Advani's words of wisdom for media

LUDHIANA: BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani on Sunday described media as an important pillar of democracy, but said it needed to exercise self-regulation to check sensationalism and trivialisation.
     
"Sensationalism and trivialisation are two shortcomings of the media today. There is need for self-regulation to curb such tendencies," he said at a convention of the India Media Centre at the Punjab Agricultural University here.
     
Elaborating on the need for self-regulation, the Leader of the Opposition pointed to the restraint exercised by the US media in the aftermath of 9/11.
    
"The American media never showed pictures of bodies and about death and destruction. On the contrary, the trend is the other way round in India," he said.
     
At the same time, Advani asserted the media was an important pillar of democracy in India and it had a crucial role to play.
    
The senior BJP leader mostly confined his speech to the media and did not touch any burning political issue.
     
At one time, he, however, said the polity in the country was cleary divided between the NDA and the UPA with the masses looking forward to the former for "good governance".
    
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who also spoke on the occasion, heaped praised on Advani saying only a person like him could provide strong leadership to the country.
    
The people wanted to see him as Prime Minister of the country, he said.