Pune, January 19
Mr H.K. Dua, Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune Group of Newspapers, was conferred the honour of Professor Emeritus of Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication at a function here today.
The earlier recipients of the honour are: Mr R K Laxman, noted cartoonist, Mr M.J. Akbar, Editor of the Asian Age,
Mr Satinder Bindra of CNN, Mr Kuldip Nayar, veteran columnist and Mr Gulzar and Mr Amol Palekar, film personalities.
Symbiosis, which has been promoting quality education for over 30 years in business management, law, mass communication and many other disciplines, has been made a full-fledged university from this year.
Students and the faculty gave a resounding applause to Mr Dua on his being conferred the honour of Professor Emeritus.
Mr Dua in his acceptance speech told the students of mass communication that irrespective of whether they were in print, electronic or the film media, service to the society should remain their main aim. Whatever they did must serve the wider public interest, particularly of those sections of society who were voiceless, he said.
Besides recalling the achievements of the “Shining India class”, the media also needed to focus on the unreported India, which had not been getting due attention and importance, he said. It was incumbent upon the media to fight such evils as casteism, communalism, criminalisation of politics and corruption.
It is a pity, he said, that at least 175 MLAs in the UP Assembly alone had criminal background. Also, as many as 40 members of the Lok Sabha had a criminal background, he lamented.
