To be a media person in Manipur is a difficult proposition. There are real threats in trying to do one’s duty as a journalist. For several years Manipur has been under the shadow of the gun. As many as thirty odd militant groups have proliferated in Manipur and all are carrying out their extortion rackets within the same catchment area. It’s a different matter that over the years they too have learned to co-exist. But they are intolerant about any report that shows them in a bad light. Its either that or they want the media to give space to their rhetoric. Media persons in Manipur have been walking the tightrope for several decades. That they continue to bring out the news is only because they have a passion for the profession. Senior editors have been threatened and their papers banned times without number. Journalists have protested and asked the government to clamp down on these merchants of terror but have come up against a wall. The Manipur government has failed to rein in the lawless elements. Hence media person have had to fend for themselves. On Sunday the journalists of Manipur took out a procession to protest the lobbing of a grenade by a militant group into the compound of one of their colleagues. It is difficult to expect a free media in such a stressful situation.
About a fortnight ago a senior journalist and associate editor of the Arunachal Times was shot from close quarters just when she was coming out of her work place. Earlier the office of the same newspaper was ransacked. The journalist was critically wounded but survived. She has just been released from hospital but her attackers are still at large. Is it so difficult to apprehended the culprits? Or is this some political game? Is this the jeopardy that media persons have to live with? Can they not expect minimum safety and security? Do governments not have an onus to protect a key pillar of democracy? Granted that there are media persons today who violate the basic tenets of journalism but that is no reason to stereotype the entire flock. Many continue to write their stories amidst great threat to their lives. They must be given due respect. As a category that operates in a very insecure environment because of their job definition, journalists deserve to be provided security.