Nagpur: The State Information Commissioner, Nagpur Bench, Rahul Pande on Monday said that print, audio, visual, digital are processes of media. The nature of media changed over time. Irrespective of the media, every media must follow the framework of law. Credibility should be maintained, he said, adding that people will continue to trust this fourth pillar of democracy.
Rahul Pande was speaking at a one-day workshop on ‘Digital Media and Legal Provisions’ organized at Vanamati in collaboration with Technovision Media and Communication on behalf of Digital Media Publisher and News Portal Grievances Council of India. On this occasion retired District Information Officer Anil Gadekar, member of the organization Adv. Kalyan Kumar were present.
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25 April 2025
The State Information Commissioner discussed how the media should follow the framework citing many examples. “Any medium has a difficult initial period. Newspapers, their journalists saw many stages. There was also a debate on who exactly is a journalist. The same is the case with digital media. Although there is still no clarity about this, if this also creates a believer, then this media will definitely get a seal of approval,” Pande asserted.
“Freedom is being misused today. The digital media war is on its own. The Council established for this should redress the complaints seriously and build credibility towards the news portal. The provisions of the Act are the same for all. Therefore, reliability is important and legal framework must be followed whether the media is digital or not,” he said.
Retired District Information Officer Anil Gadekar spoke about the difficulties related to digital media. “Media should maintain ethics and trust. The portal should be used for social awareness instead of personal selfishness,” he stressed.
Earlier, the workshop was inaugurated by Shailesh Pandey, Editor of Tarun Bharat Digital. Chairman of the organization and senior lawyer Adv. Firdaus Mirza, Senior High Court lawyer Adv. Anand Deshpande, member of the organization Adv. Kalyan Kumar were present.
Shailesh Pandey said in his inaugural speech, regulation of digital media is very important. A thing does not have credibility until it receives praise and respect. This also applies to the media. He said that if you keep your ego aside and do good journalism while running online media, there is no doubt that the importance of digital media will increase in the future.
Adv. Anand Deshpande also guided on this occasion. He said verify the authenticity of the news, there is a big difference between newspaper and digital media. Digitalization makes news available anytime. That is why people feel it more, and gave information about the law under which Grievances Council was established.
Presiding over the function, Adv. Firdos Mirza said, “Parliament, Executive, Court are the three pillars of democracy. The work of the media i.e. the fourth pillar is to monitor whether these three pillars follow the rules given by the Constitution or not. Today, electronic media is no longer reliable. The work of breaking the country, separating brother from brother is currently being done. Right to privacy is a constitutional right. It should not be violated. Online media associating itself with a self-regulatory body will increase public confidence,” he said, adding the concept of Grievance Council and its importance is that break of mind is the best break i.e. self-regulating body.
In the concluding program, certificates were awarded to the participating members by State Information Commissioner Rahul Pande. The entire workshop was conducted by Anand Ambekar, Managing Director of Technovision Media and Communication. For the success of the program, S.R. Media’s Rajesh Sontakke, Yuvaparva’s Pramod Gudhe, Tejram Badge, Shubham Borghare, Sanket Dongre and others worked hard.
