Mysuru: Three Karnataka Media Academy award winners from city — Star of Mysore Executive Editor Meera Appaiah, Prajavani Mysuru Resident Editor K.J. Mariyappa and Andolana Reporter Alfred Solomon — were felicitated by Mysuru District Journalists Association (MDJA) at a programme organised at its premises on Thyagaraja Road in city this morning.

Speaking after inaugurating the programme, International Sarod Maestro Pandit Rajeev Taranath said that journalists have the immense task of highlighting issues in a democratic society and come up with their own suggestions on addressing them.

Pointing out that it is the job of a journalist to throw light on the lacunae and short comings in our democratic set up, Rajeev Taranath said that he was happy to be a Mysurean.

Noting that Mysuru is very well-known for Music and Education, Rajeev Taranath said that as a musician himself, he was disappointed with the functioning of KSGH Music University in city.

Regretting that not even a single musician of International or National fame has come out of the Music University so far, Pt. Taranath maintained that it was only a name-sake University with shortage of staff and facility.

Wondering where all the Rs.4 crore grant provided to the University is going, the Sarod Maestro said that journalists must look at this issue and find out details about the spending of money.

Underlining the role of Journalists in a society filled with casteism, nepotism and such other social evils, the Sarod Maestro said that he was an avid reader of Star Of Mysore and its Editor-in-Chief K.B. Ganapathy was a close friend of him.

Lauding the SOM for promoting arts, culture and music, he said that SOM reserves a lot of space on musical events and issues related to arts, music and culture.

Writer Prof. Maleyur Guruswamy, who was the chief guest, said that by felicitating the three Media academy award winners, we were honouring ourselves.

Emphasising on the role of journalists in highlighting societal issues, he said that the media is rightly called as the ‘Fourth Pillar of the Constitution,’ as it plays a vital role in the betterment  of society.

Karnataka Media Academy Member K. Shivakumar, in his address, said that running the Academy itself was a big challenge. Maintaining that the MDJA has earned a special name for itself in the State, he said that the two-day State-level Conference of Journalists held at Suttur on Mar.1 and 2 was a huge success, which reflects the capability of MDJA.

Stating that the Academy proposes to conduct a workshop exclusively for women journalists of the State shortly, he said that Mysuru may become the venue for the first such workshop if MDJA takes an initiative in this regard.

SOM Executive Editor Meera Appaiah, one of the three Media Academy awardees who were felicitated, attributed her achievement to K.B. Ganapathy, SOM Managing Editor Vikram Muthanna and former Editor M.R. Shivanna (late).

Regretting that out of the 50 journalists who received Media Academy awards, only three were women, Meera Appaiah said that this low number very much disappointed her. Maintaining that more women should enter the field of Jounalism, she stressed on the need for higher participation of women in media, just like in other sectors such as IT, BT etc.,

MDJA President C.K. Mahendra, Vice-president (City) M. Subramanya, Secretary B. Raghavendra, Secretary (Rural) Manju Kote, MDJA General Secretary K.J. Lokesh Babu and others were present.