"Certain fundamentals have to be kept in mind and that is truth, credibility, placing the facts and making efforts to find out the truth," Mukherjee said at a function organised by the Kolkata Press Club and Indian Journalists' Association here.
Eulogising the first president of IJA Mrinal Kanti Basu, the President said, "He truly believed that comments are free, but facts are sacrosanct and many of the doyens of journalism have strictly adhered to this principle that 'yes, I am free to give my views, but facts are to be reported as they are'.
"Of course, there has been revolutionary change in information technology. That's why persons belonging to the older generation who developed the habit of reading and sometimes reading in details are not accustomed to give what you describe as byte because to give that short cryptic comment, it takes some time to acquire the mastery over the art of conceptualising our views and expressions in the most appropriate words," he said.
In an expansive mood, Mukherjee said "I had very frequent interactions with the friends in media. It is not always correct that I was polite to them or cooperative towards them.
"More than often, I became rude to them. Being an old man perhaps, they accommodated my rudeness," the President, who has been a politician for decades and held several key portfolios in different ministries, said.
"Whatever I received from people I came in contact with, it was more that what I have given them. Journalists are no exception," Mukherjee said.