By Aditya Sharma
The North East states of India have witnessed a slow, yet remarkable infusion of energy, and thereby growth, in its media ecosystem. The vastness of this region, its complex issues and diverse communities, invite journalism to flourish quite naturally. Yet, sluggish governance and absent metro media interest in the past hardly enabled local journalism and its audiences to grow in voice and strength. Pressures faced by local media or news reported by them rarely caught national attention at the turn of the century.
The introduction of newer digital technologies in the way information is consumed, produced and shared, completely disrupted this.The shift in journalism in the region, as a result of this, was sudden; a quantum jump from one thing to another. This deepened the reach and effect of news, empowered and informed journalists, and increased appetite for information consumption. Today, an increasing number of local media organisations greatly influence and shape social life and politics, catering to both local demand and national attention. However, pressures on local media, with its history of killings and kidnapping, continues to be not addressed. There is evidence to support that it has only worsened, even if violence and strife have reduced.
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative’s (CHRI) new report ‘Stories of Resilience: Media Voices from India’s North East’ documents the lived experiences of journalists who worked, suffered and lived to record this multi-decadal change. Poor public accountability and increasing pressures on media have created exceptionally tough circumstances and pressures under which journalists work in the region. The arbitrary use of laws and muscle power has emerged as visible threats to journalism and media in the region. Amid financial, political, legal, physical and psychological pressures at work, editors, reporters and media persons have been targeted, kidnapped, injured and even killed.
The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasised and magnified these crises that portend the right to report freely independent, assorted and trustworthy information. With an increasing number of journalists being dispossessed of their freedom, online and offline, the work being done by journalists in North East India is under threat ever more than ever before.
Collating patterns of harassment, attacks and intimidation, that continue even today, over several interviews and discussions with journalists across North East India helped CHRI identify and assess pressures faced by journalists. Four core themes of legal threats and intimidation; mental wellbeing; job security and social protection; navigating gender and identities; and digital security emerged as a result of the assessment.
Structural factors that impede freedom of the press, by creating tough working conditions for journalists, are both internal and external. Challenges and pressures are created by authoritarian regimes, lack of infrastructure, disregard for mental health, inclusive and stable workspace, gender disparity, inadequate security and constitutional safeguarding. Lived experiences of five noted journalists from region, including Patricia Mukhim, Pradip Phanjoubam, Teresa Rehman, Tongam Rin and Diganta Sarma, help understand the degree and intensity of threats and vulnerabilities. The report stands as a first-of-its-kind publication on local media from one of the most challenging regions for journalism in the world – one marked by insurgencies, political and ethnic strife, conflict and citizenship exercises.
The author is the Head of Media and Advocacy at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in New Delhi.