NEW DELHI: The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday said Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh accusing the Guild’s fact-find report on the ethnic conflagration in Manipur of misrepresenting facts was “intimidatory” in nature.
The Guild also urged Singh to close the FIRs that the Manipur government registered against its president Seema Mustafa, and three members Seema Guha, Sanjay Kapoor and Bharat Bhushan.
In a statement, the Guild also said the chief minister’s labelling of the journalists’ body as “anti-State” and “anti-national” was deeply disturbing.”The Editors Guild of India is disturbed by the registration of First Information Reports by the Manipur Police against the president of the Guild as well as the members of the fact-finding team that had visited Manipur to study and document media’s coverage of ethnic clashes in the state,” its statement said. Reiterating that the underlying idea of the report was to enable introspection and reflection on the media’s conduct in such a sensitive situation, the statement added, “The Guild had received several representations from civil society as well as the Indian Army raising concerns that the media in Manipur was playing a partisan role in the ongoing ethnic conflict between the majority Meitei community and the Kuki-Chin minority.”
The fact-finding report released on Spetember 2 had attracted the ire of the Biren Singh-led government and led to an FIR being lodged against the Guild president and the three members of the team, apart from accusations from CM that the report had misrepresented facts due to partisan responses.
The Guild also urged Singh to close the FIRs that the Manipur government registered against its president Seema Mustafa, and three members Seema Guha, Sanjay Kapoor and Bharat Bhushan.
In a statement, the Guild also said the chief minister’s labelling of the journalists’ body as “anti-State” and “anti-national” was deeply disturbing.”The Editors Guild of India is disturbed by the registration of First Information Reports by the Manipur Police against the president of the Guild as well as the members of the fact-finding team that had visited Manipur to study and document media’s coverage of ethnic clashes in the state,” its statement said. Reiterating that the underlying idea of the report was to enable introspection and reflection on the media’s conduct in such a sensitive situation, the statement added, “The Guild had received several representations from civil society as well as the Indian Army raising concerns that the media in Manipur was playing a partisan role in the ongoing ethnic conflict between the majority Meitei community and the Kuki-Chin minority.”
The fact-finding report released on Spetember 2 had attracted the ire of the Biren Singh-led government and led to an FIR being lodged against the Guild president and the three members of the team, apart from accusations from CM that the report had misrepresented facts due to partisan responses.