shri vinod sharma - Rajya Sabha

crores to spare. Then, he launched a news channel or a newspaper. Now, is there
any check on this kind of money which is flowing into the media business And
what is the objective of these people, except for picking up a couple of influence
paddling instruments. They treat the newspapers as influence paddling instruments.
Now, it is not just a scam but also a big business. But, if this is the kind of role
which the media is going to play that just to amass wealth, not to educate or
empower public opinion, then the day is not far away when we shall be as despised
as unfortunately today the political class is. I leave you with this question. It may
haunt you. If it haunts you, it is better because then, perhaps, you may join forces
and maybe, at least, it may persuade Mr. N. Ram to set the ball rolling in the INS
and other matching forums where the people who had to do these correctives are
sitting. But, so long as we among ourselves debate it, we can only part company
after complimenting each other for having delivered good speeches and having put
good questions. But the answers shall be eluding us, unless the people who own
the newspapers, the people who employ us are serious about putting things back on
rails. Thank you very much.
SHRI VIJAY NAIK: Thank you, Mr. Sharma for very frank opinion. You really put
your finger on the very important aspect of the debate. You said that the
newspapers economy is mortgaged to the big business. This is what is happening
now in a big way. You also talked about the Correspondence of Kamao aur Khao
kind of a category, which is there in Punjab. You also said about coverage of Zero
Hour in Parliament, which has become a very important time in the Parliament. But,
you said that that zero has become a big zero because there is so much
cacophony in the House that it is impossible to listen and hear the viewpoints of
various Members who raise very important issues whether it is a national issue or a
regional issue or maybe an issue of his constituency. But I feel that so far as the
major debate is concerned, as you have said, there were very good debates in the