SENAPATI, September 7: With two beautiful renditions by two young girl singers, the 32nd foundation day of the Manipur Hill Journalists’ Union (MHJU) was celebrated at the DRDA Conference hall in Manipur’s Senapati district, about 60 km north of Imphal on Wednesday.
The journalists community of the state mostly the members of MHJU including editors of small newspapers published from four hill districts of Manipur -Churachandpur, Ukhrul, Senapati and Tamenglong districts attended the celebration.
Chairman of the Senapati Autonomous District Council (ADC) ML Markson was the chief guest on the occasion while Director of Information and Public Relations, Government of Manipur Meghachandra Kongbam and President of MHJU Sothing Shimray were the guest of honour and functional president.
In his speech, Senapati ADC chairman Markson said until and unless all the communities living together in Manipur extended co-operation and support each other, Manipur cannot be a peaceful and progressive state.
On the other hand, DIPR Director Meghachandra Kongbam said local dialect newspapers educate and enlighten public in hill areas of the state besides providing day to day information.
A close study of newspaper readership in India shows that there are more readers for language newspapers. This is mainly because English newspapers are confined to cities and towns whereas language newspapers are widely circulated in the rural areas. The Government of India has been paying a special attention towards the growth of dialect newspapers by empanelling of dialect newspapers in the DAVP on priority, he added.
Meghachandra Kongbam who had done P G Bachelor degree in Journalism from the Benaras Hindu University and also well experienced in the field of Journalism added every journalist is supposed to observe sincerity, truthfulness and accuracy; impartiality; fair play and decency. “As long as we maintain and preserve the above canons of journalism, our media products, which may be press or electronic media, will be of great value and credibility of the consumers.”
With a view to raise the standard of journalism and to create awareness about the journalism in the hill areas of Manipur, for the first time DIPR is organizing a 7-day Basic Course in News Reporting at the District Headquarters of Senapati and Ukhrul in this month end. Besides the directorate is also holding a 3 day Information and Public Relations Festivals in all 5-hill districts and 2-valley districts with an aim to deliver the information on various significant developments taken place in the state to the people living in hill and rural areas, the Director added.
