President Ram Nath Kovind has said that fake news has emerged as new menace whose purveyors proclaim themselves as journalists and taint the noble profession. Speaking at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in New Delhi yesterday, he said, in din of breaking news syndrome, fundamental principle of restraint and responsibility been undermined substantially. He said, journalists often assume role of investigator, prosecutor and judge. 



Mr. Kovind said, stories exposing great social and economic inequalities are ignored and their place taken by trivia. He said, instead of helping promote scientific temper, some run after irrational practices in their search for eyeballs and ratings. Mr Kovind said, a democracy like India deeply relies on the uncovering of facts and a willingness to debate them. He said, democracy is meaningful only when the citizen is well informed and in that sense, excellence in journalism grants full meaning to democracy.



Ramnath Goenka Awards in Reporting from conflicting zones category was given to Late Achyuta Nanda Sahu, Mormukut Sharma and Dheeraj Kumar of Doordarshan News. Achyuta Nanda Sahu was killed in Dantewada in Chhatisgarh while covering assembly polls with the DD News team after Naxals carried out an attack in October 2018.