Representing the ‘self’ : Spatial and temporal questions
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: January 16, 2014 -
The discerning views of average media consumers are as important as those of its producers.
Mainland Indian media practitioners have interesting views on how they have looked at the Northeastern region of India.
The most often discussed topics have so far been that in times of twenty-four hour mainstream news media, the Northeast usually finds space and time allocations only when there is a major eruption of violence or the occurrence of a colossal natural disaster.
When it comes to political violence, the more the “casualties,” the better the chances of media coverage of the region. At times, it takes a “dramatic action” for the mainland media to take notice of the region.
The attitude of the mainland media towards the Northeast is not much different from that of how the “First World” media engages with the "Third World."
There are many reasons given by media practitioners themselves as to why events and incidents in the Northeast are not considered newsworthy enough to find space and time in the national media.
They have often opined that the entire Northeast region has connectivity issues within itself as well as with the rest of India.
Despite improvements in infrastructure in the recent past, the situation still warrants attention. They argue that physical connectivity issues also heighten the sense of remoteness from mainland India.
The questions raised here were intended to be addressed through a dispassionate analysis of the core issues confronting the region.
The national media knows the Northeast as a violence-ridden, homogenous region which is not correct despite existence of commonalities cutting across communities.
Another question raised is what should be the quantum of coverage of the region.
Here, it would be noteworthy to realise that if size did matter, the mainland media would have also recognised the “social and human capital” of the region.
What has been discussed above also pertains to uneven coverage or the palpable absence of the Northeast in mainstream media.
Even the little coverage given to the region has been characterised by inconsistencies and biases.
There are instances of mixing up names, mismatch of accompanying photographs/visuals.
This is a serious issue given the assumed role of the media to disseminate correct information and images.
However, media in the region are also not entirely free from clutches of similar issues.
What is of utmost importance now, is for the media in the region to broaden “the perspective”, so that the “marginalities within” too find their voices in justifiable spatial and temporal sequence.
This would at least enable us to address the questions of representing the “self”.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.