September 11 incident at NIT hostel : Need to package the truth
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 17, 2014 -
The truth is so precious it should be surrounded by a body guard of lies.
The profundity of this observation lies in the unstated but obvious truism that while truth is no doubt important and is central to the idea of a free and fair media it also stands that there is not much harm in packaging the truth in such a way that it becomes palatable to all.
Not lying and not exactly stating the bare facts but spelling out certain things in such a way that the truth is not meddled with yet at the same time ensuring that the harsh reality is packaged under some well meaning words.
Not something taught in journalism school but a trait which comes through experience. An art which has been moulded to near perfection by the political class of the land.
However it is not only the political class which has come under the pressing need to take up this art, but also those engaged in the profession of disseminating news and information to the pubiic-the journalists.
Arid perhaps no one understands this better than those who find themselves in places where there are different competing forces, where everyone and anyone can take up a cause and give it a certain semblance of social acceptability by passing the cause or causes under the garb of public interest.
This much is true in a-place like Manipur where those espousing a cause are a dime a dozen making the job of journalists all that more uncertain.
In many instances, two plus two does not always make it four and one has to know when is the right time to stand up and when to sit down.
This is not to say that media persons or journalists have to always write or report to please anyone, but at times the thin line between what is to be said and what is best left out becomes too blurred for anyone to take a stand.
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