Press Council of India Celebrates ‘National Press Day’

18 November 2022: Press Council of India celebrated the National Press Day on the theme “The Media’s Role in Nation Building” at SCOPE convention centre in New Delhi recently. Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Singh Thakur was the chief guest at the event and released the “Norms of Journalistic Conduct, 2022”. Celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav marking 75th year of India’s independence, the dignitaries deliberated on the topic ‘the Role of Media in Nation Building’ to appreciate, analyse and ascertain the plausible ways that may pave the way towards preserving the standards of Indian media which is celebrated as the fourth pillar of the Democracy.

National Press Day – the 16th of November – is symbolic of a free and responsible press in India. This was the day on which the Press Council of India started functioning as a moral watchdog to ensure that not only did the press maintain the high standards expected from this powerful medium but also that it was not fettered by the influence or threats of any extraneous factors. Though there are several Press or Media Councils world over, the Press Council of India is a unique entity in as much as this is the only body to exercise an authority even over the instruments of the State in its duty to safeguard the independence of the press.

Delivering the inaugural address, the Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Singh Thakur begin by complimenting Swapan Dasgupta for his erudite views, expressed eloquently, on the theme of today’s deliberations – “The Media’s Role in Nation Building”. The Union Minister stated “This is a solemn occasion to pay our humble tribute to stalwarts who made the Press a powerful voice and a worthy Fourth Pillar of our democracy.” He further added “The intimate involvement of towering leaders of our struggle for independence with the Press propelled them to ensure Freedom of the Press was enshrined through constitutional provisions. The birth of the Press Council of India came much later, but the impulse was the same: To ensure democracy is safeguarded and strengthened.”