The Union minister said he was aware of the problems like "insufficient wages and insecure job conditions" faced by journalists working in many news organisations.
Defence minister AK Antony today said he would make use of his good offices to speed-up submission of report of wage boards for employees in newspapers and news agencies.
"I share your concern. I have been with you whenever you took up your genuine demands. This time too, I will do whatever I could to help you," he said inaugurating the 48th state conference of Kerala Union of Working Journalists in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Union minister said he was aware of the problems like "insufficient wages and insecure job conditions" faced by journalists working in many news organisations.
"However, despite the limitations you should uphold the basic tenets of the profession like impartiality, fairness and objectivity", he said.
"In the prevailing context, people have the greatest faith in judiciary and media, since they play a vital role in keeping the democracy strong. You should always bear this in mind when carrying out your duties," he said.
He said it was most important to cross-check facts before putting out stories.
With the advent of the "breaking news culture" the work burden of mediapersons had increased manifold, he said, adding, "The other day I asked some very young reporters about their schedule. They said their day starts quite early and it drags on till very late in the night."
Considering this, it was important to take up problems of journalists in visual media as in the case of their counterparts in the print media, he said.
Kerala public works minister M Vijayakumar, KUWJ state president KC Rajagopal and general secretary Manoharan Morayi spoke on the inaugural session of the one-day meet.
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