Call from Governor Uikey : Testing time for media
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 09, 2024 -

This is perhaps the right time.

The mantra, the life giving oxygen of all media houses is credibility, but the question is, credibility in whose eyes and perceptions ?

This question is critical when Manipur is passing through a critical phase and when the media in Manipur has been uncharitably dubbed as Imphal centric media and even Meitei Media.

As pointed out in the opening words of this commentary, this is the right time to raise these points, as it was just on January 6 that the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union and Editors’ Guild observed the 49th foundation day of the Manipur Press Club with no one less than the Governor herself gracing the occasion as the chief guest amongst a bevy of well known personalities including MAHUD Minister Yumnam Khemchand.

It was here on this occasion that the Governor stressed on the role of the media, a role that should be understood as its responsibility-a responsibility that commensurates with the calling of the profession and the respect it evokes from the public and the establishment.

The reality however should tell a different story, especially after Manipur went up in flames on May 3, 2023.

The Sangai Express cannot speak for the others, but for over 8 months, the newspaper has tried to stay true to the profession of disseminating the right information to the public while speaking out its stand on the issue on the forum that is provided in the newspaper itself.

Since September 11, 1999, the first day The Sangai Express greeted the readers, it has tried to stay true to the calling of the profession and it is the faith and confidence reposed by the readers and the public that has taken it to newer heights with each passing year.

And this is where it was really disappointing to see some well placed personalities and well connected individuals who came out with the grand idea of tagging the media in Manipur as Meitei Media and it still rankles.

Again The Sangai Express speaks for itself and not for the others.

As touched earlier here, the 8 months crisis in the State, the like of which no media house in Manipur would have experienced, has been the litmus test.

So many reports, so many talks have had to be rubbished because it did not live up to the understanding of what reports should be about in the understanding of The Sangai Express.

Reality is such that it had and still has become extremely difficult to draw the line between facts and propaganda, but yet at the same time the need to counter the wild, fictitious victim stories that have been peddled with so much dexterity is something that could not and will not be brushed aside.

The challenges are many.

Despite the growing influence and far reach of the social media, the focus on what is reported and commented in the print media is intense and this is where one can understand the Governor’s take on the responsibility of the fourth estate.

Despite the initial setbacks, the way in which the false narratives were lapped up and the manner in which the spelt out premise of the May 3 Tribal Solidarity March was found taken in without so much as a ‘How’ and ‘Why’ from some sections of the media in mainland India, the truth is beginning to emerge and will triumph and this is where one would like to believe that the media in Manipur has been able to dispense with its duties with a sense of responsibility, as espoused by the Governor.

This is where it would be prudent to repeat a point which has been mentioned and asserted on more than one occasion.

The line, ‘tension was already high between the Meiteis and the Kukis prior to May 3,’ needs to be punctured and rubbished.

Yes, Churachandpur was already up in arms before May 3, best exemplified by the very act of setting a Forest office on fire and vandalising a venue which the Chief Minister was scheduled to inaugurate.

But to say that this was a tension between the Kukis and the Meiteis was dangerously mischievous for it sought to erase what actually happened on May 3 at Torbung and Chura-chandpur.

The tension at Churachandpur was between the people of that place and the Government.

To equate this as a tension between the Kukis and the Meiteis is nothing but to champion the false narrative that has been peddled.