Dimapur, July 7 (EMN):The Nagaland Press Association has strongly appealed to the state government to check the antecedents of various organisations claiming to represent the newspapers in the state as some of the organisations that are currently in contact with the government are unknown to any of the functional newspapers in the state.
A press statement from the NPA read that, "NPA is surprised to learn about a memorandum submitted to the Governor of Nagaland, P.B Acharya by the Newspapers Association of India (NAI) led by one Monojit Singha, Convener Northeast Zonal committee and accompanied by Thungchamo Humtsoe claiming to be the Nagaland State coordinator of the NAI. It may be mentioned that the memorandum was personally received by the Governor himself on April 18, 2017 at Raj Bhavan, Kohima. It is also learned that the office of the Chief Secretary has directed the concerned department to look into the memorandum."
"The NPA is equally shocked that the office of the Governor, Chief Secretary and DIPR did not find it worthwhile to cross-check and verify with the Editors and Publishers of newspapers in Nagaland. Instead showing utter neglect and ignorance the government has gone to the extent of entertaining such organisations who come through the backdoor and whose representatives have no connection at all with the local media," it stated.
The NPA further claimed that the Newspapers Association of India that formed its Nagaland chapter and had met the head of State, "without even bothering to inform and coordinate with the existing Newspapers published from Nagaland.
None of the functional newspapers in Nagaland are aware of this recent initiative of the NAI and it has been verified that the so called office bearers of its Nagaland Chapter are not affiliated to any of the local newspapers."
The NPA therefore stated that it cannot accept the manner in which the Newspapers Association of India has taken such a step to connect with the Nagaland government through the "backdoor" and more disturbingly engaging with local youths who have no credibility or authority to represent the existing newspapers.
