Role of media in present Manipur discussed
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 20 2023: The role of media in restoring normalcy in Manipur has been discussed during a one day seminar held at Manipur Press Club, today.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), Manipur and All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) under the theme "Role of media in the present situation of Manipur" .

Held as part of the golden jubilee celebration of AMWJU, the seminar was attended by DIPR Director Dr Th Charanjeet as chief guest, AMWJU president Bijoy Kakchingtabam as functional president and Editors' Guild Manipur (EGM) president Khogendra Khomdram and DIG, Manipur police N Herojit as guests of honour.

At the occasion, DIPR Director Dr Charanjeet said the media has an immense role to play in bringing the situation in Manipur under control.

Role of media in present Manipur discussed

Saying that publishing only verified news will be beneficial to one and all, he acknowledged that journalists, however, face challenges in rendering their service to the people like every other profession. Suspension of the internet was a major blow to the people in the media industry, Dr Charanjeet recalled.

Continuing that the DIPR has been informing the masses about the initiatives, schemes and wellbeing programmes of the Government, he added that they, however, cannot do anything without the support of the private media firms.

Media firms are like oxygen to DIPR, he said while seeking cooperation from EGM and AMWJU to properly implement wellbeing schemes meant for the journalists.

EGM president Khogendra Khomdram, who is the Editor of The Sangai Express (Manipuri edition) said that journalists often find themselves head on with security forces.

He also said that journalists were mistreated by security forces on some occasions during the ongoing violence too and in one incident the camera of a particular journalist was destroyed.

Journalists also have to follow the law of the land and let the security forces do their job but the latter should also be reasonable, Khogendra continued.

There are some media houses and digital media which publish news without verifying the content and it is very unfortunate, he said and added that media shouldn't stoke the violence.

There will be chaos if the media are not careful, he cautioned.

People from different media houses also attended the programme.