• The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that in an open society like ours, we need a responsible press to hold power to account. He was addressing an event to launch the commemorative edition of National Herald, in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Only Crux from the Address:

• Conceived by Jawaharlal Nehru, the National Herald began its publication from Lucknow in 1938 and soon became the voice of our independence movement. Its banner of ‘freedom in peril’ has an abiding relevance. 
• The Press played an important role in educating, convincing and mobilizing our people. Many founding members of the Congress in 1885 were journalist. The most inspiring of the journals, like Tribune, Hindustan, Leader, Sudharak, Kesari, Akbar-i-Aam, The Hindu and Swadesh were edited by prominent leaders like Tilak, Gokhale, Subramanya Iyer, Lajpat Rai, Madan Mohan Malviya and Agrakar.
• Gandhiji was associated with six journals, and editor of two very influential weeklies. He published no advertisement; at the same time he did not want his newspapers to run at a loss. ‘Young India’ and ‘Harijan’ became powerful vehicles of his views on all subjects.
• Freedom of press under Article 19 (1)(A) of the Constitution, is subject only to reasonable restrictions in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, public order, decency, contempt of court, defamation and incitement to an offence.
• The Supreme Court has held that ‘freedom of speech and of the press is the Ark of the Covenant of Democracy’ because public criticism is essential to the working of its institutions.

Source:PIB