Media Boom in India's North-East
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IMPHAL, Apr 27 (OneWorld) - The newspaper industry in India's insurgency-hit north-eastern state of Manipur bordering Myanmar is booming, with new journals and dailies regularly hitting the stands, even though journalism is a high-risk profession here.
This small state of 2.39 million people is witnessing a mushroom growth in both English and other dailies, published in several local dialects. In the last year alone, at least two new dailies hit the stands, taking the total number of newspapers published from Manipur to about 30. A few years ago, bringing out a newspaper in Manipur was more of a mission than a commercial proposition. But today things are beginning to look up, with the major dailies getting a slice of corporate advertisements, according to Pradip Phanjoubam, editor and proprietor of the Imphal Free Press, a leading English daily published from Manipur's capital, Imphal. Although the market is not very large, the circulation of a vernacular daily is estimated to be anything between 20,000 to 25,000 copies a day, compared with English dailies that sell some 7,000 to 8,000 copies on an average. Strangely, though the majority of newspapers are just managing to break even, enthusiasm is on the rise with business houses and traders investing large sums of money to bring out dailies from here. Remarks senior journalist K. Bijoy Sharma, "The media in Manipur is by and large independent, and the government is not in a position to bully them as most of us do not depend on government advertisements for survival." Until five years ago, there was a distinct tabloid culture with most newspapers indulging in sensationalism to sell their papers - a trend that has now died a natural death. Remarks a local journalist, "Now there are very few instances of a story being blown out of proportion or distorted, and a great sense of professionalism has crept into the state's newspaper industry." But security is still a mirage here. Working in a conflict zone like Manipur where more than 19 separatist groups operate remains a tightrope walk for most journalists. Says Phanjoubam, "Journalists are always under pressure from both underground groups and the government and security forces. As you cannot rub either the militants or the government the wrong way, this impacts media freedom." In recent years, Manipur witnessed a string of attacks on journalists from outlawed rebels, besides threats and intimidation by security forces. Two editors were shot dead by militants, while state police arrested another editor of a vernacular daily for publishing "seditious" and "anti-national" reports about separatist groups. Such was the pressure from militant groups that in 2001, newspapers had to stop publishing their dailies to protest "direct interference" by the rebels. Journalists working in conflict regions like Manipur often face pressure from counter-insurgency forces as well, with authorities attempting to coerce the media into toeing their line. Recalls the editor of a vernacular daily in Imphal, "We have experienced the worst of times when the government blocked advertisements and subjected us to all kinds of pressure for failing to toe their line." Just recently paramilitary troopers raided the office of the Sanghai Express, another prominent English daily published from Imphal, on flimsy charges of aiding and abetting militancy. The soldiers allegedly assaulted a young reporter, later arresting him from the newspaper premises. As Sharma puts it, "The press in Manipur is sandwiched between pressures from underground groups and the government's high-handed attitude. Functioning here has become a matter of wits. The constant pulls and pressures are tantamount to muzzling the freedom of the press." Some of the region's leading politicians recall that on many occasions, governments have intimidated the press to serve their own needs. Comments former Manipur Chief Minister, Rishang Keishing, "The media in the northeast has always been targeted by either militants or the government. This is a bad trend which needs to be condemned." Militant groups in Manipur have raised demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy and the right to self-determination. During the past two decades, more than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Manipur. |
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