Manipur—where’s that? You may well ask.
You might also ask why has there been such poor coverage by television news of the violence in the state, which left at least 54 people dead, many villages torched and thousands displaced from their homes?
Simple answer: TV news had better things to do. Like the live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s road shows in Karnataka. Cut to the political ‘storm’ (CNN-News 18) over the screening or banning of the film The Kerala Story, which the BJP made into a poll campaign issue. Or the focus on the wrestlers’ protests in New Delhi, on-the-run mafia don Guddu Muslim’s sighting—yes he has been sighted somewhere, everywhere all at once—(India Today, CNN-News 18). Plus a visit to Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘Sheesh Mahal’ (Times Now Navbharat) to dig up more dirt, Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s interview to ANI, broadcast simultaneously across all channels, before Imran Khan, former Pakistan prime minister, took over the news cycle on Tuesday evening.
Following the PM, The Kerala Story
On Wednesday, we watched actors such as Prakash Raj, Aravind Akash and Amulya cast their votes in Karnataka before we returned to the PM’s speech at Nathdwara in Rajasthan on the villainies of the Congress. Note how cleverly BJP has Modi speak publicly, on television, in another state even as voting progresses in Karnataka where Congress and BJP are the main rivals.
Anything but the human tragedy in Manipur was making news headlines. While it wasn’t entirely ignored—there was some coverage when the violence hit the state last week—it was so sporadic you might have missed it, unless you looked long and hard. Besides the occasional on-the-spot reports on channels like NDTV 24×7, India Today, and CNN-News18, TV news channels didn’t feel that the death of more than 50 people and the subsequent displacement of over 20,000 people deserved more than the occasional glance.
Turn to the prime-time debates and it’s the same story: The Kerala Story wrangle-tangle was the subject of heated disagreements in TV studios. Times Now was outraged—as it should have been—over the arrest of its TV team in Punjab, the PM’s ‘Bajrangbali’ attack on Congress rang out across shows — but Manipur?
Well, India Today, NDTV 24×7 discussed it, CNN-News 18 explained it but there wasn’t much else.
When a genuine human tragedy of such proportions isn’t the major focus but the silly tit for tat political chess game over The Kerala Story shares the limelight with the PM and remains in the news for a week, it tells you a great deal about Indian news channels.
Primarily, it tells you that they go where the PM goes and they go where there is a half-baked and half-concocted political quarrel. This time, it’s over a film—aggravated by chief minister Mamata Banerjee who banned it and Yogi Adityanath who made it tax-free. TV news will go viral with the `Kerala Story Dangal’ (India Today) but won’t dwell on the suffering of people who are now refugees in their own state. Sad but true.
Also read: ‘What if it happens again?’ No violence in 5 days, but distrust grips Manipur, fear haunts victims
Focus on the communal
What makes this all the more poignant is that just over a month ago, on Ram Navami, communal clashes in states such as West Bengal and Bihar were ‘live’ on TV non-stop for three-four days. Nothing else mattered, nothing else got more than a headline. Along with the reporters and the security forces, we paraded the streets of Howrah, Hoogly and Nalanda as the fires raged. We listened to accounts by local eyewitnesses, families of those caught in the crosshairs and the police. Again and again, we watched video grabs of the violence and heard ‘Hindu-Muslim’ reverberate across channels.
The damage to property, public and private, was extensive but there were no deaths. And yet, guess what? The rioting in Bengal received day to night coverage and the issue hotly debated on numerous evening discussions too.
Cut to Manipur: death and destruction paved the way out of Churachandpur along with survivors but the TV cameras were looking elsewhere. Since the violence abated, thousands have been relocated to camps. Why aren’t news channels recording their stories of grief and loss? Why haven’t we seen what has been left behind in the wake of the brutal clashes?
Is Manipur too far away for viewers of English and Hindi news channels located in other parts of the country to identify with or care about? Or, could it be because the violence doesn’t have a ‘Hindu-Muslim’ tag to it—unlike The Kerala Story—one that would neatly fit into the current political divisive discourse? Or, is it because the incident occurred in a BJP-governed state while Bengal and Bihar are run by opposition parties?
Whatever the reasons—and I don’t claim to know them—Manipur’s misery isn’t being shared by news channels.
Instead, a channel like India TV will produce news features on `Is love jihad alive? 100 per cent.’ The ongoing dispute over The Kerala Story makes this ‘topical’.
But people are still in the refugee camps, TV channels could still go there.
Manipur anyone?
Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)