New Delhi: The freedom of the press in India was not in danger but "trivialisation" of news posed a real challenge to it, according to some of the country's leading figures who emphasised that the media also needs to be held accountable to the public.

Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptulla, Union Commerce and Law Minister Arun Jaitley, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik and other dignitaries spoke on the theme of 'Media and Democracy' at a function held in New Delhi last night (Dec 15, 2003) to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Federation of PTI Employees' Unions, the apex trade union in the country's premier news agency.

Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Sharad Yadav, Union Minister for Small Scale industries and Development of North-East C P Thakur, Minister of State for Power Jayawanti Mehta, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, MP, National Conference President Omar Abdullah, MP, were among the galaxy of guests at the function attended by nearly 400 members of the PTI staff.

Other prominent dignitaries included CPI (Communist Party of India) National Secretary D Raja, CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechuri, senior Congress leader Margaret Alva, MP, leading lawyer and Congress MP Kapil Sibal, former Union Minister Ram Jethmalani, Attorney General Soli Sorabjee, Samajwadi Party MPs Ravi Prakash Verma and Dharam Raj Singh Patel, prominent trade union leader from the media industry, officials and heads of several Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and business leaders.

Concerned over "trivialisation" of news under the garb of competition, Jaitley in his address asked media to pay greater attention to credibility as it was a bigger challenge than the freedom of press.

PTI