Journalists asked to engage in self criticism

[caption id="attachment_115881" align="alignleft" width="550"] Some of the participants at the media workshop in Kohima on Wednesday.[/caption] Our Correspondent Kohima, May 17 (EMN): A day-long workshop on ‘Complexities and Contradictions of News Reporting’ was held here today in Kohima at the Capital Convention Centre. The programme was attended by around 100 journalists and officers of the Information & Public Relations (IPR) from different districts across Nagaland. Dr Aküm Longchari, editor of The Morung Express, who was a resource person at the workshop, underscored the need for reporters in Nagaland to engage in honest self-criticism. While acknowledging that the media in Nagaland has grown in form, he felt that they are yet to grow in substance. Longchari talked about identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the media fraternity in the state and he opined that at the heart of their work, is the question of power, whether power influences the media or vice versa. “There is a culture of power and we need to replace this culture of power with the power of culture,” he said. He maintained that people in the media who have the power to change, to empower, and the power to influence opinions have to make a decision on their standing, whether they stand with the people or with the people in power. He emphasized that personal decisions have to be made about where a reporter stands, and his/her standing point will define how (s)he implements that stand, whether to go down to the grassroots and become channels of change or become tools of the status quo. Stating that power structure is becoming more and more pervasive in the Naga society, Longchari pointed out that the responsibility of the media is to go beyond the structural aspects and concentrate more on functional reality. “Every journalist and every media house need to make a stand, because if the media is supposed to be the Fourth Estate, then it must be very clear on what the Fourth Estate means,” Longchari asserted. He also highlighted on the need for an ideology for journalists, stating that media or media persons are often used by people due to the absence of conceptual reasoning. While admitting that the situation for Nagaland media is filled with complexities and challenges, he challenged journalists to really push themselves to become critical in the spirit of the Fourth Estate. “Where there is influence of newspapers, is the area where you see some semblance of development,” he pointed out, and went on to explain that the government is compelled to initiate, out of necessity, some impression of development in areas where the newspapers or the media have influence. Towards this, he stressed on the need for reporters to go to the peripheries beyond the towns and big centres. Stating that while there is a general want for change but often the people who are suffering are ignored, Longchari emphasized on converging the paths that the media and social movement are taking. He also maintained that there has to be more dialogues within media houses, dialogues of understanding between editors and journalists as well. Also, while acknowledging the role of the IPR in taking information from the top to the public, he said it was a one-way street so far, and he challenged if the IPR would have the courage to take the voice of the people to the people in power. Pradip Phanjoubam, editor of Imphal Free Press, who was also a resource person at the workshop, talked on the basics of news reporting. He highlighted the role of the press in a democracy and the responsibilities of journalists towards delivering justice to the public amid numerous challenges. He also explained briefly about the need for reporters to know or understand their subject, such as, learning the rules of a game before reporting on an event of that particular sport, identifying the ranks of uniformed personnel at times of reporting on war or conflicts, knowing the electoral process while reporting on elections, respecting the state of mind of victims of accidents or violence and so on. Touching on ‘paid news’, Phanjoubam said this involves influencing a reporter to write about something or someone by paying money or offering freebies. Towards this end, he emphasized on the importance of maintaining neutrality by reporters. The ‘paid news’ problem, he feels, is largely due to the deficiency in resources faced by media houses which results in the reporters being underpaid. The veteran journalist also talked about the changing scenes in the media and mentioned that media houses are becoming more inclined towards business (advertisements). He observed that while newspapers survive on the revenue generated through advertisements, some media houses have started flouting given norms and publish several full paged advertisements. However, he remarked that newspapers in Nagaland are doing better on this aspect as they still have space for news. The way out, he pointed out, is for news organisations to strictly implement wage board recommendations and allow reporters to grow along with the newspaper and its proprietors. During the workshop, joint director IPR, Dzüvinuo Theünuo delivered a concise presentation on the dynamics of government public relations. She explained how journalists and government public relations officers could work together to communicate information about the government to the citizenry and respond to their concerns. She highlighted that there can be reciprocal relationship between the two, where they can be fundamental to each other and share a common ground.