Monalisa Changkija
It was only yesterday we were appalled by and apprehensive about the Editor and Publisher of Shillong Times vis-à-vis the contempt of court filed against them and the Meghalaya High Court’s judgment thereof. Journalists, writers, newspapers, television channels, media organizations ~ not least the Press Council of India ~ and legal experts and commentators decried the Meghalaya High Court’s judgment in no uncertain terms and thankfully the Supreme Court stayed the former’s judgment. All of us, especially in the media, heaved a sigh of relief ~ because while hoping for the best, we feared the worst for the Editor and Publisher of Shillong Times and we feared the worst for the Free Press and free speech, which is increasingly under dark threatening clouds in the country.
Unfortunately, the public at large now seems to have quite forgotten about the ordeal the Editor and Publisher have undergone and the perilous circumstances under which the media, particularly the Free Press, steadfastly shoulders its responsibilities in the country. We can attribute this to the rituals of the “dance of democracy” that is slated from April 11 next ~ after all, no drama, no soap opera and certainly no tragedy can compete with the fight for political power fought with the missiles of economic strength and staged on the starving bellies of the larger section of the populace. Nothing can compare and capture the imagination as much as the fight for the fortunes of political parties and personalities ~ not even the never-changing present and future of starving and malnourished citizens. Anyway, having experienced sitting through over a year at the court of the Chief Justice of Guahati for a contempt of court case against me, as the Editor of Nagaland Page in 2005, one can assert that both the Editor and Publisher of Shillong Times have undergone a kind of baptism by fire, which is difficult to describe and which only colleagues and friends in the media, who have undergone similar experiences, will understand without explanations.
There are no words to describe what it feels like to be verbally, mentally and psychologically violated, humiliated and punished just for having done one’s job, just for upholding the constitutional obligations of free speech, freedom of expression and the right to information, just for believing in the noblest essence and ethos of democracy, just for empowering people to think, to ideate and to introduce the endless possibilities of the alternatives available to human beings, just for hoping for the best for the people and the country. And if undergoing this experience in the court of law is bad enough, consider how much worse it is in kangaroo courts of so-called tribal bodies that emerged in the 1990s, at least in Nagaland, besides non-state actors, who affirm they are running a government. This, one is quite certain, must have also been the experience of a number of journalists across the Northeast, especially where the tribal presence is dominant. Having been “tried” and found “guilty” even in these kangaroo courts, the experiences are difficult to describe but one can aver that a change occurs consequently because the ordeal is traumatic and de-humanizing. One almost gives up and questions if one’s beliefs and one’s labour are worth such traumas. But the fighter still remains ~ to quote Simon and Garfunkel’s’ The Boxer.
You see, it is for this change that is hoped when journalists are “tried” ~ whether in the court of law or kangaroo courts. It is, after all, an intimidatory act to make a journalist bend, bow and break. And this is the danger journalists, newspapers and other media houses confront every day, every report, every editorial, every opinion ~ even every Letter to the Editor published, especially in the Northeast where the rule of law is almost an alien concept, the writ of the rich and powerful reigns supreme, as much as the writ of those who hold guns and train them on unarmed hapless people. This is not to state that journalists and newspapers in the Northeast do not make mistakes ~ we do, every day. But how these mistakes are perceived, regarded and dealt with indicate how the Free Press is sought to be suppressed and repressed probably because however much our Northeastern communities like to claim to be traditionally democratic, our traditional democratic credentials are partial and selective at best. Besides, a Free Press has never been an integral part of any traditionally “democratic” community ~ not in the Northeast.
There are several other threats the Free Press particularly in the Northeast confront ~ a major one is financial dependence/independence. Most newspapers in this region are small with circulation of just thousands ~ perhaps only a couple could claim to have circulations of over a lakh. Under the circumstances, consider how vulnerable almost all financially dependent newspapers are to varied and various threats ~ from political and economic elites, Government and its agencies, traditional and cultural authorities and elites, as also non-state actors, even lumpen elements ~ all of who seem to believe that the Free Press, the media, exist solely for their public relations exercises. So, while Shillong Times will celebrate its 75th anniversary this September, it was not surprising that the Meghalaya People's Committee to Defend Freedom of Expression & Free Press crowd-funded the Shillong Times’ Editor and Publisher’s appeal to the Supreme Court as regards the Meghalaya High Court’s judgment. Even if the Supreme Court had not stayed the Meghalaya High Court’s judgment, the two newspaper women would have needed crowd-funding/financial support to pay the fines of Rs. two lakhs each.
The financial condition of our newspapers in the Northeast is so wretched that though they have so much influence over the reading and thinking public, those with financial might can easily silence us ~ as easily as much as those with muscle and fire power. This is an experience many of us have undergone and are still vulnerable to this threat. Because of the absence of large corporations in the region, almost all our newspapers ~ whether English or vernacular ~ are largely dependent on Government advertisement and to get payments for them is another story. Advertisements from corporations are also no guaranteed security for newspapers because of the close nexus between political elites and corporations. Being empanelled with the DAVP is also no security for newspapers in the Northeast because the advertisements are far and few, especially for small-sized black-and-white papers. Despite the vulnerabilities and threats, the need for a Free Press in this region assumes greater significance because of the peculiar situations prevailing here, which isn’t necessarily confined to the law and order situation, or even issues of national security. And, this significance needs to be underscored by newspapers here and across the country standing together.
But alas, ours is a “forgetting” era ~ what with so many irresistible distractions available in our palms. But to forget the vulnerabilities and threats to the Free Press, the media, in the Northeast is to decrease the air supply to the great democratic institution of the Fourth Estate ~ so very indispensable to the beleaguered Northeast.
(The Columnist, a journalist and poet, is Editor, Nagaland Page)
Assam tribune, March 27, 2019
