Can the Manipiur Press still be described as independent? At the rate it is succumbing to pressures, this is hardly likely. We watch with disdain the manner in which the entire media establishment in the state has in the past been compelled to go on sabbatical, caught as it always was between conflicting pulls and pressures of different feuding armed underground organizations. There are also allegation that the media-men are too easily influenced by men with money and power. But the gravest threat is the new culture of intimidation. What is adequately clear is that, for the ordinary citizenry, to which the media belongs, it does not make a difference whether they are intimidated by a brigade or a band of a dozen or so armed men, the effect is the same – fear. And today, Manipur’s ordinary citizenry is in the grip of a terrible, immobilizing fear. Leave aside underground revolutionary organizations, threats from buccaneering organizations, inspired terror as effectively. Fear of death at the hands of anonymous men with guns works in an exponential way. It levels out the asymmetry of weaponry like no other phenomenon has. It is not a surprise at all that underdogs in many conflict situations around the world have resorted to fashioning this fear as a weapon in itself. The terrorism of the Al Qaeda brand is a prime example. The late Bin Laden’s attempt all along had been on this line – to multiply what it lacks in weaponry and physical resources with fear and boost his power base exponentially. The measure of success he had been able to achieve, challenging seriously as he had, even mighty America, is the proof of the pudding. Laden while he was alive may have been just a pain in the neck for the USA, but he proved to be a persistent and sometimes excruciating pain. As to how troublesome a pain in the neck can be, can be testified by the many who have been unfortunate enough to have had bouts of spondylitis.
In this modern aberration of asymmetrical warfare, popularly referred to as “terrorism” by those at the receiving end – and rightly so too – the ones who end up held at ransom are mostly soft targets. In many ways, the media in Manipur today is this soft target. Nowhere in the world, except under the most dictatorial environments, would the freedom of the media to make its own judgment on what event might be of news-worth and hence print worthy, is compromised than in Manipur. To draw any consolation at all from the fact that the situation is no better in some other neighbouring states, which have even seen the assassination of some very outspoken writers, would be a perversion of logic. But the uncanny feeling is, the soft targets in the state, including the media, have cowered far too much and have allowed themselves to be prisoned in their own image of powerlessness. Our civil society, and more regrettably, our media have lost their backbones. The pen has been overshadowed by the sword. This speaks very poorly for the media as well as those browbeating it. Maybe a contributing factor in the softening of the media is the overturning of its curious status of being a fine mix of business and mission. Under ideal circumstances, the business must remain vibrant so that it can support its own role as an important pillar of the democratic polity. Today increasingly, the primacy has passed on to the business side of the story with the mission being pushed into insignificance.
The state media must assert itself again to regain its rightful place in a democracy and more immediately, it credibility. Right now, to be very honest, outside the closed world of the state, it does not command much of it. What the media communicates can become convincing to the outside world only if is known it speaks from its free will and judgment. It is important that it does not take sides, but all the same it must show what a powerful medium for opinion making neutrality can be. A gagged media does not portray a positive image for anybody either. It shows an inherent incapacity for tolerating or shouldering freedom.
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/who-is-afraid-of-freedom/