New Delhi: At the inaugural session of the “Organiser: 80 Years of Media Movement”, senior journalists and imminent personalities highlighted the phenomenal role of the Weekly for eight decades, in exposing anti-national & anti-Hindu elements, empathising with the pain of partition, decolonising the Indian minds, surviving the draconian emergency rule and advancing India’s perspective to the world which is dominated by the narratives from the Western prism.
Organiser Weekly, which spearheaded its first edition on July 3, 1947, is currently celebrating its eight decades of media movement which is rooted in nationalism and civilisational values. Organiser has been an integral part of Bharat’s journey since independence and has eternally advocated responsible journalism even during hardest circumstances amidst authoritarian rule.
Organiser was the maiden media house of its time, to be owned by the public and society rather than any influential family. More than 15,000 shareholders came together to start Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited(BPDL). For decades, Organiser has articulated and channelised Bharat’s civilisational perspective to the world. It resonated with the pain of partition, unequivocally questioned the anti-Hindu policies of the Nehru government and has stood the test of time during emergency censorship and other bottlenecks, by upholding the principles and ethics of nationalistic journalism.
Organiser: A synonym for nationalism
Speaking at the inaugural session, Prof. K.G. Suresh, Senior journalist and Director of India Habitat Centre reiterated that Organiser has always been an objective voice and has consistently countered anti-India & anti-Hindu narratives. Thus, it is a synonym with nationalism. He further highlighted how Organiser is persistently decolonising the Indian minds and grooming them with civilisational values.
He also exclaimed that Organiser has played a pivotal role in transforming and redefining the JNU for what it is today. With its strong nationalist writing and media movement, Organiser has anchored the process of eradicating anti-national elements from the JNU, which was indoctrinated with dreadful ideologies. K.G. Suresh further added.
He also highlighted the role of Organiser during emergency and said when the media was censored, Organiser channelised underground leaflets and championed a nationalist movement against authoritarian rule. Thus, the Organiser is rendering justice to nationalist journalism, Prof. K.G. Suresh acknowledged.
Why did Nehruvian policies glorify China on the global stage?
Speaking at the inaugural session, Kanchan Gupta, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, questioned the pro-china policies of the Nehru government. He said, soon after independence, the Nehru government glorified and embraced China at the global stage at the cost of the development of India. He also highlighted how many nationalist media platforms such as “The Motherland” were censored during the emergency rule. He also appreciated the Organiser for surviving the emergency and successfully bouncing back and consistently advocating nationalist media movement for 8 decades.
KR Malkani: The Editor of Organiser who exposed emergency censor
Kanchan Gupta also praised and remembered the contributions of KR Malkani, former editor of Organiser, towards nationalist journalism, especially during emergency. He took over as the editor of Organiser in 1948 and continued till 1983. He bravely thwarted the censorship of the emergency era and exposed the draconian , anti-constitutional actions of the government, despite being imprisoned. Kanchan Gupta also reflected on the contributions of KR Malkani in grooming hundreds of young journalists in the path of nationalist journalism, post emergency.
Journalism with Indian prism and sovereign data modules are the need of the hour
Speaking at the session, Prof. K.G. Suresh, further highlighted in the era of corporatisation of journalism and digitisation, how the importance of editorial is diminishing. So, he reiterated that when journalism is espoused as any other business, nationalist journalism should bounce back. When digitisation is framing journalism for profit and citizen journalism is dominating, imminent editors and media houses should accelerate nationalist journalism.
K.G. Suresh also asserted that, in the era of digitisation and when western countries control data and algorithms, there is an imminent need to develop sovereign servers and data localisation models to espouse nationalist journalism and India perspective to the world.
Media literacy for countering fake narratives
Prof.K.G. Suresh also reiterated the importance of media literacy and its inclusion in school and university curriculum in the era of fake narratives. In the era of digital journalism, social media is flooded with fake and anti-India, anti-Hindu narratives. The mass population is consuming this false content and are indoctrinated with anti-national narratives. Thus, media literacy in India, is the need of the hour, prof. K.G. Suresh affirmed.
India-owned international media should emerge to tell India’s story to the world which is rooted in our civilisational wisdom & ethics. Because, today, the India story is predominantly told from a western lens and that has to be erased, K.G. Suresh thus explained the importance of catalysing India’s story from an Indian prism to the globe, in the era of fake narratives.
