The summit had the who’s who of the respective sector to share their experiences and guide the young leaders. The topic for the session on media was ‘How to use the media’ which is an ever-relevant issue and has attracted more attention since the electronic media came under fire due to live coverage of 26/11. The panelists were Suhasini Haider of CNN-IBN and Mahesh Puri of Outlook India. The representation from both the print and the electronic media made the discussion more fascinating and enlightening. It captured the nuances of both kinds of media, that too coming from the experts of the trade.

Puri said that he shifted from investment banking to media as he feels there is more contentment in a creative field. His realisation of being useful to the society came when following the publication of travel guides of Outlook, many unexplored scenic places of India came into light and became hub of travellers and tourists. This has generated employment at a large scale. “I could reach out to one million people and change lives of many. I think I am happier than Mukesh Ambani,” said an exhilarated Puri. He pointed out to the fact that at one level media creates debates, eg nuke deal, which is carried in the major news bulletins. At the other level are smaller ventures like travel magazines which have the potential to bring about immediate changes in people’s lives. He also mentioned that the work of media is not only to praise the rich. It is also about bringing out truth. He gave examples where his publication was asked to cover a particular company by the same company and it carried a negative report on the same.

Haider threw light on new media, ie internet. She started off by saying that initially she envied her friends in print media as they had more free time compared to her. But now things have changed as internet has become more taxing than even electronic media. After drawing this process of evolution of media she pointed out that the potential of new media has to be used to its fullest. If 84,000 people were present on the spot when Barack Obama took oath as President of the US, 80 million watched him on television and 200 million clicked on internet for the same. This is the power of emerging media. The experts pointed out the difference and importance of all forms of media. They said that while electronic media provides instant news with audio-visual effects, the print provides analysis. Puri said that a weekly magazine like Outlook was crucial in generating healthy debate. This was possible because the contributors to a weekly had the leisure to sit back and analyse issues and provide a perspective on the same.

Haider dealt with aggressively when a question was asked about censorship of media in the light of Mumbai attacks coverage. She said “Whenever people talk of that coverage, they forget that the journalists were risking their lives by standing so close to the site under fire and actually facing live bullets. Many of my colleagues were standing right there. I know how dangerous it was to be there.” She further added that it was not the media but the government that let crucial details out. In any case media did not cross boundaries; commandos getting down on the Taj was visible from miles. Puri agreed and said, “If our response to every problem is censorship then in a matter of few years we’ll have no democracy and freedom left.”