Deceiving the media
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: 19th August, 2008 -

Apart from the naked threat of using violence and imposing diktats by one group on the other, another mounting pressure that the media in Manipur has been facing is the insistence of some social organisations and at times even student organisations to publish whatever material they release to the press in the form of press statements.

While the media is here to reflect the ground situation and bring them to the notice of the Government at times it becomes extremely hard to distinguish the genuine grievances of the people from the grossly exaggerated and at times false allegations and accusations that are raised against any Government officials or politicians.

We agree that the situation in Manipur is such that the media is today seen as one of the few establishments which have not lost its credibility with the journalists following a certain code of ethics but when the media is continually arm twisted into publishing material that is fit only for the garbage bin, then something, somewhere is extremely wrong.

In fact so ingenious have some of groups or individuals become that they are known to send statements under false names and at times in the name of an organisation or two which do not exist at all.

A sit-in-protest was staged on August 5, 2008 at Manipur Press Club by media persons under the aegis of All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) in protest against the ban imposed on Poknapham daily by KCP(MC) L Khuman group

All the media establishments in the State must have fallen into this trap engineered by this extremely deceptive set of people and The Sangai Express is also no exception.

In the past we have had to face a number of embarrassments on finding out that the statement or an article or a letter to the Editor has been sent under fictitious names and addresses.

To state our position, it is well nigh not practical to know the identity of all those who pen down their grievances to be published as an article or as a letter to the Editor, but again at the same time this does not mean the media should not be sensitive to such statements which have the potential to cast aspersions on any official or individual.

It is the mind set of such elements that we find extremely intriguing. What is the message that they are trying to convey by taking the media for a ride and besmirching the image and reputation of an official or two ?

The only thing that we can understand is that these elements must be extremely deceptive with a perverted mind. It is because of this that we take utmost care while screening all the articles and matters meant to be published as letters to the Editor.

However, human that we are, at times we have slipped and this is a sign of our weakness.

On the other hand, there are also pressures galore from some established organisations to publish their article or letter to the Editor, even though the contents of the write ups may be blasphemous and cast aspersions on any individual without any proof.

The pressure can range from the subtle threat to ban the newspaper in a particular area or to cast aspersion on the integrity and credibility of the paper itself, which means doubting the professionalism of the journalists of the particular set up.

If the people of Manipur are so aware of the power and influence that the media can wield then it is also necessary that they realise that the media cannot function under the bidding of anyone, particularly the social organisations.

A mass education on the role of the media is perhaps needed for the people.

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