Kochi: Sacred Facts, a media conclave under the aegis of ‘Mathrubhumi’ began at the Gokulam Convention Centre in Kaloor. Amidst the multi-faceted threats looming over press freedom, prominent media personalities have gathered in Kochi today to discuss media persecution by the government and propagating authentic facts without being caught up in the flood of fake news. 

Open-debates and counter arguments on varied topics will be staged in five sessions. Senior journalist and Mathrubhumi Deputy Editor P.P Sasindran welcomed the gathering and Mathrubhumi Managing Director M.V Shreyams Kumar delivered the Presidential address.  

R. Rajagopal, Editor-at-Large of ‘The Telegraph’, Kolkata gave the keynote address on the topic ‘Facts in an age of rage and outrage’. In the first session, renowned journalist and columnist of ‘Washington Post’, Rana Ayyub will interact with Mathrubhumi Online senior news editor K.A Johny on the topic ‘Media landscape now’. 

At 12:15 P.M., Shaz Mohammad, Shareeq Shamsudeen, and Karthik Murali will take part in a discussion on the topic 'Social Influencers – the new avatars of communication'. The moderator will be Abhilash Mohanan. 

Later, Josy Joseph, renowned investigative journalist, author, and founder of Confluence Media, Leena Gita Raghunath, and Nidheesh M.K., who produced a sensational investigative report on serial killer Ripper Jayanandan, will hold a discussion about the disappearance of investigative journalism in the contemporary world.

Data researcher Srinivas Kodali, Devadas Rajaram, an expert in digital journalism, multimedia journalism, and data journalism, Adrija Bose, Senior Editor, Boom Live, UL Technology Solutions (ULTS) CEO Murali Gopalan will hold a session about 'Impact of AI on Journalism' from 3 P.M. onwards. 

R. Sreekandan Nair, managing director of Flowers TV and editor-in-chief of 24 News, B. Sreejan, News Director of The Fourth Digital Media Platform, Venkitesh Ramakrishnan, journalist and political analyst, and Dhanya Rajendran, editor-in-chief of The News Minute, will take part in a session on 'When the state and its allies target curated media' from 4.20 P.M. onwards.