Moderator – Mr. Joyanto Mukherjee
Panelists – Ms. Alifiya Khan
Ms. Sakina Lakdawala
Ms. Nivedita Basu
Mr. Mustafa Rangwala
The Off The Road 2020 Event commenced with a welcome note delivered to everyone present by Ms. Ribeka Kathuria followed by a request to rise for the National Anthem. DGMC’s Principal, Dr. Amee Vora welcomed the panelist and all the participants. Dr. Vora spoke on the relevancy of the topic “Media as a fourth pillar of democracy” in current times.
Mr. Azhan Malik a SY-PGDM student introduced each guest and Ms. Mansi Panchamia also a SY-PGDM played the trailer for “What the Scoop 2020”.
Our moderator for the event, Mr Joyanto Mukherjee led the discussion and introduced the first topic of discussion. He mentioned that in recent times there has been notable empowerment of media in influencing the opinion of media consumers in both positive and negative light.
Mr. Mustafa Rangwala, Group Creative Director – Ogilvy was the first to share his views on the subject. He gave insights pertaining to the advertising and marketing segment and what democracy meant to them. He mentioned that they traverse between two aspects, on one hand, compared to other media, where they put out information that they’ve gathered. He mentioned that they are paid by a certain entity to carry out a particular commercial, business or marketing
goals through communication.
Ms. Nivedita Basu, Director at The House of Originals, had an opinion which stated that the media has witnessed a lot of changes in the last two decades and has revamped the way it is looked upon by the people. It has surely risen above the conventional ideologies, and is now a medium which has the whole gamut of society’s expressions and divergent actuality. She further said this became evident during the current COVID situation, where people were glued to their television sets, and relied entirely on the information broadcasted by the news channels, sans fact checking.
Ms. Sakina Lakdawala, Studio Director at CNBC Awaaz & CNBC Bajar, spoke in the literal sense of “Media as a fourth pillar of democracy”, wherein she mentioned how the media is intended to maintain the balance of the entire democratic structure and keep it intact. The media platforms are occupied with a plethora of news stories, where the constant flow of information intake is overwhelming.
Ms. Alifiya Khan, Assistant Editor Indian Express, highlighted the concern of regulation in the media today. She believes there should not be any third party regulation, as it will transform the gritty sector into a null and void entity, controlled by the supposed know-it-alls. It will suppress the voices and put an end to free rein, which can then lead to the undisputed downfall of the idea of democracy altogether. She then went ahead and threw some light on good journalism and bad journalism, what each tern meant, and how one differentiates from the other according to her.
She stressed on the seriousness of research and fact checking, and how timely filtration is necessary.
The event came to end with a question answer session. Student posted questions in the chat box. The panelists answered every query and question put forward to them.
The event was extremely insightful as the students got to hear different perceptions from the industry experts, which would help them to broaden their thinking.
The Off the Record 2020 session concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms. Urvi Pandya.
