A two-day National Executive Committee meeting of the Indian Journalists Union was held on 15-16 November, 2013 at Barpeta Road, Dist. Barpeta (Assam), hosted by the Journalists Union of Assam (JUA).
The meeting had a few first to its credit: The JUA used the opportunity to organise the National Press Day celebrationswith deliberations on the state of the media in the country; A photo exhibition highlighting the atrocities committed in Manipur and the peoples anguish and protests, was also put up at the venue by the All Manipur Union of Working Journalists; the JUA flag was unfurled by IJU President S.N.Sinha; delegates paid floral homage to the slain journalists (24 in last 20 years) in Assam at a makeshift memorial at the venue; and the evening drew to a close with a spectacular cultural and fireworks show. Additionally, for the first time, invitations were extended to trade union colleagues from South Asia and a delegate each from Bhutan and Bangladesh participated as special invitees.
The NEC meeting was held at the newly-constructed Barpeta Press Club and attended by 70 odd delegates from other part of the country. Inaugurating the meeting, Assam’s Minister of Information & Public Relations, Shri Basanta Das, spelt out welfare measures being undertaken and proposed by his Government. These included having raised the corpus of Welfare fund for journalists to Rs 10 crore; providing guest house facility for journalists from small towns & cities on work to Guwahati; plans underway for a journalists’ colony; Rs 5,000 pension scheme; instituting Best Journalist of the Year Award from January next; establishing an institute of Mass Communication & Printing Technology. Importantly, he assured the Government was putting pressure on newspaper managements to implement the wage board awards.
Deputy Commissioner, Barpeta Dist. Dr Shidhartha Singh, made a note of the strides taken by the media and stated there was a time when one craved for news (with only DD channel) and now we can’t escape it (with plethora of channels). However, he regretted the growing trend of non-issues (such as fashion shows etc) being given precedence over important ones (large scale recruitment of teachers etc), particularly by the electronic media and urged delegates to give positive coverage to development aspects of the State and country. SP, Barpeta, Dr G V Shiva Prasad, impressed upon the media to have an ‘image makeover’ of the North-East as being an outsider he found the area ‘peaceful’ even though it was being projected as ‘troubled’. Local MLA and former journalist Ranjit Das, asserted that Assam was “paradise on earth”, and though the problem of insurgency had been resolved, there was need for the media to highlight the illegal migrant issue wherein the Assamese were losing their identity and also have a campaign against rampant killing of the rhino. Chairman, local municipal board, Dalip Kumar Saha, highlighted the role of media in opinion making.
IJU President, S N Sinha and Secretary-General D Amar thanked the JUA and especially its Barpeta unit for the excellent arrangements for the meeting and highlighted the burning issues of non-implementation of wage board awards, unethical trends in the media such as paid news, growing monopoly, growing political influence in media houses etc, safety of journalists among others. Saukat Ali and Rinjin Wangchuk, Senior journalists from Bangladesh and Bhutan respectively apprised the gathering about the media scenario in their countries. IJU Former Secretary General, K Sreenivas Reddy, founder member and veteran journalist L S Hardenia, JUA President Geetartha Pathak, Executive Committee member Prem Bhargava and IJU Treasurer Sabina Inderjit also spoke on the occasion.
The NEC meeting held fruitful discussions with both the National and States’ leadership giving an update on their activities (since Kochi meeting) and sharing ideas of how the unions could be proactive to achieve their goals. The NEC passed a number of resolutions-- on Stopping of Govt advertisements to newspapers not implementing Majitha Wage Board, the PRB Act, the Hindu police officer’s case and Human rights violations of journalists in Sri-lanka.
The National Press Day celebrations were held at the Sahitya Sabha auditorium on 16th November. Releasing a souvenir on the occasion, Manipur Parliamentary Secretary for I&PR and Minor Irrigation K Meghachandra observed that as a pillar of democracy, the media plays a crucial role in influencing people`s perception on all issues adding that its vital role is to promote democracy in the society and to wage crusades against aberrations of imperfections in polity and to ensure good governance, wholesome development of the Nation. At the same time, he noted that the convergence between news media, entertainment and telecom has meant that the demarcation between journalism, public relations, advertising and entertainment is many times blurred, and exhorted the need to focus where these changes in society and in our thought processes impact the ideal of journalism. Importantly, he urged journalists to discern the difference between the `In public interest and the Interest to public “by differentiating the sensational and trivial from the positive and serious.”
Earlier, President Sinha set the tone by urging the journalist community to take a pledge to uphold high standards of journalism and maintain its credibility so as to take on the current challenges facing the profession, which included the growing trend of profit-making becoming the motto of the newspaper groups thus relegating public interest to the back seat and the ‘paid news’ syndrome which not only has eroded the credibility of the profession but eaten into the roots of democracy.
Likewise, Secretary General Amar drew attention to the dangerous trend wherein the media is going into the hands of monopolies and politicians and the contract system was weakening journalism and trade unions. Press Council Member K Amarnath gave an insight into the visits of the PCI committee on ‘Safety of Journalists’ under his convenorship, to the States where journalists have been attacked and assured taking up their cause. K Sreenivas Reddy highlighted the grave situation in the electronic media, which went unregulated and sadly continued to be outside the purview of the Press Council and pointed out to the critical need for having a Media Council. Sabina Inderjit highlighted that the ills in the profession were a worldwide phenomenon and that the IFJ has called upon the journalist community to practise ethical journalism.
JUA General Secretary Prabhat Pathak also organized the felicitation of senior journalists from the district for their contribution to the profession. Five veterans were felicitated with citations by the Chief Guest. The day came to a close with an enthralling cultural programme and fireworks. On 17th morning the delegates were treated to field study trip to the World Heritage Manas National Park & Bhutan. The next day the delegates left Barpeta Road taking back fond memories of the warmth and generosity showered by their Assamese colleagues.
