Media and Human Rights

Citing that the Legislature, an Independent Judiciary and a free Press are the three essential pillars of democracy, Chairperson of the Commission Dr. Justice A.S. Anand has called upon all concerned to play their roles effectively.
Speaking at a function organized in New Delhi on 23 February 2004 to award the First International Press Award 2003, Justice Anand said that the press provides a platform for free political discourse which is essential for proper functioning of a government in a democracy. He said that dissemination of information and taking it to the masses to mould public opinion is the duty of the press.
As a developing country, the range of human rights issues requiring media intervention are particularly large with a marked social content, and therefore the services of the media are required in furthering the cause of human rights. At the same time, there are a number of genuine concerns about the way the media functions like commercialization of the media, trivialization of news, among others. All these factors, he said, contribute to a slant in the news reporting and raise serious issues concerning media ethics. There is the need to encourage the setting up of a voluntary code of ethics for the media as a means of greater self-regulation, he observed.