PANJIM: In what appears to be contradictory to the Digital India campaign, Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday said that ‘kindle, TV and whatsapp cannot replace the reading habit’. He also said that print journalism is more responsible than television journalism.
“Kindle, TV and whatsapp cannot replace the reading habit. Original will always remain original, the reading culture will always remain. In fact, I can say that book reading culture has increased during the last five to ten years,” Parrikar said at a gathering to lay the foundation stone for the reconstruction of 108-year old Shree Mahalaxmi Library at Rua de Ourem in Mala.
Parrikar said that initially the written word was considered the ultimate truth. “After that there came television. We started believing what we see. Many people don’t know that the footage on TV can be doctored,” he said. “Now Whatsapp has arrived, so individual person has become an editor. What is important is that when information is given to the people it should be filtered,” Parrikar said.
Referring to news and information circulated on Whatsapp, the former chief minister said people should be cautious before absorbing information via the social media platform and also learn the ability to ‘read between the lines’.
Parrikar was speaking in presence of Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Minister for Art & Culture Dayanand Mandrekar, MLA Sidharth Kuncalienkar, Panjim Mayor Surendra Furtado and others.
The Defence Minister was of the view that written journalism is a lot more responsible than televised journalism. “In the same way, written documentation and writing is a lot more serious than a televised documentary,” he stated.
Parrikar backs print journalism and reading culture
