National media conference discusses prospects and problems of media in NE

GANGTOK, 07 Nov: Terming media to be the “light of democracy” Governor BP Singh today urged the fourth estate to keep the public interest in mind while performing their duties.
“Media, in my view, is the lamp of democracy,” said the Governor while inaugurating the national media conference on ‘Prospects and problems of Northeast media’ here at Chintan Bhavan today.
The national media conference was jointly organized by the Journalists Union of Sikkim (affiliated to Indian Journalists Union), Press Club of Sikkim and Information & Public Relations department, Government of Sikkim.
In his short address, Press Council of India chairperson Justice Markandey Katju spoke about the transition that India is undergoing and observed that media has a very important role in making this transition less painful. “Media must help the people overcome social issues plaguing the country”, he said.
Justice Katju further spoke on the problems faced by the North-eastern media and their mainstream media counterparts. “Journalists get low salaries and are exploited by the owners”, he said urging all to remain united for media welfare.
Speaking on the occasion, IPR Minister, CB Karki spoke on the growth of media in Sikkim under the Sikkim Democratic Front government. “We do understand the economic constraints of media in Sikkim and keeping this in mind, we have formulated the advertisement policy”, he said.
Mr Karki informed that the State government facilitated the formation of Press Club of Sikkim in 2012 which has emerged as the umbrella organization of journalists working in Sikkim. The Press Club of Sikkim is coordinating with State government to address the problems faced by the media, he said.
Earlier in his address, Indian Journalists Union (IJU) president, SN Sinha elaborated the problems faced by the Northeastern media and expressed his hope that the Gangtok conference will increase and expand mutual understanding among Northeastern journalists and those from the rest of the country.
Mr Sinha observed that there is little awareness in the rest of the county about the difficult situation in which the media functions in the Northeast. He highlighted the violent environment the media has to work in the northeast and cited examples where journalists of this region have been assaulted.
“This, however, is not the only problem the journalists in the region face. The real problem lies in the fact that they have just about no rights even to fair wages and job security. The media houses are small; the circulation of newspapers is low, their finances poor”, said Mr Sinha. He added that media in the Northeast require good financial packages from their respective State governments to sustain themselves.
The DAVP (Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity) has a policy to support small newspapers with government advertisements but the policy is not being implemented in proper spirit in these States, informed the IJU president.
“There indeed are good prospects before the media in the Northeast, if the governments can give the media proper protection and security that is their right and support them by strengthening their finances. The IJU can surely help frame such a policy if and when called upon”, said Mr Sinha.
Press Club of Sikkim president, Bhim Rawat presented the vote of thanks. The inaugural session was followed by an interactive session during which representatives from journalist associations made their presentations and placed memorandums to the PCI chairman.