Our Correspondent
Kohima, May 11 (EMN): Journalists and members of the media and members of the legal services in Kohima had interactions recently with one another on various issues concerning ethics in journalism and news reporting, besides the rights and liabilities of media persons.
Members of the two profession had an interactive session on May 11 at Hotel Japfü in Kohima.
The daylong meeting was initiated by the Nagaland State Legal Services Authority (NSLSA). Various topics including laws of defamation, right to privacy, judicial proceedings, rights and privileges and liabilities of journalists, were discussed.
A secretary of the legal services authority, Mezivolu T Therieh, gave the keynote address. She said that the meeting was conducted to 'strengthen one another.' It envisaged discussing laws and rights that are directly related to the media fraternity.
“Democracy cannot be successful without free press. It is an inseparable part of democracy as well as it is the voice of the people. Freedom of speech and expression is one such right which the citizens are entitled to,” she said.
It is the duty of the media to equip the citizen with unbiased information, broaden the minds of the people by knowledge empowerment, and fairly criticize any action which is against the spirit of justice or essence of democracy, Therieh said.
'It must play crucial role in initiating the proper procedure against the people who are accused of any antisocial activities, regardless of any political connection, and to foster the spirit of unity and brotherhood among the people,' she added.
In the context of Nagaland, Therieh said: “Media has helped in converging the entire state with easy accessible information, in exposing certain ill and corrupt practices in the government sector, feeds the general mass and the public on information that the public can often be unaware of, mobilising social activism and journalist activism, helps passing information on gender equality, trying to bridge the gaps in a lot of issues,” member secretary said.
Further, she pointed out that there are certain consequences and struggles faced by the media houses, particularly news reporting journalists.
Despite the media being considered the forth pillar of democracy, there is no law that has been enacted for the protection of media house, and journalists, she said.
“Active journalism suffers black lash of contempt proceedings, sedition charges being slapped on journalist, threat to life and some even deaths,” she said.
Therieh said that legal topics are sometimes labelled as ‘complex or sensitive’ and that many would not venture into this area. However, such is a wrong notion because law is needed in every civilised society for it to grow, she said.
Therieh urged the media persons to be equipped with the prevailing laws, so as to be comfortable in making the people aware of it.
“Media is serving all types of professions and people as it is the life line of societal growth. If media fails to function, perhaps 80% of the objective of the people will not be served,” Therieh added.
As media persons, it is essential to know one’s role. It is equally important to maintain the norms of journalistic ethics. ‘Media can either build or destroy an individual, institution or any idea,’ she said.
The president of the Nagaland Press Association, H Chishi, in his address questioned if people had lost confidence in the judiciary He reminded of incidences where people had taken the law in own hands.
Often it is only the media, who is criticising the judiciary. At times, such situations lead media personnel to fall prey to cases of defamation or contempt of court, he said. 'It’s time that we understand the judiciary and journalism altogether,' he said while highlighting the problems faced by journalists.
Principal district and session judge and chairperson, Kohima DLSA, Khesheli Chishi spilled out some of the practical problems faced by the court and legal experts.
One of the main reasons for delaying justice to the victims is due to the “frequent political transfer,” she said.
It is difficult to serve justice in total or justice gets delayed due to various sub-machineries that failed to produce their respective report within stipulated time, session judge said.
The transfer is “too much” more so, in the case of the police, that they are ‘unable to complete the case.’ Police representative would be absent during the trials many times, that too due to political transfer, leading to delaying of justice, she added.
As and when the case is going on, a new one will be posted, who is unaware of the charge sheet, she said.
-Difficult to served justice in total or gets delayed due to sub-machineries failing to produce required doc., report within stipulated time.
Clarifying about the serving court notice to an individual relating to Contempt of court and Defamation, she said that notices are not served ‘whimsically.’ In fact, they are served after much deliberation and investigation, she said.
The principal district also spoke about the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Rules, 2012 and how it is different from Code of Criminal Procedure and other Acts. The fact that POCSO had its own punitive section makes it unique. Recently, the Act also included male as well
A senior advocate at the Kohima bench of the Gauhati High Court, Taka Masa Ao spoke on the topic ‘Rights/privileges and liabilities of the media/journalist.’
“The purpose of the media is to advance the public interest by publishing facts and opinions without which a democratic electorate cannot make responsible judgements,” he said.
The press has the Right “to” publish and “not to” publish. The press has the right to publish news of any kind of information. Yet it also has the right not to publish. It has the right to circulate, right to information and right to comment public affairs. The media persons also have the liability not to disclose information relating to children.
An advocate at the Kohima bench of the Gauhati High Court, Akito Zhimomi, spoke on law of defamation and right to privacy.
The Defamation according to section 499 of IPC is defined as whoever, by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter expected, to defame that person.
It is categorised into Criminal and civil defamation, where civil defamation had two types – slander and libel
The advocate also spoke about the Freedom of Press enshrined in Article 19 (1) a. There are three essential elements to Freedom of press including Freedom of access to all sources of information, Freedom of publication and Freedom of circulation. Yet, these freedoms are subjected to reasonable restriction in Article 19 (2), he added.
On the Right to privacy, he said, had become the Fundamental rights in the recent rule of Supreme Court on Aadhaar case. In fact this right had come about, over the years of time, he added. He said that victims of sexual abuse should not be revealed, including blurred or morph image.
