Swadeshabhimani-Kesari award presented to Malayinkeezhu Gopalakrishnan

Media today is moving away from the traditions of Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai and Kesari Balakrishna Pillai who believed that journalism was a way to rebuild society, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.

He was speaking at the presentation of the 2024 Swadeshabhimani-Kesari award, State media awards, and the photography awards for 2021 and 2022 here on Thursday.

Reflecting on the changes in media post-Independence, the Chief Minister observed that the haste to make profits had seen a decline in values. The unhealthy tendencies that the media had fought against during the reformation in the State were now being encouraged by it. Superstitions and regressive customs had gained a foothold in the media.

Globalisation led to the emergence of media corporations. Advocates of global capital were close to power centres. This corporate-power centre nexus is protecting both capitalist and political interests. The impact of this could be seen now, the Chief Minister said.

He alleged that there was a tendency to attack the government without going into the merits of the claims or charges made. Even if it was proved in court that the charges made were baseless, a majority of the media were not ready to tell the public about the truth. “Media has the responsibility to tell the people what they should know,” the Chief Minister said.

At a time when journalists were under attack and even jailed for doing their work, the State government was honouring journalists. Several critics of the government were among the recipients of the awards. Since the government was not afraid of criticism and it was required for independent journalism, it did not intervene in the award selection. The government was firm that merit alone should be the basis for the awards, the Chief Minister said.

Malayinkeezhu Gopalakrishnan who had been selected for the Swadeshabhimani-Kesari award was a veteran journalist with decades of experience, Mr .Pinarayi said. He always focussed on facts and was insistent that news should not be rumours, the Chief Minister pointed out.

Mr. Gopalakrishnan shared his joy on receiving the award from the Chief Minister at the historic Durbar Hall.

Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty presided over the function.