On the edge of a new year, the Readers’ Editor column goes both backward and forward – no, don’t worry, it isn’t your regular `this-was-the-year-that-was’ and `what to expect in 2025’ kind of article.
Instead, it will focus on two very different aspects of ThePrint’s news content in 2024: first, it will look back at the value of good old-fashioned reporting in coverage of the Manipur crisis.
Then, it will turn to what the future may look like as you see more and more visually interactive storytelling on the platform – a graphic representation of the news, the kind that brought to life a river in spate and the subsequent landslides in Wayanad, which left at least 250 people dead.
These stories represent the blend of solid ground reporting and newer technological tools, which help ThePrint to offer journalism that is accurate, credible, and as engaging as possible.
ThePrint’s reporting on Manipur, a state torn apart by ethnic violence since May 2023, has been recently recognised by the International Press Institute (IPI). The jury commended “…the media’s collective effort to bring out various facets of the human tragedy caused by the civil strife.”
The IPI appreciation is well-deserved. I say this, not just as Readers’ Editor at ThePrint, but as a journalist and writer who has been dismayed by the indifference of most news media platforms—especially broadcast news—toward the civil unrest in the northeastern state. It is unconscionable.
At least eight journalists from ThePrint have been to Manipur since the Meitei-Kuki conflict flared up in May 2023. That’s a lot of journalists for a small news website.
The art of visual storytelling is a recent introduction. Over the past few months, ThePrint has been using the Shorthand platform to build stories with multi-media tools. Just go through the Wayanad story: you see the rain, the water cascading down the hills to the inhabited area. Or, see the gold being smuggled into India. At the tap of the finger, you discover how the yellow metal makes its way in baby diapers or as gold dust in sanitary pads. You can track its journey from country to country before arriving in India with colour coding. It’s wow.
“We are leveraging visuals for storytelling…it has moving graphics, videos, sound – normally text and photograph stories are static. Viewers respond to this format,” said Nisheeth Upadhyay, Editor (Operations). “We will try to do this for more and more ground reporting.”
Exciting times ahead—welcome to 2025 at ThePrint.
Visual story-telling
Many other news organisations, across the world, use Shorthand such as BBC, Financial Times, and NBC. This report from a Spanish website shows you how you can tell a visualised story – and we can understand it without knowing the language.
The format is ideally suited to ThePrint’s in-depth reporting. “We don’t do superficial journalism,” said Soham Sen, who led the graphics team. “We want to give it the treatment and presentation it deserves. This shows you things you don’t otherwise get to see.”
Nisheeth Upadhyay said it lends “flexibility” to telling stories. Personally, I found the format to be a revelation – the visualisation makes it easier for the readers to absorb the information. Also, it directs your attention to specific aspects, one by one. The photographs in the ground report on dancing women jump out at you and tell you so much about the women’s lives.
In the investigation into spam calls, the diagrams allow you to see the modus operandi. Senior Associate Editor, Ananya Bhardwaj’s ‘I witness’ report on her travels through Dhaka is tracked in maps and photographs.
Praveen Jain, Editor (Photography), is “very excited” by the possibilities of the format. “I like it, the style of presentation is very good—and it surprises the reader,” he said.
Obviously, this process of creating and presenting a story takes time and cannot be used for all stories. “You don’t use it for a regular news report,” said Upadhyay, “We have begun thinking Shorthand, now it will pick up.”
Also read: In Manipur, Army seizes Starlink device made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX
Disillusioned sources, spread of misinformation
Manipur has fallen off the map of mainstream news media.
It is remembered only when there are violent protests or incidents. Watch television news channels or YouTube news channels and you will note the absence of the state from their content. It’s as if Manipur doesn’t exist.
In the words of Moushumi Das Gupta, Deputy Editor, who reported from the state several times for ThePrint, “Manipur is forgotten”.
In June 2023, I wrote a Readers’ Editor column about ThePrint’s efforts to convey the enormity of the events that divided the state and their impact on its people.
Karishma Hasnat, Special Correspondent in Guwahati, had warned of tensions in Manipur from early 2023.
Even before the violence began, Hasnat noted the increasing uneasiness between the communities and how government actions had aggravated the situation.
Besides Hasnat, ThePrint has sent reporters and photojournalists to Manipur from Delhi. In the last 18 months, we have continued to track events there. Have things changed on the ground for reporters?
Moushumi Das Gupta had visited in November 2024, soon after the homes of MPs and MLAs were attacked. She went to Manipur in May 2023 soon after the first clashes broke out there. “It’s been a challenging assignment, throughout. Now, it’s more complicated because people don’t want to speak. They’re cagey.”
She found the divide between the communities had grown and there was “a hopelessness” among the people. Frustration has increased and they’re not as welcoming of the news media. “They see it as conflict tourism,” explained Gupta.
Here are some of her reports on the current situation in the state—BJP is a divided house, trade hub turns ghost town, Sangh workers live in fear.
Another ThePrint editor who has been to Manipur several times, Ananya Bhardwaj, said that while sources are more accessible because she now knows the civil and security officials, what’s difficult is that different agencies tell different versions of the same incident. “They’re not on the same page,” said Bhardwaj. “So which agency are you to believe?”
The other obstacle reporters face is misinformation, especially through social media. Both sides, the Meiteis and Kukis, have their own sources of information, which they use to promote their version of events. Bhardwaj said they show you videos from their own “intelligence sources”.
She agreed with Gupta that the people are disillusioned: “They have accepted the fact that it will be like this,” she said. Had the national media kept Manipur in the headlines in the last 18 months, perhaps the authorities would have worked harder to find a settlement and restore peace. I believe the news media has by and large failed to highlight the faultlines in Manipur and demand accountability.
That’s what makes ThePrint’s efforts all the more important.
That’s it for this year. Before I leave you, a big thank-you to all our readers—especially to those who took the trouble to write to The Print with their valuable feedback. We hope you will continue to engage with us in 2025.
Shailaja Bajpai is ThePrint’s Readers’ Editor. Please write in with your views, complaints to readers.editor@theprint.in
(Edited by Ratan Priya)