The Day After Media-Police Seminar
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 30 , 2013 -

It's funny how media persons in Manipur have been given cold-shoulder treatment by CRPF personnel posted at the gate of Raj Bhavan on Monday, when they went to cover the oath taking ceremony of the newly appointed Governor of the State.

Interestingly, the incident has come about just a day after the highly publicized day-long seminar cum workshop on "How Police and Media can work in tandem to deliver better justice to the people" organized jointly by Manipur Police Department and All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) at the banquet hall of 1st MR here.

The media persons have gone to cover the event after they were duly invited by the State Government.

However, they were not allowed to enter the gate of the Raj Bhavan by the Central para-military forces manning the gate.

Unhappy over the conduct of the CRPF personnel, media persons boycotted the function and have decided not to file news report on the oath taking ceremony of the new Governor.

Now, the question is, if the media persons were not to be allowed to cover the event, then why they have been invited in the first place?

Was there any specific instruction to the CRPF personnel manning the gate of Raj Bhavan that media persons should not be allowed entry to cover the event?

And, if there was any, then who has given that instruction?

The State Government needs to do a lot of answering if it actually intends to improve the media-police relationship in Manipur.

Organising seminar/workshop and talking about the need for improving the relationship between the media and police or any other security forces posted in Manipur is one thing.

But what is more important is the need to change the mindset of the security personnel towards the media persons in general and those working in a conflict situation like Manipur.

Mind you, this is not the first time where media persons in Manipur have been given such cold-shoulder treatment by security personnel.

There have been numerous cases in the past where security personnel simply treated media persons with disdain or scorn and look upon them as some nuisance.

In the latest stand-off too, the CRPF personnel manning the gate of Raj Bhavan reported to have cited security reason for the denial of entry to the media persons despite being duly invited by the State Government to cover the oath taking ceremony of the newly appointed Governor of the State.

If the presence of a handful of pen-wielding media persons is a threat to the security of the highly fortified compound of Raj Bhavan with several rounds of security rings right from the main gate to the main building and beyond, then would there be any place in Manipur which is safer?

Citing security reason for denial of entry to anyone including media persons in any part of Manipur is just a worn-out lame excuse.

If this is the kind of mindset and attitude of the security personnel towards the fourth estate of democracy, no amount of workshop or seminar organized would able to improve the relation between media and security personnel in Manipur, ever.