Freedom of Expression is not free; but no free media, no true democracy

Oken Jeet Sandham *

Crowds gather at Dimapur on March 5 :: Pix - TSE / Press Trust of India

Hours after the unfortunate March 5 lynching incident at Dimapur, the Government of Nagaland quickly admitted total failure to law and order. Almost all the sections of the people had taken the state government to task for its incompetence in tackling the situation. While admitting their total failure to law and order with regard to the unfortunate March 5 lynching incident, the state government was critical of Social Media activities particularly Facebook Groups like Naga Blog and Naga Spears saying that users might fuel the highly volatile situation by their provocative posts including rumors in their blogs.

In fact within 24 hours of the March 5 lynching incident at Dimapur, the state government had written to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to block some websites and Facebook Groups. The Government also took steps to ban on SMS and Mobile Data services within 24 hours of the incident and the ban continued till March 12 evening. All these measures, the state authorities explained, were taken in view of fast developing fragile situation in post-March-5-Dimapur incident.

Soon after the students' protests in front of the Deputy Commissioner's Office at Dimapur on March 4 and the next day's unfortunate March 5 incident at Dimapur, the images, videos and texts started going out from various mobile phones by using "WhatsApp Messenger" facilities.

The WhatsApp Messenger is an instant messaging app for smartphones and it enables users of select feature phones to use the Internet to communicate. In addition to text messaging, WhatsApp can be used to send images, videos and audio media messages. Locations can also be shared through the use of integrated mapping features. WhatsApp has also rolled out the most awaited feature of voice calling throughout the globe recently.

In October 2014, WhatsApp was the most globally popular messaging app with more than 600 million active users, with India alone boasting a user base of more than 70 million. In January 2015 it reported surpassing 700 million users. WhatsApp is one the most convenient and fastest messengers today. WhatsApp service is so easy unlike Email that one does not need to have the basic knowledge of computer. In fact, people stop using their email services sending their pictures to somebody by attaching the images. These WhatsApp services have already cut the so-called amazing Email services into sizes. The people call Email services as outdated today.

Now almost all the people particularly youth and students have sophisticated mobile phones with pre-installed WhatsApp Messenger facilities, besides other messaging apps. And with the advent of such fast modern digital technologies in our lives, the people including professionals, youth, students, etc. have been conveniently using the services.

As such, when the mob of thousands stormed the Dimapur Central Jail on March 5 to find the alleged rapist and later pulling him out of his prison cell, parading him naked and lynching afterwards, the events would be videoed, photographed by many agitators with their mobile phones. The modern technologies are such that you can not only send instant images, video and audio media messages to others but also upload those materials instantly in Social Media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. from your mobile phones.

The state government's apprehension that Social Media would fuel the situation at the time of March-5 incident is understandable. It is rather preventive measure. But banning the Facebook Groups like Naga Blog or Naga Spears would not solve the fragile situations that came out as a result of total breakdown of law and order. Blocking SMS and Mobile data services in the state for the time being in view of the highly fragile situation could be seen as one of the right steps as the state law enforcement agencies had swung into action in the post-March 5 incident at Dimapur.

But banning the Social Media like Naga Bog or Naga Spears would only send negative message because Social Media networking sites are part and parcel of media. It would have been most appropriate if the authorities sent formal advisories to those Social Media networking sites which, they felt, had been posting provocative images and rumors having potential to fuel more negative waves outside the state or inside the state. At the most, the owners of such blogs, it is believed, would have immediately taken measures to screen out those highly objectionable materials from posting in their blogs if they were given advisories during the highly volatile situations.

In the past, there were instances that the some state governments in the northeastern region were compelled to issue advisories to the electronic media particularly the local TV Channels to stop from repeated telecasting of the video footages which had dangers of generating unwanted situations among the communities. But the authorities never tried to ban them for telecasting those materials. In many cases, the media associations had also resolved not to highlight any of the images or video footages which had the potential to fuel more unwanted situations.

Almost all the major newspapers in the country and the world have their own Code of Ethics. The media personnel's professionalism can be gauged at the time social turmoil. It is up to the media personnel whether they will use them or not or in what manner they will report. Social Media Groups are also part of this. Sometimes professionalism matters a lot than the Code of Ethics, because our reporting should not invite riots, communalism or destructions in our society.

