WHEN THE PRESS IS WOUNDED, IT HURTS EVERYONE

Letter:
In elections, like in life, there are victories and there are defeats. And certainly there are inadvertent errors, be it life or be it newspapers. The margin of error sometimes is more in newspapers because without one’s realization, media is one and the only platform which is recording “history in a hurry.” And to pelt boulders, chant slogans and damage properties just because of a clerical error is indeed not justified.
The incident which happened at NOW! must be condemned in the loudest of voices and the strongest of actions by the authorities. The perpetrators should not be let scot free, because if such physical violence towards the media is not nipped in its bud, it could become a rule than an exception.
Furthermore, it would be very easy for anyone and everyone to target media houses and vent their anger and frustration, at the slightest of chances. Also, it could be extremely difficult for the very hard working journalists from regional as well as English newspapers and magazines to provide news in the right perspective.
When the press is wounded it hurts everyone. My heart goes out to every hardworking journalist in Sikkim and especially to the NOW! team, hoping that they would come out stronger from this incident.
Dewakar Basnet [recvd on email]