Manipur Journalist Unions Send Legal Notices To Editors Guild Over Report

Manipur's journalists' union and the state's editors guild have sent legal notices to the Editors Guild of India (EGI) over alleged "biased and sponsored" information "favouring one particular community only" in the EGI's report on the media coverage of the Manipur ethnic violence.

The report was published on September 4 by a three-member, crowdfunded EGI team after staying in Manipur for four days.

The notices to the EGI sent by the All Manipur Working Journalists Union (AMWJU) and the Editors' Guild of Manipur (EGM) said the EGI's report led to escalation of violence when Manipur was limping back to normalcy.

"An apex body of editors like the EGI is expected to be very careful while publishing its report on a sensitive issue like that of Manipur... The so-called report only added fuel to the fire that has been burning in Manipur for more than four months," the notices states.

"The report not only escalated the violence in Manipur... but spread false news, which were ill motivated, biased, sponsored and fabricated... favouring one particular community only to the rest of the world, completely violating the ethics of journalism," the AMWJU and the EGM said in the notices.

They also cited the Manipur Forest Department's letter to the state government denying allegations made by the EGI's fact-finding team on the status of "reserved" and "protected" forests.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests SS Chhabra in a seven-page letter to the Manipur government on September 8 had said the allegations against the forest department in the report were "wrong" and "unverified", and they have "led to misinformation... and tarnished the reputation of the forest department."

In the report, the EGI alleged there are clear indications that the leadership of the state became partisan during the conflict. "It should have avoided taking sides in the ethnic conflict, but it failed to do its duty as a democratic government which should have represented the entire state," the report said among its several observations in a concluding summary.

A police case was also filed against the fact-finding team and EGI chief Seema Mustafa by Imphal-based social worker N Sarat Singh over allegations that the report submitted by the EGI team was "false, fabricated and sponsored".

The EGI eventually went to the Supreme Court, which gave them protection from police action till the next hearing.