Rolling out the red carpet for the PCI team : Studying the meaning of the visit
- Sangai Express Editorial :: September 25, 2013 -
A team from the Press Council of India is in town. Great on one side and sad on the other hand.
Great that the Council has taken note of the pressure and pulls mounted on the media in Manipur from different quarters and sad that such a situation should have arisen necessitating a team from the Council to visit Manipur on this count.
That the press has been the punching bag of numerous power players, and there are a dime a dozen in Manipur, is no longer news.
Journalists have been killed for reasons not spelt out, bombs have been placed at the offices of newspaper houses with The Sangai Express receiving these 'bomb gifts' on two occasions, the residence of the former president of All Manipur Working Journalist Union was bombed last year on August 15, rough necks and ruffians under the garb of highlighting a cause literally storming newspaper houses and using abusive languages are not uncommon, threats and diktats that a particular press release should be published at all cost with another group issuing threats that dire consequences will follow if the said press release is published and the list goes on.
In the face of such non-sensical demands and pressures mounted on the media establishments, the media houses in Imphal have had to shut shop and stop publication on numerous occasions.
The threats are directed not only against the journalists, but also to their family members as well as the distributors or hawkers who have to wake up at ungodly hours to take the newspapers from the circulation section of the media offices and then deliver them to the subscribers.
It was in September 2001 that the journalist fraternity of Manipur walked out from their respective offices and staged a dharna in the dead of the night at Keishampat junction following immense pressure from two groups over the question of publishing or not publishing a press statement.
Fast forward to 2013 and there is nothing much to suggest that anything much has moved on, if one looks back at the beginning of this month, when distributors ceased service for days and the media houses had to shut shop for two days as a show of solidarity to the threats issued on them.
Lest one gets the wrong impression, it is not only the non-State actors who have been piling the pressure on the media here.
Sometime back in late 2002 or early part of 2003, The Sangai Express was again at the receiving end of the high handedness of the security personnel.
Back then, a team of Assam Rifles personnel from the Singjamei Chinga post, entered the office of The Sangai Express and without saying anything to the Editor whisked away a Sub-Editor on the ground that he was associated with a website.
That the Sub-Editor was subjected to immense threat and pressure with a gun pointed against his temple was well documented then.
No charges were framed for the simple fact that there was no ground to frame any charges.
The matter was ultimately resolved at the intervention of the State Government with the late Major General Kochekkan assuring that befitting action would taken against the AR team, which was led by a Major.
Mr Kochekkan was then a Brigadier looking after one sector. Reporters being beaten up in the line of duty and being threatened while returning home late at night after their day's work is not uncommon.
Given the conflict situation, a situation which the Government of India has not officially declared, there will be ugly and unwanted incidents. But this is besides the point.
The point is the growing number of elements who have come under the impression that the media here can and should be the football of anyone's idea.
To the credit of the journalists, they have faced all the adverse situations under the umbrella of the All Manipur Working Journalists' Union and the respective Editors.
So while the red carpet should be rolled out to the team from the PCI, it would be in the fitness of things for the journalists to delve and study why such a visit has become necessary.
A sure reflection of the threat perception under which media persons have to work here.
* 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.