summit this year is “Future Forward, Reimagining Media”, and emphasizing the changing delivery mechanisms of media Shri Thakur remarked that Media today, is highly technological driven and is witnessing a rapid pace of innovation. Growth of internet through affordable mobile devices has re-ignited the media industry.
