Insensitive Media
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: November 26 2012 -

From a single-paged hand written copy to the two-paged letter-press print-outs in black and white, and then to the present multi-coloured ten or twelve-paged wave-machine news imprints that we eagerly look forward to read every morning.

Again, from the good old Doordarshan programmes transmitted through satellite from Delhi to the present satellite channels offering different flavours inside our own living room, the evolution of media, both print and electronic, in Manipur has been indeed a long journey.

And today, we claim that media in Manipur has come of age.

But, does it really?

How objective is Manipur media in covering news report to enlighten the people?

Or, in another word, how fair is media in Manipur in performing its duty as the fourth pillar of democracy?

A cliché in media reporting says, "Sex sells, and sensational stories on sex crimes sell even better."

Are we in media compromising our professional ethics and committing the cardinal sin of selling sex stories in the name of journalism and disseminating information to the public?

These are some of the pertinent questions that we need to find the answers out, specially, in the light of alleged insensitiveness over reporting or covering sensitive issues like crimes against women and children including rape and other form of sexual assaults through print as well as electronic media.

During a day-long consultative workshop on 'Media Ethics in Reporting of Rape Cases', which was jointly organized by Manipur Alliance for Child Rights (MACR) and All Manipur Working Journalist Union (AMWJU) at Manipur Press Club on November 24, various aspects of media reporting in Manipur on such a sensitive issue like rape had been deliberated threadbare.

From the deliberation, it has become evidently clear that although media in Manipur may have come a long way, but it is yet to reach that stage where we could proclaim to have come of age in the true sense of the term.

In fact, what we have seen is advancement in media technology in terms of improved machineries and equipments and not in the working environment or the level of commitment towards the profession.

This is indeed very sad. But then, there are several factors contributing to this sorry state of affairs.

One obvious reason, of course, is lack of professionally trained media persons in the field, thus, reducing it to a sort of stop-gap arrangement for wannabes on the lookout for greener pastures.

On the other hand, for those who considered themselves to have been stuck in the job, the dividing line between the ethics of journalism and their professional callings is so blur that Manipur may be the only place in the whole wide world where so-called professional journalists do not have any qualm over sharing the same dais with 'politicians' in some functions.

In such a situation, we are being sensitive where we shouldn't be and vice versa. Truly, very sad.