The Hon’ble President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam will flag off the National Press Day celebrations with a two days International Symposia on November 16-17, 2006 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.

The Day marks the establishment of the Press Council of India 40 years ago on November 16, 1966 to encourage the press to practice self-regulation and to protect its freedom.

Following the inauguration in the presence of Shri P. R. Dasmunsi, Hon’ble Minister of Information & Broadcasting and Hon’ble Chief Minister of Delhi, Smt. Shiela Dixit as Guests of Honour, representatives from more than 15 countries will come together to discuss “Journalism, Ethics and Society in the Age of Globalization” with special emphasis on the “Role of Self Regulatory Bodies in the Media” and “Ethics in Media” and Souvenir on the subject is also being released. Apart from the celebrations being organised under the aegis of Press Council of India in Delhi, the States will hold separate events to mark the occasion.

On the eve of the National Press Day, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India will inaugurate at AIFACS on November 15, 2006 at 4.30 p.m., the Press Council’s exhibition organised to mark the contribution of photo journalism as a chronicle of tomorrow’s history of society and mankind. Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha Shri Somnath Chatterjee as the Guest of Honour for the function on 15th November, 2006 will release the compendium on “Self-Regulatory Mechanisms for the Media”. The exhibition is open to the general public from 1.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. from November 16-18, 2006.

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The Press Information Bureau is the nodal agency of the Government of India to disseminate information to the print and electronic media on government policies, programme initiatives and achievements. Functioning as an interface between the Government and the media, PIB also provides feedback to the Government as reflected in the media.

PIB functions through its corps of Departmental Publicity Officers attached to various Ministry and important government organizations. Acting as interface between media and the government, these officers also advise Ministries on media matters. Special feedback digests are prepared analysing country-wide coverage of major happenings and decisions. Over 2.5 lakh clippings on important issues and events are digitized in a year.