Media houses in Manipur on Saturday resolved to boycott all news related to the government of Manipur and BJP Manipur Pradesh, following the failure to respond to repeated appeals to clear pending advertisement bills by 4 pm of Saturday.
A joint meeting of the publishers, editors and representatives of the All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) and the Manipur Hill Journalist Union (MHJU), held at Manipur press club on Saturday reiterated the media appeal made by a joint meeting on April 15, asking the state government and Manipur BJP to clear pending advertisement bills by Saturday, stated a joint release issued by Editors Guild Manipur (EGM), AMWJU and MHJU.
It was decided to go ahead with the boycott, following no response from the Government and the state BJP, it stated.
The boycott will cover all news related to the Manipur government, ruling parties-BJP and NPF. The boycott will also include all government advertisements, including those of its authorities, corporations like the PDA, LDA etc., it mentioned. However, the meeting resolved to give some time to the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee of INC, following assurance given by its president, it stated.
It further stated that the media boycott will not include the offices of the governor, the speaker, COVID-19 and pandemic related news including medical emergencies. Crime related stories of law and order will also be exempted from the boycott, as per the resolution, it added.
The boycott will come into effect from Sunday till the pending bills are paid or an understanding has been entered with the parties concerned, it stated.
It stated that the boycott came after the government failed to clear the bills even after a series of assurances given by the chief minister and chief secretary of the government of Manipur. The media bodies had suspended an earlier boycott call following personal intervention of the chief minister and the chief secretary, it added.
It continued that bills running into crores of rupees are pending with the government while bills running into lakhs for advertisements made in connection with the recently concluded 12 Assembly election have been pending with both the ruling BJP and opposition Congress (I).
Media houses in Manipur are reeling under financial strain following the pandemic and rising cost of news production, it stated. Media houses have been appealing to the government to take a sympathetic view of the situation to avoid the confrontation, it added.
