‘Role of TV journalists in effecting global response pertinent in view of attacks against Iran’

Photojournalism’s capacity for impacting change in the world should be remembered by all students of photography, said N. Ram, Director of The Hindu Group, at the 25^th anniversary celebrations of the Light and Life Academy in Udhagamandalam in The Nilgiris on Saturday (March 21, 2026).

Speaking at the event as chief guest, Mr. Ram urged students to remember the pivotal role television journalists played in effecting the global response to the Ethiopian famine between 1983 and 1985, stating that it was especially pertinent to remember this in view of the “large-scale suffering such as that we have been witnessing during this barbarous, violent attack that the United States of America and Israel have carried out against Iran.”

Mr. Ram said the coverage of the famine in 1984 was what led to a huge global response. “Before that, a small number of relief agencies and sensitive reporters were aware of the deepening crisis in Ethiopia. But at that stage, the impact of the specialist information network and media coverage was not noticeable.”

He added that photography students should be aware of such events when analysing the impact of photography on large-scale suffering “as we’ve seen in Gaza earlier, after Israel’s genocidal attacks on the people of Palestine,” he said, adding that the same attacks had happened in Iran and elsewhere, terming the war a “mad venture.”

Mr. Ram also highlighted the work of photojournalists such as Sunil Janah, who documented the Bengal famine in 1943, as well as other innumerable photojournalists and documentarians whose work had tremendous impact on society.

As part of the celebrations, a panel discussion ‘Anything goes? Ethics and Evolution of Imaging’, comprising R. Balki, filmmaker, Atul Kasbekar, photographer and producer, Priti David, executive editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India, and A. Sudharshan, Co-founder of Ting, was held.

Mr. Balki highlighted the potential dangers posed by artificial intelligence (AI) to society, possibly leading to mass unemployment due to redundancies. “On the one hand, we have AI being used in science for prolonging the lifespan of human beings, and on the other, we face the question of people being rendered unemployed.”

Also present at the event were Anuradha and Iqbal Mohamed, co-founders of the Light and Life Academy, District Collector Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru, Superintendent of Police, The Nilgiris, N.S. Nisha and Shashi Sinha, strategic advisor of Omnicom Media, who delivered the keynote address.