But today there have been drastic changes in the traditional media activities the world over with the advent of the "Social Media." The definition of media has been reinvented with the coming of "Social Media" and every individual's lifestyle has been drastically influenced in a shortest time ever. The traditional media has to accept this "Social Media" revolution. We cannot reject this. There is no way except adapting to this "Social Media revolution." In fact, every newspaper, journal or magazine has its own Social Media sites over and above their own Online Publications.

There are hundreds of Social Media networking sites in the world today. About 70% of youth including students use Facebook. All the political bosses including Presidents, Prime Ministers, even Kings and Queens have owned their own "Social Media networking sites" particularly the Facebook. The President of the USA Barak Obama had extensively used Facebook during his last Presidential election campaigns and he acknowledged that the voters across the United States had been greatly influenced by the Facebook.

In India, in the last 16th Lok Sabha elections, we all saw how Narendra Modi had used Facebook for his election campaigns. In fact, he had reportedly hired media professionals from the US to work on his Social Media sites at the time of his last Lok Sabha election campaigns. Today his (Modi) Facebook account, https://www.facebook.com/narendramodi, has 28,016,81 followers.

On his maiden trip to India, Facebook co-founder and one of the world's youngest billionaires Mark Zuckerberg had even called on Prime Minister Modi last year after the latter had successfully used the Social Media site in his last Lok Sabha election campaigns. The President of India's Facebook Account, https://www.facebook.com/presidentofindiarb, 2,325,127 followers. The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama's Facebook Account, https://www.facebook.com/barackobama, has 45,179,513 followers. The list can go on.

Today, the world has also accepted the Social Media sites as official. If you go for any activities, you are normally asked to submit your Social Media sites. The Social Media has also brought unprecedented unison among the world communities, just becoming as one family. The world has become at your fingertips.

The Facebook has many facilities in itself. You can create your own Facebook Account in your own name as personal site or create Group Ones under certain banner like the ones The Naga Blog or The Naga Spears. They have created these accounts to highlight many issues, be it political or development or social or economic or education or social crimes or evils or remedies, etc.

And they have been doing it with large number of users joining them. Number of important and very pertinent issues used to be highlighted in these Facebook Group blogs and have heated debates kept going. The most interesting part was the sequence of comments and debates on particular topics put up by users or administrators. Over and above such highly debatable topics, they also highlight events that take place and in this way, many users also get enlightened and educated along the way. Indeed, it has become one of the most powerful media tools in the world today.

In fact, our educated youth have a quantum jump in the sea of knowledge with the power of the media they use from their Social Media facilities. And while knowing about the nook and corner of the world through the Social Media activities, it is our equal rights to let the world also know what we are up to and what is happening in our places. I always said that the people in remotest corner of Nagaland know what had happened in America but the Americans do not know what had happened in Nagaland.

Is not it our responsibilities to let the world know what are we up to and our history, works, activities, cultures and traditions, by using the unique Social Media technologies? One should not forget that the Social Media is a very powerful platform and medium for the people today.

The world is still talking about the freedom of expression and our country is one of the largest democratic nations in the world. This democratic values and credentials are closely interlinked with the freedom of expression enshrined in our Constitution. On the other hand, freedom of expression is not free but without free media, there is no true democracy. Yet, the crux of the freedom of expression lies in the individuals who use it and media who are forming larger opinion in the society should maintain ethics of journalism.

But banning Social Media such as The Naga Blog or The Naga Spears in the wake of the unfortunate March 5 incidents at Dimapur will only be seen as going against the sanctity of the "Freedom of Expression." The authority can only ask the Blog owners to refrain from uploading any stories or images or videos or any objectionable materials which had the potential to generate unwanted communal flare-ups outside the state or inside the state. At the same time, administrators of the blogs such as Facebook Groups should also frame "Code of Ethics" for the users while holding up their posts, images and videos till such time the administrators approve them with thorough screening.

Northeast people are still struggling to catch up with the rest of the world and in fact, with the advent of Social Media technologies in our lives, we started pushing ourselves into many fronts and opening our eyes that we should wake up from the deep slumbers. We should use this God given technologies for our future advancement with discipline, culture and dignity.

I hope the state authorities will reconsider the banning of any Social Media sites in the state as it will only push our younger generation into the dark, because their voices will not be heard. The media is one of the important organs of democracy.