Guwahati : The newly formed Digital Media Journalists Forum (DMJF), Assam held a general meeting at the Guwahati Press Club on Wednesday. The meeting was chaired by the President of the Convening Committee of the forum and presently Editor, The Cross Current, Bedbrata Bora.
Advisor of the forum and former Resident Editor, The Telergraph and Editor-in-Chief of NewsFile, and Executive Editor of The Echo of India, Pranab Bora spoke about the various problems and legal aspects faced by digital media journalists.
Senior journalists Amal Dutta and Bidhayak Das delivered speeches on the importance and role of digital media in the present day. The meeting was attended by journalists from various digital media outlets from eight districts of the state and Guwahati.
The meeting also discussed in detail about the proposed Digital Media Act of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.
Current Trend Assam’s Dhruvajyoti Dhanantari, who is also the secretary of the forum explained various technical aspects of digital media. The session was chaired by News ASN’s Managing Editor, Nabajyoti Kalita, who is the also General Secretary, Convening Committee of the DMJF.
The meeting adopted several resolutions to further dynamise and strengthen the forum. A proposal was adopted to form a state-wide committee through a general conference in February next year.
The Chief Minister Press Cell, CMO and the Assembly to be informed about digital media journalists forum for invitation to the official government press conferences and other proceedings, members of the forum to be informed about the laws applicable to digital journalists along with Press Council of India (PCI) guidelines, set up a legal cell to provide assistance as and when needed, apply to the Directorate of Information & Public Relations, Stationeries and Printing, Government of Assam for DIPR and DAVP advertisements to digital media operating under standard guidelines. The meeting also discussed the establishment of an office of the Digital Media Journalists Forum, Assam in Guwahati in the coming days, recruitment of new members individuals and organizations and bringing together digital media journalists from different districts of Assam and establish organizational relation with national digital media journalists organisations.
‘Digital Media Journalists’ Forum, Assam organized its first general meeting at Guwahati Press Club on August 10, 2022 to discuss the challenges and opportunities of digital media in the state and passed important resolution as stated above. After its formation meeting on 15th February 2023 at the same venue, the convener committee under the leadership of Bedabrata Bora and advise of Pranab Bora met several times virtually to make a draft of ‘Publishing Standards by Digital Media Organizations and Reporting Ethics’ which is being circulated among the members and senior journalists to final. Since the organization shall be self regulating independent body its financial aspects and operations angles were also discussed in these virtual meetings. In next six months we plan to reach out all the districts of Assam and maximum digital media house and hold a General Conference to form a statewide committee in Feb 2023’, said Babul Gogoi, Founder & Managing Editor of Assam Times a community news media in service from 2007 also treasurer of the forum.
The conference has been called at a time when the government is mulling controls for the largely unregulated sector. The Forum stated it has been working for the security and rights of digital media journalists and workers. It is high time for this digital news media to be recognised as a valuable contributor, feels the Forum. Its advisor Pranab Bora, Editor in Chief of News File said, ‘Digital media journalists and workers are facing challenges in matters of security and rights, with the government often taking an indifferent view. The digital media is being favoured by the new generation tech savvy journalists and lot many have successfully created niche and many established journalists as well as upcoming ones have joined digital media and working relentlessly to publish important news, in spite of the challenges faced by this form of media. We will endeavour to set up a digital media organisation that will have a self- regulatory charter and good interfacing with the government within one year of its foundation so today’s general meeting resolved to organize a General Conference of the forum next year in february’. Nanda Kirati Dewan, international award winning senior community & digital journalist felt that the forum should train digital journalists from basics standards of publishing to handling sensitive matters and conflict reporting and ensure that they are not criticised, the way they are now. Forum’s founder executive member Dewan further added, ‘Forum would mean a group for discussion and it might limit our area of operations so I would request the forum to rename it to Digital Media Council of Assam (DMCA) affiliated to Press Council of India or Digital Media Press Club, Guwahati affiliated to the prestigious Guwahati Press Club.’ The conference today discussed many important matters related to digital media, including the Information Technology Act, which the central government has been proposing to rein in the digital media. Several digital news portals from eight districts of Assam and the journalists engaged in digital media of the state attended the said general meeting.
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