Media houses in Manipur protest govt.’s failure to clear advertisement bill

Our Correspondent
Imphal, Dec. 16 (EMN): All print and electronic media in Manipur observed a one-day strike on Thursday in protest of the state authority’s failure to clear the government advertisement bill to various media houses.

The electronic media in the Northeastern state stopped news bulletin and discussion programmes in their respective channels since morning.

The Editors, members of the Editors Guild Manipur (EGM) and Manipur Hill Journalists Union (MHJU) decided to cease work for a day during a joint meeting in Imphal on Dec. 15.

“Following the decision there will be no news bulletin and discussion program for electronic media on Dec. 16 and no publication on Dec. 17,” said EGM and MHJU in a joint press release.

“If no visible action is seen from the government, the media will start boycotting news-related to ministers followed by the government and the ruling parties,” it added.

The joint meeting also appealed to the BJP-led coalition government in the state to take up the matter immediately “to save the Manipur media.”

Earlier EGM and MHJU had served an ultimatum to the state government to clear the pending advertisement bills by Dec. 15. According to people familiar with the development, most of the media houses in the state have not received outstanding dues for the last two years for published advertisements.

‘Media houses in the state had been badly affected by the global Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent non-clearance of the government advertisement bills’, said a functionary of MHJU. More than two dozen daily (morning) newspapers excluding a couple of evening newspapers are published from the state capital and other three district headquarters. Besides, more than half a dozen electronic media houses are also stationed in Imphal alone.