The first estate represents the clergies who were very powerful in the yesteryears. The second estate the nobles ruled the world for centuries but had to part way for democracy and capitalism. The third estate (politicians) rule the world and undoubtedly are the most powerful living homo sapiens of the century. They are class of people who are neither scared of the masses nor their superiors. They have only establishment which can rein them and show them the path to nation building. Who? The Fourth Estate, the press, the most harmless yet the most powerful body who play a major role in nation building. The lecture on "The Role of Media in nation building" was delivered by Mr. Joe A Scaria Principal Correspondent of Economic times, Kochi. The Chairman inaugurated the function and briefly touched upon the role played by ET in the Economic and Financial policies of the Government. The ET in fact predicts the annual budget well in advance, which has been a cue for most of the Finance Ministers in planning their annual budget. A few honcho’s in the finance sector vouch their road to success to the Economic Times, he added.

Mr. Joe A Scaria explained the method adopted by the press to highlight the progress or the misdeeds of an Organization. Management information systems are in place and the pattern the progress of the events is observed regularly which is then analyzed and published as per the scheduled occurrence of the events. Their aim is to change the perception of the citizens. He narrated the example as to how things have changed from the Nehru era to the IT era. It was the public sector that was given prominence immediately after independent and today the right to education and entry of foreign of Universities is what steals the headlines.

Many of the students interacted with the Speaker, and certain questions like, Why does the media sensationalize certain issues, can they remain apolitical and refrain from yellow journalism.

Lec M Rajkumar in the vote of thanks reminded the audience of the media during emergency and a few other incidents that helped the public change their perceptions. Over all it was a very interesting, informative and interactive session.