PUNE: Commissioner of Police K Venkatesham spoke about the importance of communication and how things operate during a crisis. He was addressing a conference held at the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth on Monday.

He said, “One cannot get all the facts without having some distortion in them. Those who are handling the crisis cannot provide them while doing their job. For example, during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, there were five places that were under attack but media covered only two, providing too much information on these places. The information has to be timed rightly and checked properly before being provided to the people.”

He added, “We are prepared for a crisis but the prevention doesn’t find a place in the media. However, if we make one mistake then it’s breaking news. If we start boasting our achievements then the people will set that as a working standard for us and always expect the same level of result.”

Also present at the conference, award-winning cartoonist BV Panduranga Rao, prominent media professional and Educationalist Sashidhar Nanjundaiah and senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta explained how crisis can come at any level in society and how one can sustain it with proper methods.