Guilt Dampens Our Spirit - Eastern Mirror
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Editorial

Guilt dampens our spirit

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By EMN Updated: Feb 07, 2016 10:51 pm

What can be considered more dangerous than to make the people consume conflicting news items in the highly polarized ethnic rift Northeast region? The conflicting reportage on the ‘separate flag for Nagaland’ issue has brought not only confusion among the people but also portrays the media houses as parties obtuse to their obligations.
As per the report of The Hindustan Times, this information was fed to the daily by ‘sources familiar with developments in the ongoing negotiations’. “VS Atem, an emissary of the NSCN-IM’s central leadership and a key figure in the talks, had told Hindustan Times earlier that if Kashmir can have a separate flag, why not Nagas,” the national daily reported. However, there was a strong reaction from RN Ravi to the news story refuting that such issue was never discussed in the ‘ongoing talks’.Meanwhile, the lack of sense of responsibility exhibited by those ‘competent’ authorities from whom these sensitive and conflicting stories continue to emanate is our concern.
To recall, in June last year, there was this blunder of wrong information widely laid for the public to consume. In that particular period three pictures were published by a reputed news agency with soldiers flashing victory signs and carrying guns signaling victory over the militants involved in the June 4 (2015) Chandel ambush. One of the three pictures showed soldiers sitting before an army helicopter and posing for lens with a caption—“these soldiers had carried out the offensive against militants along the India-Myanmar border killing several militants”. “The image was duly authorised for use by the ADG PI (Additional Directorate General of Public Information) of the Army, with the specific request that the faces of the persons be morphed, which we duly did before release,” the particular news agency claimed. However, the Defence Ministry had to clarify that it did not release any of the photos of the operation so far. The controversy over the matter died down few days later but the people were left confused. During the same period, there was horde of reports claiming that a large number of Naga underground cadres were killed in the so called surgical operation in Indo-Myanmar border. In that full blown hyperbolic reporting the number of ‘Naga militants’ killed was put at 100. The government agencies were the manufacturers of these reports.
Meanwhile, note that competing media houses will always have weaknesses for hot news. Information from the NSCN or NNC factions, the Defence or the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is considered a price catch in a situation such as this. Our only guilt is for the confusion and doubt created.

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By EMN Updated: Feb 07, 2016 10:51:08 pm
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