PIB Hyderabad organise media workshop ‘Vartalap’ in Sircilla on central government schemes

RAJANNA-SIRCILLA, AUGUST 18, 2023:  In order to sensitise the media on various central schemes and initiatives, the Press Information Bureau (PIB), Hyderabad under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting organized a Regional Media Workshop “Vartalap” at Sircilla textile on Friday.

Additional Collector N Khimya Nayak along with Joint Director, PIB, V Balakrishna, Media and Communications Officer, Varganti Gayathri, senior journalist Dr S Ramu, Project Manager, C-DAC M Jagdish Babu and others participated in the inaugural session.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Nayak said that media plays an important role of disseminating the right information to the public. He urged the journalists to spread positive messages about those schemes and make the people aware about the benefits of the various schemes implemented by the Government so that it reaches the masses.

V Balakrishna in his keynote address said the purpose of organizing this workshop is to find means of conveying information to the masses through the media. He highlighted different initiatives of the central government taken up for the benefit of the common people. Being the fourth pillar of democracy, the media need to be informed about the schemes of the government so that it reaches the masses, he added. On this occasion he briefed the participants about the structure, functions and role of PIB in publicity of policy initiatives.

Smt. Varganti Gayathri, Media & Communications Officer, PIB Hyderabad conducted the program and also presented the vote of thanks. She highlighted the aim and objective of the Vartalap programme. She said, “Vartalap is a platform to strengthen ties between government and media in order to ensure better and effective flow of information down the grass root level.”

The event had two Technical Sessions conducted by Senior Journalist, Dr. S. Ramu on ‘Ethics & Standards in Media & Journalism’ and  M. Jagdish Babu, Project Manager, C-DAC on ‘Cyber Hygiene Practices’.

Senior journalist, journalism educator and communication specialist, Dr Ramu Suravajjula has asked journalists to discharge their duties ethically and be ready to improve skills on a regular basis to sustain in the technology-propelled media environment. Dr Ramu said: “Stop talking ill about journalism. Don’t join the other three pillars-Legislative, Executive and Judiciary-in projecting media in poor light. Journalists should bring honour to the pious profession with their ethical practices, professionalism and conduct” He underlined the need of unity among journalists to discuss professional issues and acquire new skills to sustain in the current competitive media environment.

The technical sessions were followed by an interactive question-answer session in which journalists expressed their doubts, talked to the experts and cleared their doubts regarding various issues pertaining to the topic. The objectives of this Workshop are capacity building of rural reporters and train them in covering success stories on the schemes of Government and acquainting them to the current media scenario. About 100 Journalists from Rajanna Sircilla District and neighbouring towns attended the work-shop. The journalists also thanked PIB for organizing the workshop and expressed hope that more such workshops would be conducted in future.

hindudayashankar