The new media
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: May 16, 2013 -
Of late, many of the State Government Departments have been more reactive rather than receptive to media reports over their every act of omission and commission, even to the point of being hysterical.
Such prompt response from the side of the Government departments, which was something unknown or unheard of earlier, shows that media in Manipur has come of age and is doing a good job in keeping the administration on its toes.
This also shows the changing relationship between media and the State in Manipur.
The days of Manipur media being just a neutral conduit for dissemination of Government information to the public is over and it has become very critical over the functioning of the Government and other power-that-be.
As a matter of fact, this should be the role of media in a democratic country rather than being a mere tool for highlighting the 'achievements' of the Government.
First and foremost, the media's function in a democracy is to educate the general public on the actions of the government including its undoing.
But the media in Manipur had remained forgotten of its intricate role in awakening the minds of both the people and the government.
This is one reason why the merging media in Manipur and some of the Government departments appear to be at loggerheads over a news report or two, which are not to the liking of the latter.
In such a situation, the resentment of Health and Family Welfare Minister Phungzathang Tonsing, who is also in-charge of the portfolio of General Administrative Department (GAD), over the recent inspection visit of a team of Estimates Committee of the State Assembly to the godown of GAD along with media persons to expose numerous irregularities in the functioning of the department needs to be analysed in its proper perspective.
While assuring that stringent action would be taken against the erring officials and agencies who are trying to tarnish the image of Department, the Minister has maintained that the conduct of the Estimates Committee in inspecting the godown along with media persons was not right.
According to the Minister, the best possible option of the Estimates Committee would have been to inspect the godown on its own first and then report the matter to media.
Here, what we would like to know from the Minister is how that would change 'the fact' in his Department, which has not maintained any record of the purchases supposedly made in connection with the visit of VVIPs to Manipur for the last many years?
Or, was the Minister indicating that the matter could have been settled quietly with the Estimates Committee behind closed door and, thus, swept away the rot in his department under the 'red carpet' bought for the visit of a former President of India, but found missing when needed for the visit of incumbent President?
Whatever the Minister was indicating at, one thing we can rest assured that media in Manipur is not to be belittled or crossed sword with anymore even by those who have the habit of taking along a team of media wherever they go for front page report on the following day's newspapers.
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