Scribes dwell at length on ethical reporting

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Apr 12 : With the support of the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manipur, the Editors' Guild Manipur (EGM) organised  a one day media awareness programme on "Free, Fair and Ethical Voting" at the auditorium of DIPR at Keishampat, today.
The programme was graced by DIPR Director Dr Th Charanjeet Singh, All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) president Bijoy Kakching-tabam and EGM president cum Editor of The Sangai Express (Manipuri edition) Khogendra Khomdram as chief guest, guest of honour and functional president respectively.
While delivering the keynote address, the DIPR Director appealed to  all media houses to give equal opportunities to all the candidates of the  upcoming Lok Sabha election in sharing their views and commitment to the people and also keep the people informed in choosing the  candidate of their preference.
He also appealed to all media houses to refrain from publishing unverified news which can hurt the sentiments of a group of people or  may create misunderstanding among the people.
Following the speech of the DIPR Director, a technical session was held which was moderated by Khogendra Khomdram.
ADM Imphal West Samin Ahmed Shah spoke about various tools, mobile apps and Helpline number which have been made available to the  public such as cVIGIL, Know Your Candidate and Saksham among others to make people informed and ensure fair election.
He said that people can lodge a complaint regarding violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) anonymously by uploading videos and  photos at cVIGIL while people can check the credential of the candidates from the Know Your Candidate application.
Saksham, on the other hand was launched to ease the voter identification and registration process for people with disabilities (PwDs), the Imphal West ADM added.
He went on to state that many initiatives such as EMV tracking through GPS have been taken up to make the election process transparent.
Citizens can call the Voter Helpline 1950 and enquire on subjects such as elections, voting dates, EPIC, electoral roll, online registration and lodge a complaint by simply dialling into the toll-free no, Samin Ahmed Shah said.
Accuracy of electoral roll is very important to ensure fair election, he added.
Additional Director of DIPR W Phajatombi, on the other hand, spoke about Media Certification & Monitoring Committee (MCMC).
She said that the duty of MCMC is to check or scrutinise paid or fake news and political advertisement  to be broadcast over TV and Radio channels, papers, internet based media including social media,  e-papers and cable network during election.
She asked electronic media to only accept the authorized disk when airing election-related advertisement. Similarly, she urged print media to verify media certification before publishing any election-related advertisement on the polling day and one day prior.
Manipur Hill Journalists' Union (MHJU) Peter Adani, in his brief speech, highlighted about the use of unfair means during election in hill districts.
He said that intimidation of voters by armed groups is a common phenomenon in hill districts.
EGM secretary Y Rupachandra and senior journalist A Mobi spoke on "Free, Fair and Ethical Voting" and "Ethical and Responsible Reporting of Election" respectively.