This is an urgent appeal to editors and fellow journalists to ensure that Manipur stays in the news. After more than two months of unprecedented civic strife and violence, events in this state have gone off the front pages. The incidents of violence were barbaric, with gross violation of human rights becoming routine. As of last week, more than 142 people have been killed in the violence, over 300 wounded and over 50,000 internally displaced. Despite this, both the state and central government have not taken adequate measures to quell the violence or address the grievances of the clashing communities.
We urge those covering this situation to go beyond the ghastly reported beheading, burnings and shootings, to follow up with diligent fact-checking and contextualise reports of brutality and atrocities.
We need more reporting from states like Mizoram and Assam, where the displaced have taken shelter, to bring alive the consequences of this ethnic war.
Media from across the country must report, and media houses must demand security for their reporters.
No pressure is being built on the government by the media to act and hold the state authorities accountable. In what people in the Northeast refer to as mainland India, the daily media coverage by national media outlets has rapidly receded. The Northeast has a long history of being invisible in the mainstream press.
It is inconceivable that any of this could happen in India’s heartland or Southern states without reporters rushing there in droves or, the developments being lead coverage. There is little reporting of Manipur by mainstream TV channels.
It is our sincere appeal to the editors to ensure that the Manipur situation is not only given front-page or prime time coverage but also adequate space in the form of editorials, articles, prime time discussions.
We appeal to you to relentlessly document the horror and neglect so that the conflict becomes impossible for the government to treat as business as usual, and so that the full horror of what is happening cannot be ignored by citizens and lawmakers.
- 1. Nilova Roychaudhury, Independent Journalist, New Delhi
- 2 Hoihnu Hauzel, Journalist, Gurgaon
- 3. Sevanti Ninan, Journalist, New Delhi
- 4. Patricia Mukhim, The Shillong Times, Shillong
- 5. Anuradha Bhasin, The Kashmir Times, Jammu
- 6. Teresa Rehman, The Thumbprint Magazine, Assam
- 7. Jyoti Malhotra, The Print, New Delhi
- 8. Durba Ghosh, Press Trust of India, Guwahati
- 9. Pamela Phillipose, The Wire, New Delhi
- 10. Nupur Basu, Independent Journalist, Bengaluru
- 11. Clara Lewis, Journalist, Mumbai
- 12. Bachi Karkaria, Times of India, Mumbai
- 13. Santwana Bhattacharya, New Indian Express, Bengaluru
- 14. Ramya Kannan, The Hindu, Chennai
- 15. Deepal Trivedi, Vibes of India, Ahmedabad
- 16. Maya Mirchandani, Independent Journalist, New Delhi
- 17. Mannika Chopra, Independent Journalist, New Delhi
- 18. Amrita Verma, ABP News, Bihar
- 19. Radhika Ramaseshan, Independent Journalist, New Delhi
- 20. Anwesha Banerjee, Journalist, Kolkata
- 21. Nirupama Subramanian, Journalist, Mumbai
- 22. Kajal Iyer, Independent Journalist, Mumbai
- 23. Vineeta Pandey, The Asian Age, New Delhi
- 24. Suhasini Haidar, Journalist, New Delhi
- 25. Rajashri Dasgupta, Independent Journalist, Kolkata
- 26. Nirmala Ganapathy, New Delhi
- 27. Kasturi Roy, New Indian Express, Bhubaneswar
- 28. Seema Sirohi, Independent Journalist, New Delhi & USA
- 29. Madhumita Datta, Anandabazar Patrika, Kolkata
- 30. Aatreyee Dhar, Independent Journalist, Assam
