Vice-President Hamid Ansari today said there was a need for "self-regulation" of the media or "external corrective" measures.
"Regulation is a code of ethics. And, as every aspect in our lives needs regulation, why should one branch (media) of life should not be regulated that it boasts should remain unregulated"? Ansari said.
The Vice-President was speaking at the release of a new book 'Journalism: Ethics and Responsibilities" at his residence and called it "timely".
"It (book) put a searchlight on a contemporary issue of great relevance. Its central concern is summed up in a sentence that I chanced upon while scanning the newspapers this morning. 'Journalism, a great profession, has fallen upon disrepute because media houses have moved away from serious business of news gathering into the world of power, advertisement, glamour, mega-festivals, as editors and anchors acquire celebrity status'," Ansari said.
He said changes are occurring in the media and therefore people in it must acknowledge the "need for corrective" measures, either a "self-corrective" or if needed, an "external one".
Citing Leveson Inquiry in the UK, Ansari said it held "lessons for us" that we (Indian media) were "less transparent".
"We could draw some lessons from Leveson Report and its recoomendations...Seven times in the past seventy years, media practices have been inquired into by a Royal Commission in the UK..We are less transparent," he added.
