More than professional hazards - Media : Not a punching bag
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 07, 2014 -

Professional hazards. A term synonymous and universal with all profession.

However how does one explain the hazards that come because one is associated with a certain profession but in fact have nothing much to do with the profession ?

A condition for which there is as yet no universally acceptable term but this is something not new to the journalists working in Manipur.

Tough to verbally explain or put down in words, but an experience which all journalists in Manipur must have gone through in their profession.

The presence of numerous power players each dictating their own interest has only made things more complex.

And so it is that journalists here find themselves in a catch 22 situation numerous times.

In such a situation it is not uncommon for one of the numerous power players dictating what can be and should be published and what should not be published. The casualty is not only journalism but also the truth.

Not wonder then that journalists here have to master not only the craft of their profession but also something much more which may lead to short changing the readers or the listeners.

Not that this matter to the power players for whom the ultimate objective is to bull doze their way, never mind if in the process it is the people who lose out.

And to think that a number of these power players have attained a certain degree of social legitimacy for whatever they do they do, it is in the name of the public. Some sort of a tragi-comedy for Manipur.

It is these elements the public should be wary about. When they care two hoots about the fourth estate, then what will they care about the public ?

A question which everyone should start raising now, vocally at that.

A number of journalists have fallen prey to the designs of these elements. Some have been killed while others have had to suffer serious injuries.

The impact on the physical and mental well being can only be imagined. Some publications have had to suspend publications on one charge or the other while some journalists have been told to give up their vocation.

Not at all conducive for the healthy growth of the media and certainly unhealthy for all those who are engaged in the job of disseminating information to the public.

So far the journalists of Manipur have been steadfastly opposing the designs of these elements to brow beat the media, but it is nonetheless disturbing to note that attempts to influence the media should enter their train of thoughts in the first place.

Food for thought here for everyone.