TWO day Media Convergence Meet was organised by the National Institute of Mass Communication & Journalism in Ahmedabad on 14.5.2011.
The chief guest for the inaugural session was Justice G N Ray, Chairman, Press Council of India. He said media is the pathfinder and voice of the people. The guest of honour was Dr B K Kuthialla, Vice Chancellor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University, Bhopal.
The meet began as per Indian traditions, by lighting the traditional lamp.
Speaking on the occasion Justice GN Ray said that looking through the immoralities prevailing in the media today, it’s not long that the citizens of the country can lose this freedom of expression. He quoted Jawaharlal Nehru and said that during the pre Independence period, he had more trust on free press than free government. He suggested that media should maintain the role of the watchdog and the mirror of the society.
On a different note Dr. B K Kuthiala stressed on the fact of maturity of the media today. He rightly put forwarded the facts of media commercialisation and moving of media to complete business from a vision and mission. He lamented that the management of media has transformed from mission to profession and now to unethical media.
The other speakers of the first day were Avinash Parekh, the founder of Abhiyaan magazine, who spoke on the subject of next generation road map of print media where he envisaged the print media moving to a digital avatar and destined to stay as the human brain. Shri Rohit Bansal gave a brief idea on the social media revolution in the country. The day concluded with Shri Mihir Bhuta, a well known playwright, giving a look into the mass audiences before going to people as the entertainer.
The second day of the meet saw very diverged yet converging forms of media like advertising, public relations and radio sessions. The concluding session was headed by Jagdish Upasane, executive editor of India Today (Hindi). He gave a brief idea on the history of world journalism and the same road map on which Indian media is travelling today and moving towards a cultural renaissance. For the upcoming journalists he told them that they should become a hub of information and not destination.
Shri Chandan Nath, from Ignite Mudra, gave multiple teachings about advertising by one simple guru mantra, that advertisement comes from understanding your prospective audience. Shri Sanjay Hemady from COO, HIT FM 95, an international FM gave the insight of a radio revolution which is waiting to come with the third phase of licensing. The spinning in and out on public relations was done by Tushar Panchal, director, Strategic Marketing, APCO Worldwide. The meet concluded with the recitation of the national anthem and a song composed by the graduating students of the final year.
