Hard to find straight answers : Far from being free
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 21, 2014 -
Not that the Government, read the State Government, is the favourite target of the media.
Not a pleasant point to admit or acknowledge but it must have been obvious to all that the Government and its agencies are perhaps one of the few targets which the media in Manipur have not hesitated in landing a punch or two now and then.
Maybe a reflection of the democratic ethos and values which have been vaunted by the Government from time to time, but this does not answer the question of how free and fair the media in Manipur have been.
A question which must have haunted the conscience of every professional journalists in the State, but yet at the same time a question which no one has deemed it wise to bring forth in the public domain for discussion.
Why is it that it is only the Government which the media here feel free to criticise while leaving out the others ?
A straight forward answer will be hard to find, but the answer must be clear to many professional journalists, who believe in the dictum of a free and fair media.
That the media in Manipur have to function under pressure and diktats from different power players is something known to all and in many ways this is also a reflection of the reality that Manipur is today.
This reality manifests itself in different ways and the presence of different power players, each exerting its own pressure to gain a foothold in the public consciousness is one of them and one of the most effective means is obviously to be mentioned in the different medium of communications, such as the newspapers and the news channels.
To be sure the Government and its agencies still have to cover a lot of distance to show that the media is indispensable in a democracy.
No longer the time to remain satisfied with mere lip service championing the cause of a free and fair media.
The Government has to be proactive and perhaps the first and most significant step is to demonstrate that it is ready to listen and act on the constructive criticisms which the media may make from time to time.
A suggestion which only a bold and confident Government will be ready to accept. Not necessary that the Government should accept everything which the media say but no harm in listening.
This is important in a place like Manipur which is home to numerous pressure groups and different interest groups.
And needless to say it is these power players, pressure groups and interest groups which have been piling on the heat on the media houses and professionals and this should in a way answer why the media here do not feel free to have its say on many of the issues confronting the land and the people.
Unfortunate it is but the reality is that the media in Manipur are far from being free in the truest sense of the term.
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