The Governor of West Bengal, Gopal Krishna Gandhi spoke on ‘Freedom Of ex-pression: Whose Freedom? Whose Expression’ on the occasion of the Fifth Pranabesh Sen Memorial Lecture organized by the Pranabesh Sen Memorial Committee and Sohini, at the Sisir Mancha, Kolkata on December19 2005. The session was marked by the striking presence of journalism students in large numbers, glued to the proceedings with rapt attention and intermittent applauses, as they geared up for their futures in empowering people through information.
Emphasizing on the news media’s seminal role in segregating free speech from loose talk, the governor highlighted the impact of ‘Young India’ and ‘Harijan’ in the Gandhian era. While dealing with advertisements and news as modes of free expression, he observed that business surpluses are essential for the running of news media. Mr. Gandhi concluded by sharing that he has seen tremendous free expressiveness in West Bengal, in the faces of welcomers, in the hands raised from behind seats reserved for important persons and in the hesitant gaze of by-standers.
Special Guest for the evening Nirendranath Chakraborty, pesident of Paschim Banga Bangla Akademi formally inaugurated ‘Tothyer Odhikar’, ‘Aaro Ak Guchchho Sambad Parikrama’ and ‘Kan Pete Roi’ based on the variegated experiences of radio journalist Pranabesh Sen (1935-2000).Particularly interesting and inspiring for the enthusiastic and excited mass of budding journalists was Tarun Chakraborty’s reading of Sen’s radio message to the Bangladeshis originally broadcasted at ten at night on the eve of erstwhile Pakistan’s surrender in the then East Pakistan.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment