Bengaluru, 1 July

Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday called for a “principled and professional” approach to journalism to tackle the extremely challenging task of warding against fake news. 

“During the Mekedatu padayatra the media had highlighted an instance of an exhausted me being jostled around by fellow walkers as ‘walking after having consumed alcohol’. That was a deliberate attempt to give people a false message,” Shivakumar said after inaugurating the Press Day celebration programme organised by the Karnataka Media Academy and the Karnataka Working Journalists' Association at Gandhi Bhavan. 

Similarly, he said that media had reported that he was admitted to a hospital when he had just gone for a routine check-up, calling it “fake news”.

"If I make a mistake, expose it. But don't publish or broadcast false news. Until a news item is published, it belongs to the journalist. After it is published, it becomes the property of society. Therefore, every news item must contain truth and honesty," he advised. "If journalists work in accordance with the principles, ethics, and conscience of the profession, it will benefit society."