have a Humane face, N Ram tells media students

Editor-in-Chief, N. Ram called upon media students to always have a humane face both as journalists and human beings.

He was delivering the key-note address at the UGC sponsored seminar on ‘The Emergence of New Media: Opportunities and challenges’, organised by the department of Communication in association with The Hindu.

“There is no use going for academic excellence unless you put in the centre the values of social justice, equity and caring for all human kind,” Mr Ram said.

Mr Ram highlighted his reflections on Indian Media growth trends, its quality issues and the ethical challenges of the same. He questions the term ‘New Media’ as media were always evolving and what was new today would be old tomorrow.

Talking about the state of the mediaduring recession, Mr Ram said, “Journalism is in crises across developed countries. There is a gloom in most developed countries over the future of newspapers and broadcast.New York Times, the world leader of print industry was in major crises and had to take a loan of $250 million during recession. Circulation and readership is declining and the impact of internet and new media has accelerated the downfall.”

He further raised the issue of newspapers losing readership due to the newly developed e-paper, that most popular newspapers had introduced on their websites ed on their websites which attracted a wide global audience. However he said that though internet use and broadband access were growing rapidly across developing countries, traditional media still held importance.

Mr Ram opined that the media had three basic roles to fulfill. Firstly, he said that all media should aim to be credible with respect to the information it disseminates. Secondly, it should be analytical, critical and investigative and thirdly he said that the media had a big role to play in education. He said that it was through the media that masses could be educated about science, technology, history, medicine etc. “Every country which values press and media has broadcast law to govern it. But India does not have any such rules for media. There is no framework of regulatory mechanism,” said Mr Ram commenting on media ethics.

Divya, I year Mass Communication Student from Mahaveer Jain College said, “Mr Ram’s speech was very informative and inspiring. He explicitly brought out the ethics of media which every journalist should follow and practice. As future journalists it was very helpful.”

Kannada Sangha

It was an important day for the members of the Kannada Sangha of SJC as the Sangha was inaugurated on Friday. Kannada Infomedia, the portal, and the new venture, Cycle Day, were also kickstarted at the function.

Fr Ambrose Pinto, the Principal, said, “I have been observing the Kannada Sangha since it was started and I am very glad to see it progress. Every year it has been improving and has organised many cultural programmes like Dollukunita and Natakas.”

Fr Pinto also expressed his concern about the fading Kannada culture. “ Majority of our students don’t have the interest to learn Kannada. People prefer English language to our regional language. Our culture and language should become our pride and we should try and spread the language. The Sangha is trying to do that and I hope they organise more activities like this,” he added.

Mr Vijay Ragavan, HOD of the Kannada Department and the Staff Coordinator of the Sangha said, “This Association is a student initiative and I am only guiding them. We are inaugurating ‘the Cycle Day’ today and every Friday we will celebrate it in the Campus.”

Bharti S of III PMC, the Vice-President of the Association, said, “We have planned to organise a photo exhibition, games like Kunte bille, Gilli Dandu and Janapada.”

Ravikiran of III PEM, President of the Sangha, spoke on the Association’s aim and said, “Kannada Sangha is not only to promote Kannada language but it is a platform for different cultures. We are planning to organise kite flying competition, photo exhibition etc.”

College cricket team gets a renowned coach

The College has appointed a new coach for the boys’ cricket team.

He has already become one among the favourites for the students. Popularly known as Baba Sir, he has coached some of the country’s best cricketers like Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath, Robin Uttappa, Venkatesh Prasad, among others. Baba Sir has been coaching for the past 25 years and thinks that cricket is his religion and a way of life.

“I have been a Josephite throughout my student life and now have come back to be of some use to the College,” he says with glee.

He further says, “I am a service oriented, action oriented and result oriented person. I am coaching the lads, but I am still learning and I don’t consider myself as a Guru.”

When asked about the College cricket team and his expectations, he said, “They are a promising and an enthusiastic team, but still there is always scope for improvement. It’s been only three days since I’ve come and I still have to get to know their potential.”

campus painted GREEN

Go Green day’ was an awareness campaign organised in the campus by the Social Work department REACH on Tuesday. REACH stands for Research Education Action Change which was formed earlier this year. The students came together wearing green in support of the cause. 25 students volunteered for the cause and performed a skit to alert people about conserving energy. More than 100 people supported the volunteers by walking around the campus and shouting slogan ‘Go Green, Save Earth’. The volunteers talked to the students and explained about Go Green.

Mr Benson, a lecturer of Social Work department said, “Go green is a larger process. This is just a teaser. Green stands for sustainable development. Copenhagen concludes tomorrow and this is in a way related to it. This has definitely woken up the campus.”

“It made a lot of impact on people. We wanted to do something which is related to our subjects. The core members of the association came up with this idea,” said Gangamma of II MSW who is the president of REACH.
Simi of II MSW, a Volunteer, said, “We started by chanting slogans across the campus. We also spoke to people and explained the concept of Go Green. We are not against genetic engineering, but we are against it being used in agriculture.”
John Paul of I MSW who actively took part in the campaign explained about various issues related to environment. He said, “The response was good and people were curious to know what was happening. We are not trying to convince people to stop using plastic, but telling them to use less plastic. We are trying to discourage people from using genetically modified food and endorse organic food.”
REACH has taken up several activities to sensitise people about the use of plastic, aforestation, conservation, genetically modified food and other environment related issues as part of its agenda.