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Mr . Surendra Varma , Research Scientist , Asian Nature Conservation Foundation( ANCF ) , was invited to address the Post Graduate students of Mass Communication in St Joseph’s College on Wednesday, February 13 on the subject of Responsible Journalism .

India is home to a large number of world’s elephant population and over the years the conflict between man and elephant has increased. While discussing or writing about this issue, most people including journalists focus only on the aspect of how elephants are destroying crop, killing people etc. Many are unaware of the issues that humans cause to this species.

He specified the importance of media and its communication of such science stories to the common man. He said, “The media should be able to do sensible or responsible reporting”. The message one conveys in the media on this subject is important.

He further elaborated on elephants as a species along with case studies. He familiarised the students with aspects such as the importance of female elephants and explained how an elephant unit can collapse if one senior female elephant is eliminated from the group.  Mr Varma also sensitized us about details of their eating habits, their need for large unique habitats, and the importance of food, water and shade in their living.

He also explained the reasons for their migration to other forests and problems with intensive inbreeding due to isolation on islands. It was an informative talk with facts and figures that created awareness among media students which will hopefully bring a change in the style of journalistic writing perspective in the man and elephant conflict.