6th Dr Anamika Ray National Media Lecture held at GU

Social Media is demassifying the Society: Prof. Joshi  

Staff Reporter, Guwahati, September, 23: ‘Television was a status symbol among mass Indian a few decades back and it was instrumental to unify the family and society at large. Gradually with the difference of content preferences, the process of “demassification” of television started. Now, the entire society is demassified by mobile phones and more particularly by the social media’- the Member Secretary of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi Prof. Sachchidanand Joshi told while delivering the 6th Dr. Anamika Ray National Media Lecture at Gauhati University on September 23. Whether the society was on the threshold of becoming Anti Social as it was clouded by Social Media Addiction – he added. Prof. Joshi also discussed the pros and cons of the explicit and implicit hidden commercial motives that stretch the limits of the addiction of social media. The lecture was presided over by the Chairperson of the Trust Rajat Baran Mahanta, where the welcome address was delivered by Dr Hemanta Kr Nath, the Registrar of Gauhati University. The media students from Gauhati University, Assam Royal Global University, Assam Don Bosco University, DK Girls College, Institute of Mass Commu8nication and Media Studies attended the lecture along with a host of invitees and faculty members of Gauhati University. Dr. Anamika Ray Memorial Trust organizes a national media lecture every year to emphasize its vision to enhance media education.

The first Lecture was delivered by Prof. Mohan Jyoti Dutta of National University of Singapore in 2017, followed by Dr Jatin Srivastava of Ohio University, USA in 2018; Dr. Pallavi Guha of Towson University, USA and formerly journalist of BBC (UK) in 2019, Dr. R. Sreedher, Emeritus Professor, AIMC; Former Director, CEMCA; EMPC, IGNOU, New Delhi; AIR, Doordarshan; EMC, Anna University, IIT Roorkee in 2020 and Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Secretary, Global Media Education Council; Former Pro Vice Chancellor, Adamas University, Kolkata; Dean, Symbiosis, Pune; Amity University, Mumbai. The trust is a Guwahati based NITI Aayog registered educational and research non-profit organization established in 2015. ARMT has pioneered the Anti-Medical Terrorism movement in the region, working studiously for the patients’ rights and responsibilities since its inception with a mission mode of recognition ‘Right to Health’ as one of the Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution. It is to be mentioned that the 6th edition of this lecture series was on the theme, “How much social is social media”.