A day after the Manipur Police registered FIRs against the Editors Guild of India, the organization of journalists stated that they are ‘shocked’ by the intimidatory remarks made by the state Chief Minister N. Biren Singh.
Issuing on a statement on Tuesday, the Editors Guild of India said that they are disturbed by the FIRs registered by the Manipur Police against the President of the Guild as well as the members of the fact-finding team that had visited Manipur to study and document media's coverage of ethnic clashes in the state.
The statement read, “The Guild is further shocked by the intimidatory statements made by the Chief Minister of Manipur, Mr. N Biren Singh, in response to the report.”
It further read, “The Guild had received several representations from civil society as well as the Indian Army raising concerns that the media in Manipur was playing a partisan role in the ongoing ethnic conflict between the majority Meitei community and the Kuki-Chin minority. The Guild had sent a three-member team to Manipur to examine the media's reportage in the state as well as the effects of internet shut down. The team met a cross-section of reporters, editors, representatives of the Editors Guild of Manipur, All Manipur Working Journalists Union. civil society activists, public intellectuals, women affected by the violence, tribal spokespersons and the representatives of the security forces operating in Manipur.”
The guild also said that they are extremely disturbed that rather than responding to the concerns raised in the report in a meaningful way, the state government has registered FIRs invoking multiple provisions of the IPC. The Guild has already acknowledged and corrected an error that was pointed out regarding a photo caption, and we remain open to further discussion, they said.
“The Guild would also like to reiterate that the underlying idea of the report was to enable introspection and reflection on the media's conduct in such a sensitive situation. The Guild urges the state government to close the FIRs,” the statement added.
