News

Report by Sr Euginia Laloo FMA

Views on Current Trends and Emerging Challenges at SINA 2018

Guwahati Feb 21, 2018: The SIGNIS National Assembly 2018 (SINA 2018) scheduled for 21 to 24 February is underway at Don Bosco Institute, Guwahati. It is a body represented by members from all across the country who are engaged in the field of media. The theme that runs through the study days is Media: Current Trends & Emerging Challenges. 130 participants have turned up on the first day of the meeting which is expected to rise to 150 or so in the coming days.

Spearheading the highlights of the Assembly the participants have witnessed two speakers namely Ms. Charu Soni and Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil during the Pre Lunch session. The former spoke on Media Landscape in India Today: Truth, Secularism versus Political Patronage and Silencing dissent. The resource person drew broad features of what is happening in the media in a decade or so. She began her talk with a phrase – ‘Journalism is Life’. She cautioned the assembly about the recently widely spread information about the RSS going to start its news agency hence, PTI would be superseded by the RSS news agency. Speaking on Secularism, she noted that when we have religion “RSS” sitting on the government then it would be soft on saffron. She also pointed out that there was a feeling that the Church and Christians were missing on the ground during the Crusade led by the Muslims entitled Caravans of love which resulted in a feature entitled Christian litmus test.  Concluding the talk she powerfully conveyed to the assembly that Fascism is a project today which does not need to be distinguished between life and truth.  

The second talk on Media: Social & Political Responsibility & Quest for Truth, need for soul searching was dealt with by Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil SDB, Archbishop Emeritus Guwahati. Prior to the talk Mr. Allen Brooks introduces Archbishop Thomas as a multifaceted genius in the different fields such as media, evangelization, ecumenism, peace-making etc… These days he is kept on busy schedules with lectures given across the world. He recently gave an analysis on Hate Crime – creating a ‘Culture’ Antipathy!  in the Indian Currents a weekly magazine with the tag line – Journalism with a soul.

In a 21-point discourse, Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil highlighted the challenges before Communicators Today. On the other hand, he counteracts these challenges by proposing practical ways of combating hate and bring better intellectual tools for dialogue. This could be summed up in the following words: To build up a “Thought Bank” of sobriety and co-belongingness.

The session was moderated by Fr. George Plathottam and after every speaker few minutes of interaction was availed to the floor for their queries and compliments.