Hyderabad: Indian Television Journalist Barkha Dutt was in the city at the invitation of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) Hyderabad Chapter on Tuesday. Giving her views on CAA and NRC, the veteran journalist said, “I oppose CAA-NRC because of religious filters attached to them and NRC is actually weaponizing the CAA”.
Addressing the media when asked about Elections in Delhi and what are predictions, replying to question she said, one thing I learned with over twenty years of experience in Journalism is never to predict elections. It looks like Kejriwal has an advantage. People vote differently in state and central elections. On these lines also, Kejriwal seems to have an advantage, she said.
She further told that i was on the peak of a mountain in my broadcast journalism career. Now I shifted to Online space. As an online media venture, I am now building a new mountain. Many broadcast veteran journalists Karan Thapar, Vikram Chandra have shifted to this space.
Time has come to pay to read articles on online space. Washington Post and New York Times are already doing this Barkha shared while describing how media houses on going through the financial crisis.
Speaking about electronic media in India, Barkha said, it is going through the darkest face. The space for reporting is shrunk. Media houses are exhausted on ideas on making money to survive. Nobody is willing to pay to watch the news, she added
There is no money in the news media. The news media is in crisis now, she said.
Children need to be taught about media. Media literacy must be made part of the curriculum. Because media is powerful, children should be able to judge media from wrong influences. There should be a class in the school that must show a news program upon which students need to debate to get to understand how media works, Barkha explained.
My first book The Unquiet Land is doing well. I am coming out with another book on “Failures of the Opposition Parties in India”. This book will be out this year, she shared.
She told tukde, tukde narratives being propagated. The dissenting opinion is described now as anti-national, which is very sad she added
She told the gathering as well as budding journalists to take advantage of technology to tell their side of the stories. Speaking about protests in Delhi by women, she said when women raise voice governments listen. At the same when men protest, governments use force. So more and more women must come out to raise their voice against anything that they feel strongly about it, Barkha said.
Barkha told women gathering at the FLO interaction to find some ways to live their passion.
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