From September 11, 1999 till date : 15 years and looking ahead
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 11, 2014 -

Fifteen years old and looking ahead.

To the management and staff of The Sangai Express one may as well add a hundred years but the spirit behind the endeavour will remain the same. That is looking ahead.

Hard to calculate the age of a newspaper and the impact it has made, especially in this era when there are publications which have already touched the century mark.

But down the years, The Sangai Express has more than made it clear that it is not the number of years that really matter but the spirit behind the endeavour.

Each day is a challenge and this has been the guiding force ever since a group of highly committed and interested professionals put ink on paper in the late evening of September 10, 1999 so that the first edition of the paper hits the news stand the next day.

The manner in which the management and the employees co-operate and work as a team to bring out the day’s paper can be the Bible of any private enterprise in Manipur and this has been the mantra and the guiding light from Day I. Team work, this has been the corner stone of success.

There are no super stars here but each employee is a star in his or her own right. So it is that all are team players with the Editor, the Sub-Editors, the reporters, the computer experts, the machine men, the guys and girls at the advertisement section, the distribution section chipping in to bring the day’s paper to the readers and subscribers.

Over and above this is the management section. Lest we forget, there are contributors and correspondents, who have chipped in with their ideas and labour to make the newspaper what it is today. Team work-a term which may sound mundane but a term which The Sangai Express has taken to heart for no newspaper can be a one man show.

When The Sangai Express first came on the scene there were only three English dailies and the number of vernacular daily papers was not that large. Today there are at least five English daily newspapers published in Imphal and correspondingly the number of vernacular dailies too has increased while some papers have bitten the dust.

This is not say that everything is hunky dory. There are still lots of room for improvement but it is with a feeling of satisfaction that everyone at The Sangai Express can look back with a certain sense of satisfaction over the progress that has been made so far in the 15 year period.

So from a four paged, black and white newspaper, we have today progressed to 12 pages and in multi-colour. The progress and development could not have been possible without the co-operation of our well wishers, the subscribers and the readers.

Right from Day I, it has been the calling card of The Sangai Express to call a spade a spade and strictly live by the principles of journalism and keeping with the calling of the profession has not always been an easy task.

To be brutally frank, we will not hesitate from stating that there have been times when we were coerced or ‘persuaded’ through some tough talking to toe the lines of the power players.

Very disappointing and at the same time very disillusioning as well.

Professional hazards, one may call it, but there are times when throwing up one’s arms and doing what comes to one’s mind becomes the more appealing option.

The redeeming factor is obviously the faith and confidence of the readers and subscribers who have stuck by us all these years.

In the years ahead, The Sangai Express will endeavour to muster the needed strength to call a spade a spade, whenever the time calls for it.

Not for nothing is it said that the media is a reflection of society and The Sangai Express firmly believes that as a daily newspaper, we have the added responsibility of shaping and moulding society.