Mainstreaming Media : Let us look ahead
- Part 1 -

Monalisa Changkija *

It is a very pleasant surprise that in its effort and endeavour to find its way forward, the Government of Manipur has identified and included the media. I believe that this identification and inclusion is an expression of the Manipur Government's belief that many heads are better than one. I also believe that this identification and inclusion is a result of the Manipur Government's appreciation that the media is crucial for charting the road towards peace, harmony, development and economic prosperity. By identifying and including the media, the Government of Manipur has already taken the initial positive step forward, especially considering that State Governments in the Northeast rarely, or ever, mainstream the local media into the larger canvas of their existence and activities.

My paper today is Mainstreaming Media : Let us look ahead. Let us first identify the issues at hand that we need to resolve. While we identify the issues, we may be able to clearly see our solutions too. Despite making serious inroads into the consciousness of the larger public in the Northeast, somehow Northeastern State Governments have shown marked reluctance to make the space for the media to be included in issues that affect the people. In this region, State Governments seem to have the impression that the media here, whether electronic or print, exist as an extension of the Government Information, Publicity and Public Relations Departments. Our State Governments do not recognise and acknowledge the media as the Fourth Estate of democracy. It has serious repercussion, which we see everyday. This has also made the media in the region vulnerable. The constantly threatened existence and functioning of the media is Manipur is a prime example.

We know the traditional roles and responsibilities of the Fourth Estate in a democracy but as society and State advances, newer issues arise, as also older issues take on different avatars. The media's brief is not to participate, or interfere, in governance but to provide the platform for open debates and discussions on issues that impact upon the lives of ordinary citizens. The media must also participate in these debates and discussions from the vantage point of not being a part of the Government and/or involved in governance hence able to look at all dimensions of these issues from unbiased standpoints.

The media must awaken the ordinary citizen from accepting things fatalistically and empower him/her to think independently and effect changes in his/her realities. The problem is that the local media in the Northeast is fully aware of our brief, and actually so are the Governments, but there appears to be great reluctance to allow the media to freely and fairly perform. There appears to be inhibitions from facilitating the media to act as the bridge between the Government and the people. This not only is a great disservice to the ordinary citizen but also creates the scope for anti-democratic elements to become threats to the media. Worse still, it impedes the Governments from knowing the minds of the people and fulfilling their constitutional obligations by way of good governance.

By pushing the media to the periphery of societies and States' existence and functioning in the region, the essence of democracy is debased and this has a serious ripple down effect on all societal and State activities and endeavours. Ultimately, the power plays between and amongst the Estates of democracy backfires on society and State and the problems that we confront today are consequences of not respecting and upholding the tenets of democracy, and the ideals and aspirations of liberty, freedoms, rights, equality, justice, etc, generally the rule of law. These power plays also erode our traditional value-systems and our people find themselves uprooted from society and State. Hence, their disorientation finds expression in numerous unwanted ways.

The need to strengthen our traditional democratic value-systems with the modern concepts of individual rights, liberty, equality, justice, etc, and vice versa cannot be over-emphasised. In my perception, our Northeastern States have so successfully erased the character, contents and contours of our tribal societies that it has created unbridgeable distances between the individual and the society, as also between the individual and the State and the fallouts are the continuous problems of insurgency, militancy, bandhs, etc, in this region. The other fallout is the media's unenviable existence within these distances, as also simultaneously the media's efforts and endeavours to gap these distances.

Blaming the Governments alone is unfair because Governments too are products of society. To find answers to move forwards, we need to properly scrutinise and study our societies, our communities—and generally our attitudes and mindsets and most definitely our value-systems. While the various Articles of the Constitution of India provide the skeleton of Northeastern States, it is the people and our biases, prejudices, politics, value-systems, vested interests and agenda that make the flesh of individual Northeastern States. To mainstream the media, we have to first mainstream our societies and States on the foundation of the democratic principles of the rule of law. In fact, that is the same foundation on which we need to mainstream our governance, fiscal discipline, our collective integrity.

I don't know why and when we started assuming the role of the victim. True, the entire Northeastern region has been grossly neglected and this neglect has caused much harm to us all, politically, economically, socially, culturally and in every other way. Our problem stems from internalising our victim role and gradually believing that we are powerless victims of the mainstream Indian consciousness. Our problems stem from the fact that somewhere along the way, we mistakenly came to believe that it is more profitable to play the victim than to roll up our sleeves and get down to designing our future.

Unfortunately, the media here too internalised the general victimhood perceptions and we endlessly complain about existing on the periphery of the mainstream media. See, the Fourth Estate too is a product of society and much like all else we too impede our ability to imprint our presence in the national and international consciousness because of our biases, prejudices, perceptions, attitudes and mindsets. The media has to be very clear that it has no race, no religion and no region.

When there is a border dispute between, say Manipur and Nagaland, the media is not supposed to play the communal, the religion or whatever card but report events without bias, then analyse why these events have occurred and make suggestions for restoration of normalcy, understanding and peaceful co-existence. If we editorialise on events and issues along community/communal lines or publish public opinion along the same lines, we only fan the fires of more discord. The media's race and religion is peace, harmony, and this we can do only if we remember that we must play the role of the referee and umpire, so to speak.

Northeastern State Governments tend to look at the media as some form of rival thus negate the collective strength that could have been garnered to work together as equal Estates of democracy and consequently pave the way for societal peace and harmony, development and economic prosperity. All Estates of democracy have defined roles to play and responsibilities to shoulder. If all the Estates create the necessary space and scope for each other, it would be easier to achieve our societal aspirations and move forward.

Meanwhile, it is also imperative that the media does not look at the Governments as the main villains of the story. The media would serve society better and strengthen itself if we shepherd the Governments to walk on the straight and narrow of the rule of law. Governments must lead by example but if it flouts all laws and rules, the rest of society inevitably follows suit resulting in chaos. It is then the suppression of other Estates of democracy follows by not only Governments but also other centres of power in society and State such as NGOs and of course what we generally call the non-State players. Unfortunate but this is the reality in almost each Northeastern State.

One problem that must be underscored in our endeavour to mainstream the media is that of problems and issues being sought to be resolved in favour of small interests, often for short-term ends, instead of resolving them in the interest of the greater good. Any society today is increasingly, multi-racial, multi-religion, multi-cultural and multi-ideological so there would always be differences, disagreements and dissent but if we look at them from the perspective of problems, we design our own failure.

We must look at them as positions of power from where we can negotiate. But we can do that only if we look at our people as human beings with the same needs, same desires and same aspirations, not as collectives and communities identifiable by race/tribe, religion, etc. It is so unfortunate that Northeastern societies have started quantifying success, as also so many other aspects of human life from the perspectives of wealth and political power.

To be continued.....

(A paper presented at the recent seminar organised by the State Govt in absentia)

I thank the Government of Manipur, particularly, the Administrative Training Institute, for organising this seminar and for inviting me to speak. I also apologise for not being with you in person. My paper may be a huge disappointment to you, as it may not be what you have expected from me. I apologise for that. I also apologise if what I have written hurt any individual or institution in any way.