Jamia Millia Islamia,New Delhi:
The Centre for Culture, Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia organized a Brainstorming Meeting in order to constitute and deliberate upon the formation of an Association of media scholars and researchers at an all-India level. The Inaugural Address was delivered by the Prof. Ved Prakash, Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) and chaired by Prof. Talat Ahmad, Vice-Chancellor, JMI.
Prof. Ved Prakash congratulated the Vice-Chancellor, JMI and the Centre for Culture, Media & Governance, JMI for its efforts in putting together an Association of Communication scholars. He reminded the participants about the key markers of a discipline, the importance of pedagogical inventiveness, methodological and analytical rigour and contextuality. These, he said, were of salutary significance in the formation of an academic association, especially media. More than anything else, he spoke of how a field like media must be mindful of telling the truth so as to retain the trust of the public which was foundational to any theorization of media and society.Prof. Talat Ahmad, V.C, Jamia Millia Islamia too congratulated Prof. Biswajit Das for his foresight and endeavor in fomenting an Association of media scholars which he said was the need of the hour.
The meeting saw enthusiastic participation from across Central, State and Private universities in addition to research institutions and civil society organizations. The meeting was attended by 20 faculty members from Central Universities, 18 State Universities, 9 Deemed Universities, 8 Private Universities and 4 civil society organizations pertaining to the media.
There was a unanimous decision to form an Association which will provide impetus and direction to communication and media studies in the country. The meeting also addressed the current issues confronting media teaching and research in India both at regional and national level, aligning these discussions with the changing media milieu in the last three decades.