Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Information & Broadcastinghas said that the Indian Institute of Mass Communication would be upgraded into a ‘Communication University’. Steps would be taken to initiate this process and a roadmap would be prepared soon by the Ministry of I&B. Inviting suggestions from the public especially the young generation,Shri Javadekar said that a specific corner would be developed on theI&B Ministry’s website for these suggestions to be placed for the perusal of the Ministry. The entire process was part of the Prime Minister’s Communication Vision which laid emphasis on ‘Participative Communication’- a communication process which linked the key stakeholders including the media fraternity.
The Minister stated this while delivering his address at the 47th Convocation Ceremony of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication and the launch of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the institute here today. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Javadekar said that press freedom came with an element of responsibility. Throughout history, the responsibility of the press had been flagged on different occasions. He exhorted the students who were conferred diplomas to avoid sensationalism at all costs and fight the menace of paid news. A young journalist ought to work with passion, compassion in a mission mode without commission. He called upon the students to balance information taking into account the sourcing of information from different media sources which included new and traditional media streams. These aspects would lay down the architectural framework for ethical journalism in the future.
During the course of his address, Shri Javadekar mentioned that the recent elections across the country provided perfect case studies to study the behavior patterns of the elections and the electorate. He called upon the IIMC to undertake studies to understand the different aspects of elections related to the communication process and the electoral system. The Minister also unveiled the new logo to commemorate the golden jubilee celebrations of IIMC. He also inaugurated new bilingual website of IIMC.
IIMC has the distinction of being universally recognised as a centre of excellence in the field of journalism, media and mass communication teaching, training and research. 341 studentswere conferred with their Diplomas at this Convocation which included students from six Centres of IIMC, at New Delhi and Dhenkanal, as well as at the newly opened Regional Centres at Aizawl in Mizoram, Amravati in Maharashtra, Jammu in J&K and Kottayam in Kerala. The PG Diploma courses were conferred in Journalism Hindi and English, Advertising& Public Relations, Oriya Journalism and Urdu Journalism. Special awards were also conferred in different categories to 31 students across all courses.