This Time Again - Eastern Mirror
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Editorial

This time again

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By EMN Updated: Jan 13, 2016 10:16 pm

This time again, the ‘national media’ has skewed pertaining to the level of coverage they did on the recent earthquake in the Northeast region. The event was another colossal illustration of ‘mainland’ media’s partisan— undue emphasis is given to any insurgency related incident but what of the wail of the victims of calamities? Several years ago a friend of mine had jotted a piece in a newspaper, ruing that “a fight of a couple in Madras or in Delhi or in Calcutta carries more news weightage for many journalists than the plight of flood/landslide victims of Meghalaya, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland or Manipur.”This is not business either but a cockeyed angle of reportage driven by the callousness of men and women at the helm of the ‘national media’. Strong ire was demonstrated by several organizations in Manipur few years ago, against a ‘national’ newspaper for having made the ‘Irom Sharmila love affair’ story a front pager. This was to question the attitude of the ‘national media’. Such is the mindset of medium in the ‘mainland’ where they find more stimulation on Sharmila’s private life than the cause she is fighting for. Not a piece on Irom Sharmila’s struggle is made a banner item on front page but she is ridiculed for being a human being. Instead they found her wrong because she had human instincts—like falling in love. Coming back to the January 4 earthquake episode, it was just a one-event reportage for most of the ‘national’ media houses—the despair and forlorn ambience of the villages was not injected in their news presentation. Technology has seen a marked improvement in the working of media houses but for the same stiff mindset, the Northeast India region is still struggling to find place in the ‘national media’ for the right reasons at the right time. If at all there is a big flash of news related to the Northeast in the ‘national media’ it is unfortunately hype mostly for all the wrong reasons.

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By EMN Updated: Jan 13, 2016 10:16:22 pm
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