Manipur media houses to boycott government, BJP

Our Correspondent

Imphal, April 24 (EMN): Media bodies in Manipur have decided to boycott news related to the state government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state unit over the non-clearance of advertisement bills with effect from April 24 till the pending bills are paid or an understanding has been entered with the parties concerned.

The move has been initiated following a joint meeting of newspaper publishers, editors, representatives of Manipur Hill Journalists Union (MHJU) and All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU), , according to a joint statement of the media bodies.

It may be recalled that publishers, members of Editors Guild Manipur, MHJU and AMWJU appealed to the Manipur government, BJP Manipur Pradesh and Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) to clear all the pending advertisement bills by 4 pm of April 23.

However, following no response from the government and BJP state unit, Saturday’s meeting of the media houses decided to go ahead with the boycott. In the case of MPCC, the meeting resolved to give some more time following the assurances given by its president.

The boycott, according to the resolutions of the joint meeting of media bodies, will cover all news related to the government, ruling parties BJP and NPF (Naga People’s Front). The boycott will also include all government advertisements including those of its authorities, cooperation like the PDA, LDA etc.

However, the media boycott will not include the offices of the Governor, the Speaker, Covid-19 and pandemic related news including medical emergencies. Crime related stories of law and order will also be exempted from the boycott as per the resolution, it stated.

The boycott came after the government failed to clear the advertisement bills even after a series of assurances given by the chief minister and chief secretary.

The media bodies in the state once suspended an earlier boycott call following personal intervention of the chief minister and the chief secretary.

Bills running into crore of rupees are pending with the government, while bills running into lakhs for advertisements made in connection with the just concluded 12th Manipur assembly elections have been pending with both the ruling BJP and opposition, Congress (I).

Informing that the media houses in Manipur are reeling under financial strain following the Covid-19 pandemic and rising cost of news production, the statement of the media bodies appealed to the government to take a sympathetic view of the situation to avoid confrontation.