Gag on media

JOWAI/SHILLONG: The East Jaintia Hills district administration on Saturday barred mediapersons from going near the mine site without giving any reasons for the action.
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Kyrmen Shylla said that he was informed that media persons were disturbing the operations as they “keep on coming for interviews after every few minutes one after another and hence restrictions have been put in place there.”
Shillong Press Club president David Laitflang said that he had already requested Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to see that
the channel of communication between media and the administration remain open for correct information to be passed onto the people. Terming the administration’s action as “unfortunate”, he said that there should be nothing to hide and media and administration should cooperate with each other.
Meanwhile, Opposition Congress MLA Ampareen Lyngdoh said that the gvernment should take the responsibility of briefing the media and the people of the state on a regular basis about the status of the rescue operations and not dodge.
The administration has, however, been giving out inputs on the operations in an Whatsapp group, which more often than not fall far short of expectations of the media.