Established organization, Editors Guild of India has been charged under several sections for reporting media reportage of Manipur’s ethnic conflict

A non-profit organization of journalists, Editors Guild of India has been accused of reporting false information concerning Manipur ethnic conflict. A police case has been filed against three members of EGI, who went to Manipur to cover media reportage over the ongoing ethnic dispute then. According to the complaint, the team submitted ‘false, fabricated and sponsored’ news. Seema Guha, Sanjay Kapoor and Bharat Bhushan are from crowdfunding fact-finding team who visited Manipur between 7 to 10 August. A social worker and resident of Imphal, N Sarat Singh filed the first information report (FIR) against the three of them for promoting enmity between different groups, and using as true such declaration knowing it to be false.
The report published by EGI blamed state leadership for discriminatory behavior. It said, ‘It should have avoided taking sides in the ethnic conflict. But it failed to do its duty as a democratic government which should have represented the entire state.’ It also mentioned that Akashvani Imphal cancelled three news bulletins of Kuki dialects on 3rd May, which was declared baseless and false by the All Manipur Working Journalists Union (AMWJU) and Editors Guild Manipur (EGM). Akashvani is the national public radio broadcaster of India and is a division of Prasar Bharati.
A freelance journalist, Pranshu Dubey believes that today critical reporting has become a trend in journalism industry. He said, ‘I worked with a regional news outlet in India before becoming freelancer for full time. I covered numerous stories and could see the critical reporting as an emerging approach to be called fair and bold journalism. But journalism is not only about being critical or questioning. It is about reporting facts, credible information and follow media ethics to avoid any unfortunate situations that could possibly create from your reporting, as a responsible journalist.’
The FIR states EGI report that captioned the photo of a burning house as ‘Kuki house’ was originally a forest department beat office that was set on fire by mob on 3rd of May, 65 km from the state capital Imphal. Large number of angry crowd targeted forest department building and set it on fire with explosive substances. The apology came after the police complaint was filed against EGI. ‘There was an error in a photo caption in the report released on Sep 2. The same is being rectified and updated report will be uploaded on the link shortly. We regret the error that crept in at the photo editing stage’, Editors Guild of India official page posted on X.
However, Pranshu told EAT news, rumors and false information travels faster that the true ones. ‘There have been instances where news organizations do blunders. Sometimes with facts and figures, even live. Situations where news anchor blabber or the news footage does not match with the bulletin, technical error or spelling mistakes. These are all part of the process. But photographs have the larger impact on audience comparatively, and it last longer in the memory. So, if a mistake happens regarding a picture, it could be dangerous, because people pick it fast’, he said. Furthermore, he explained, ‘Journalists have to be extra cautious before covering a story and should keep in mind will that have a triggering impact or positive. Possibilities should be measured by organizations before publishing such stories. Because nobody wants to end up in a legal procedure’.
The ethnic tension between two communities, Kuki and Meitei turned into a violent scene when a video of two Kuki naked women surrounded by men, made headlines. While it grabbed world attention, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was criticized to not utter a word concerning the incident for long. Manipur has been considered as a conflicted area of the country due to its shared border with Myanmar. According to the information, movement of illegal immigrants in the state is an issue facing by administration and locals. Pranshu shared his personal experience with EAT news and said, ‘I was there before covid to cover a regional story. I remember talking to an old man about migration. He said the state has seen abnormal growth in population in few years. Suddenly it seems very overcrowded, people speaking different language, following a little different culture. They think it cannot be observed, but it can be spotted, easily’.
Similarly, the FIR filed by N. Sarat Singh includes that EGI did not mentioned large scale illegal immigration in Manipur. As per NDTV report, the FIR states, ‘The abnormal population growth in Manipur is also evident from the fact that the Census of 2001 has not been finalized for the nine hills subdivision of the state due to the abnormal decadal growth of the population up to 169 per cent’. He also shared an alarming issue for administration of manipulation in voters list. ‘Recently, Election Commission of India identified 1,33,553 photo similar entries in Manipur’s electoral roll’, he said.
Meanwhile Editors Guild of India will be going through legal procedure for criticizing media reportage of the ethnic conflict, but the fact of publishing false information themselves regarding similar case cannot be avoided either.