- 31. Meetu Jain, The Wire, New Delhi
- 32. Barasa Das, Independent Journalist, Guwahati
- 33. Sahana Nag Chowdhury, Independent Journalist, Kolkata
- 34. Vidya Subrahmaniam, Independent Journalist, New Delhi
- 35. Shikha Mukherjee, Independent Journalist, Kolkata
- 36. Maya Sharma, Independent Journalist, Bengaluru
- 37. Rakhi Ghosh, Independent Journalist, Bhubaneswar
- 38. Seema Guha, Journalist, New Delhi
- 39. Uma Sudhir, Journalist, Hyderabad
- 40. Aekta Kapoor, eShe Magazine, New Delhi
- 41. Muslim Jan, Independent Journalist, Kashmir
- 42. Kanchan Srivastava, News Portal –Dialogue, Maharashtra
- 43. Deepa Kadam, Journalist, Sakal, Mumbai
- 44. Monideepa Banerjie, Independent Journalist, Kolkata
- 45. Neena Gopal, Independent journalist, Bengaluru
- 46. Akangjungla Longchar, Morung Express, Nagaland
- 47. Seetu Tewari, BBC, Patna
- 48. Ritika, Feminism in India, Bihar
- 49. Arundhati Mukherjee, Independent Journalist, Kolkata
- 50. Ezrela Dalidai Fanai, North East Today/Hornbill TV, Aizawl
- 51. Kavitha Muralidharan, Independent Journalist, Chennai
- 52. Anita Katyal, Independent Journalist, New Delhi
- 53. Nasreen Habib, Journalist, Guwahati
- 54. Shuma Raha, Independent Journalist, New Delhi
- 55. Mumeninaz Zaman, Journalist, Guwahati
- 56. Sanskrita Bharadwaj, Independent Journalist, Guwahati
- 57 Joyshree Usham, Impact News, Manipur
- 58 Smita Gupta, Independent Journalist, New Delhi
- 59. Tazeen Qureshy, Independent Journalist, Bhubaneswar
- 60. Rachna Khaira, Independent Journalist, Chandigarh
- 61. Coreena Suares, Newsmeter, Hyderabad
- 62. Chandrima Bhattacharya, The Telegraph, Kolkata
- 63. Arfa Khanum Sherwani, The Wire, New Delhi
- 64. Divya Chandrababu, Hindustan Times, Chennai
- 65. Dhanya Rajendran, The News Minute, Bengaluru
- 66. Leena, Media Morcha, Bihar
- 67. Jasleen Kaur, PTC News, Chandigarh
- 68. Rubee Das, Freelance Journalist, Guwahati
- 69. Nivedita Jha, Independent Journalist, Patna
- 70. Kimi Colney, East Mojo, Itanagar
- 71. Lakshmi Sharma, Independent Journalist, Siliguri
- 72.Gita Aravamudan, Independent Journalist Bengaluru.
- 73. Revati Laul, Independent Journalist , Shamli
- 74 Rajashri Dasgupta, Independent journalist, Kolkata
- 75. Anuradha Sharma, Independent Journalist, Siliguri
- 76. Sonal Kellog, Lifenews.co.in founder, Ahmedabad
- 78. Ritash, Rang Collective, Bengaluru
- 79 Ritika, Feminism India, Bengaluru
- 80. Padmaja Shaw, journalist, Hyderabad
- 81. Sanhita Banerjee, journalist, Kolkata
- 82 Vasanthi Hariprakash: Journalist, Bengaluru
- 83. Geeta Seshu, Journalist, Mumbai
- 84. Tasneem Kutubuddin, Journalist, Chennai
- 85. Shahina KK, Journalist, Kochi
- 86. Mandira Nayar, Journalist, New Delhi
- 87. Revathi Shiva Kumar, Journalist, Bengaluru
- 88. Swapna Majumdar, Journalist, New Delhi
- 89. Bidisha Singha, Journalist, Guwahati
- 90. Sushmita, PTI, Guwahati
- 91. Parul Sharma, Journalist, New Delhi
- 92. Linda Chhakchhuak, Independent Journalist, Shillong
- 93. Sangita Agarwal, Ommcomm News, Bhubaneswar
- 94. Minnie Vaid, Journalist, Mumbai
- 95. Sobhana Rupakumar, Journalist, Chennai
- 96. Vinita Vishwas Deshmukh, Journalist, Pune
- 97. Naz Asghar, India News Stream, New Delhi and Aligarh
- 98. Madhu Trehan, Journalist, New Delhi
- 99. Swati Bhattacharjee, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Kolkata
- 100. Ninglun Hanghal, Independent Journalist, Guwahati and Imphal
- 101. Kirti S. Parade, Photojournalist, Mumbai
- 102 Purnima Sah, The Hindu, Mumbai 103 Raksha Kumar, Journalist, Bengaluru