The media is very important nowadays and everybody is looking for information on the superhighway. Development of science and technology has increased the scope of the electronic media. Still no one is stopping to look and think for more advances in the 21st century. So far, we can say that the present technology matches the present media.

However, we are also facing a big problem concerning the accuracy of information. Regarding this, the works of sub-standard journalists and the government's propaganda pieces play a vital role. Their cheap works and wrong propaganda try to mislead the common people. Nevertheless, good journalists are not stopped prizing Pulitzer Prizes.

In the so-called biggest democratic country like India where "freedom of speech" is the saying of the country, accuracy of information is almost nil. Specially in the Northeast region, the administering power -- India -- has shielded the true information from the outside world for half a century. Meanwhile, Indian colonial agents in the guise of media persons inject their poison of nasty "divide and rule" policy among the people of multi-ethnic communities and enjoy the outcomes. Just like Manipur's saying "Chaphoo Kairaga Kwakna Haraoba" (literal meaning - if the vessel breaks crows are happy). To the ethnic conflicts - Naga and Kuki, Paitei and Kuki, Meetei and Meetei Pangal, Tripuri and Bengali, Assamese and Naga, etc, the Indian media plays a great role to escalate the violence.

Recently a staff reporter of The Assam Tribune reported " ...The UNLF and the PLA want that certain portions of Lakhipur area of Cachar district to be merged with Manipur... ". The same was reproduced in the Northeast Vigil (Issue No 1.7; Date 29 August, 1999). But everybody knows that the national liberation movement in Manipur has not asked for separating or annexing a square inch of the territory of the Government of India or neighbouring states as it existed in 1947. The people of Manipur want to honour and disclaim the exact territory of India as on the 15 August, 1947, the date of its independence, before the annexation of Manipur to the colonial administration of India. It is correct for the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) because they demand Greater Nagaland, thereby encroaching on the neighbouring states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. However, in the case of Manipur the question is "Why and who has circulated the wrong information to the entire region?" It is nothing but a nice piece of India's propaganda through her loyal covered agents to put wedge of hater between neighboring brotherly states.
Lily Leima is Assistant Secretary, Revolutionary People's Front, Manipur


Northeast Vigil editor replies:
A clarification is needed here. This cyberzine only collates news reports and articles. We do not make any changes in the items except for grammatical and stylistic consistency. We do not have the right to change the news content of a published piece. If they make mistakes (we know most Indian newspapers do), readers now have a recourse. You can write to the Northeast Vigil Mediawatch column and get yourself heard! No, we are not a legal body like the Press Council, but we do believe in the voices of the Northeast being heard loud and clear -- and all over. Therefore, what The Assam Tribune carries is their own headache. Their policies are not our responsibilities.

We also sympathise with Leima's disgust about the coverage of ethnic issues. Let me share a personal experience with Northeast Vigil readers in this context. During my days at The Telegraph newsdesk when I was neck-deep in Northeast affairs, there used to be an unwritten policy in most Indian newspapers. Communal riots were always referred to as riots. You were never to say so many Hindus were killed by so many Muslims or vice versa. The idea was to deal with sensitive issues in a sensitive manner. When once I had wanted to carry a news item saying only that so many "people" had been killed in "ethnic clashes" in Manipur, I was told the Hindu-Muslim equation did not apply to Naga-Kuki or Kuki-Paite clashes. So much for the (in)sensitivity of the sacrosant Indian newspapers towards the Northeast.