Imphal, November 16 2009: 'Common people are at the receiving end of a misunderstanding between the government and the media.

Therefore the government and the media must forgive and forget the shortcomings of each others.

Both must tolerate the limitations of each others to avoid the inconvenience' .

This was stated by Information and Public Relations Minister, TN Haokip while speaking on the occasion of National Press Day observance held at the Manipur Press Club here under the aegis of Directorate of Information and Public Relations department today.

Noting that the fourth estate plays an important role in democracy, TN Haokip said misunderstanding cropped up between the press and the government due to communication gap wherein the common people suffer the brunt.

He said both the entities should work in close coordination.

The National Press Day observance was held with the theme 'the Changing Face of Indian Media.' The occasion was graced by the IPR minister as the chief guest.

The president of the function was Commissioner of DIPR, P Bharat while the vice-president of All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU), Khogendra Khomdram was the guest of honour.

Speaking on the occasion, Commissioner of DIPR, P Bharat said the real taste of democracy will be felt when the public, the government and the press maintained cordial relations.

He also commended the role of women journalists of the state who come up to work in critical situation.

In the evening technical session, Arun Irengbam, editor of vernacular daily 'Ereibak,' Brozendra Ningomba, editor of Hueiyen Lanpao (English edition), and Mayanglambam Saratchandra, PRO of Manipur University and former head in-charge of the Journalism and Mass Communication department of MU presented papers.

The technical session was moderated by BB Sharma, Consultant, Regional News Unit (RNU), AIR, Imphal.

Presenting a paper on 'the Role of Media in the Path of Integrity and Communal Harmony,' Brozendra Ningomba said media should maintain positivism in order to promote integrity and communal harmony.

He observed that when media are truly positive in their coverage, reflection and comments, there can be no one who would find faults with the media.

Saying that positivism is the need of the hour, he noted that being positive automatically includes being cautious in thinking and writing.

Brozendra further observed that positive and cautious media will always be sensitive to sentiments and ethos of communities, which in turn will naturally make the foundation of integrity and communal harmony stronger.

In his presentation on 'Status of Media in Manipur,' Arun Irengbam observed that media of the state is in the crossroads.

Both government and non-government agencies want to use the media as their mouthpiece.

The government and the officials need to change their attitude on the media.

He noted that no development would be possible if the government and the media go against each others.

Arun said, the government and the militant organisations have failed to understand the journalism ethics.

He said there are some minor militant groups who view the media as their notice board.

They dictate terms for publication apart from pressurising the media to bow to their dictates.

He noted that the existence of some journalists who work against the media ethics is due to their underpayment.

He further observed that the DIPR should increase the advertisement rate in order that the salaries of the journalists are increased.

While presenting a paper on 'Changing Trend of the Press,' M Saratchandra observed that communication and 'news' media have been changing its trend from time to time due to various changing waves of generation media.

He noted that the development of changing trend of 'news media' is now in its "ecstasy stage" due to the advancement technology and technological revolution.

M Saratchandra noted that though technological advancement is witnessed throughout the generations, the Indian newspapers are continuing to concentrate on political reporting and the 'negative news' instead of focusing development reporting, depth reporting and specialised reporting as suggested by the 2nd Press Commission.

He further noted that 'sensationalism' is still another undesirable trend.

Daniel Kamei adds from Tamenglong: The National Press Day and Dihcham Foundation Day was held here at Tamenglong with Sumant Singh, IAS Deputy Commissioner Tamenglong as the chief guest and Acham Kamei, PO, DRDA Tamenglong as resource person today at Mini Stadium Tamenglong.

Deputy Commissioner Tamenglong, Sumant Singh IAS also launched a free mobile SMS news in Rongmei (Kabui) dialect.

Any person can send "JOIN dihchamdailly" to 55599 to receive the news.

Speaking as chief guest Deputy Commissioner Tamenglong, Sumant Singh said that the lone newspaper should be supported by everyone while stressing that sharing of information is very important in our society for transparency.

There are many so many developments funds and projects taken up in the district which the public should be well aware of them.

Delivering his speech on National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), Acham Kamei, PO DRDA said that comparing to other districts, Tamenglong district is one of the best in the implementation of the scheme.

He also said that while the schemes are here everyone should know that the scheme (NREGS) is not at all free.

It is the tax money from rich country, he said.

After the National Press Day and Dihcham Foundation Day observance, the 3rd Dihcham Foundation Day Open District Volleyball tournament final match between Diege Youth Club (DYC) and Town Common Club was played here at Mini Stadium Tamenglong.

DYC won the match.

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