While claiming that he was under no pressure from anyone to tinker with the news or views being telecast on Doordarshan or broadcast on All India Radio, the newly-appointed Prasar Bharati chairman, A. Suryaprakash, admitted that autonomy for the public broadcasting corporation was still a long way off. He did add, "We must proceed in the direction required to achieve it."

Mr Suryaprakash, who is originally from Karnataka, was speaking at his felicitation by the Press Club of Bangalore here on Monday.

After listening to the accolades, Mr. Suryaprakash recounted the early days of his career in Bengaluru and later in New Delhi before discussing the issues pertaining to democratisation of Prasar Bharati. He said Prasar Bharti was an autonomous corporation and there was no question of revoking that. Despite 90 per cent of its employees being from the Union government, Mr Suryaprakash is hopeful of converting the broadcasting body into an independent entity. "It's a long process,” he admitted. “We have to professionalise in terms of quality. We can do it and we must attempt to do it."

Replying to a question on media control by the government, Mr Suryaprakash said, "Control is anathema to democracy and media. Neither the government nor anybody else ought to control the media and we should not allow it. If there are any shortcomings we should self-regulate, without external interference."

Mr Suryaprakash assured that DD and AIR would soon enter the world of social media. Mr Suryaprakash cited the competition and said that 15 years ago the sudden emergence of an array of private channels seemed like a threat to Doordarshan’s viewership. More so since they were very aggressive and invested a lot of money.

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