The role of media is important in the great festival of democracy - Jatin Lal

Una, 3 April:- District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner Jatin Lal said that media, the fourth pillar of democracy, plays an important role in the successful implementation of the Model Election Code during elections. Media plays the most important role in motivating people to vote and in providing correct information to the public. He urged the media representatives to cooperate in conducting free, fair and peaceful elections in the district. He was speaking in a workshop and discussion organized in the video conference room of the Deputy Commissioner's office on Wednesday regarding the role and responsibilities of the media in view of the elections.
During the Model Election Code workshop, the District Election Officer gave his views on the topics of paid news, fake news, media certification and pre-certification of election advertisements and gave information about the rules. On this occasion, related topics were discussed in detail while resolving the curiosities and questions of the journalists.
Jatin Lal said that the responsibility of media increases manifold during elections. He said that before disseminating any information or news during the elections, its authenticity must be checked. For this, journalists must be aware of the Model Election Code and media certification rules. He said that the media has always understood its responsibilities and cooperated with the administration. The administration will have similar expectations from media personnel even during elections.

Do not publish political advertisements on electronic media without pre-certification.
Deputy Commissioner Jatin Lal has said that it is necessary to get pre-certification done by the District Level Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) for the advertisements issued by the candidates in the Lok Sabha elections and Assembly by-elections. Without pre-certification, no advertisement can be released on cable networks, e-paper, TV, social media. For advertisements in print media, verification is mandatory only for 48 hours before polling and on polling day. Jatin Lal urged media personnel not to publish any advertisement without pre-certification. Apart from this, do not publish surrogate advertisements also.

MCMC keeps an eye on social media, TV channels and newspapers
He said that all the newspapers, TV channels, e-papers, advertisements published and broadcast on social media and paid news are being closely monitored through the MCMC center set up in the District Public Relations Officer office. This center is operational 24 hours.
He said that radio, cinema halls and LEDs etc. are also being monitored so that no advertisement is broadcasted without pre-certification. Any type of bulk message and voice message advertisements will also not be broadcast without the pre-certification certificate issued by MCMC.
Jatin Lal said that if paid news is published by any candidate during the elections, then the committee will issue a notice to the candidate in this regard and on the decision of the committee, that paid news will be added to the expenses of the candidate.

Awareness activities under sweep
Apart from this, the District Election Officer gave detailed information about the programs being run across the district regarding voter awareness. He said that as per the instructions of the Election Commission, various programs are being organized to create awareness among the voters in the entire district through sweep activities. In view of the elections in various educational institutions, voters are being made aware through voter awareness camps, proper arrangements for voting for disabled people, registration of new voters, signature campaign, oath for voting, songs and music and social media. He said that all these activities are being conducted with the aim that there should be maximum voting in Una district and people should use their franchise.
During this, senior journalists of Una, representatives of media institutions, Tehsildar Election Suman Kapoor and officials and employees of Public Relations Department were present