TSE Another Test for media 20070613

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Another test for the media

Courtesy: The Sangai Express 13th June, 2007

It is like a cruel co-incidence and six years after the Bangkok Declaration of June 14, 2001 and the June 18 Uprising the same year, the media in Manipur is again being tested in the same month, June, albeit in 2007.

Though it may amount to patting ourselves on the back, we believe that the media in Manipur did handle the sensitive issue way back in 2001 responsibly and the care that it took while reporting the events of the day during the tumultuous days went a long way in defusing the crisis.

One insensitive stroke of the pen could have made matter worse in 2001 but the media conducted itself commendably and helped in defusing the situation through stringent self censorship. Now another similar situation has arisen, though it may not be as intense as in 2001.

Indian officials escorting the people who had fled to Myanmar after the June 9 violence back to Moreh

It is now more than three days since the Moreh killings and with tension still brewing at the border town as well as at some parts of Imphal, as can be seen in the 24 hours general strike called by the JAC of Khurai, the media has to be alert to ensure that nothing is blown out of proportion.

This onus is all that more if we take into consideration the point that true reporting may escalate the trouble and a balancing act has to be adopted between reporting the reality and being on the alert that such reporting also do not fuel the situation.

While the media has been dispensing its duties ethically and with a sense of responsibility, we at The Sangai Express feel there is still more that we can do and as far as this establishment is concerned that is what we will try to focus on in the coming days.

The positive call for peace will be given ample space and we hope the authority and the people concerned will be willing to come forward and highlight the sufferings being faced by the common people at Moreh and elsewhere.

So far the attention has been on the Meitei community who have had to desert their homesteads and live together for security sake but we are more than sure that the Kuki people living at the border town too must be feeling the pinch of the stand off and the volatile situation there.

The challenges before the media is great, especially in a place like Manipur which is home to a number of communities and different interest groups each with their own agenda.

Striking a balance and at the same time standing by the ethics that our profession demands can be a tricky issue at any given point of time.

Objectivity is the soul of reporting but then again we have to think of the likely repercussion by such objective reporting especially at a time like this when a single choice of word or sentence may ignite another issue.

On the other hand the people too, especially the affected people living at the border town also need to understand the extremely dicey situation in which the media has to work.

One question that needs to be raised now is why the media team that visited Moreh recently could not carry any story of the Kuki villagers living there. This is where we think the community leaders of the Kuki people need to put on their thinking cap.

Why did not the community leaders of the Kuki people deem it fit to take the opportunity of meeting the media team and air the sufferings of their people, is the natural question that follows.

Was it because they viewed the media of Manipur as being steered by the interest of one particular ethnic group ?

Here we would like to put it on record to say that the media in Manipur is anything but communal and we have been demonstrating this during all the tumultuous periods that the State has had to undergo in recent years.

At the same time we would like to remind all concerned that The Sangai Express is always open to suggestions and criticisms as well.

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