Meitei Media Caught Reporting Fake News; Manipur Police Corrects Them

The Imphal valley based Meitei media houses, as per their usual old self, on December 7 published and telecasted fabricated or fake news to appease the grieving Meitei community.

On December 7, Elite TV, an Imphal based news channel telecasted a news item stating that two Kuki militants had been killed in a shootout at Khoibu village in Chandel district. However, the same was immediately debunked by the Manipur Police.

The Manipur Police on their social media handle stated that the news report was fake and further clarified that there was no incident of firing/encounter happening at Khoibu village under Tengnoupal district.

The chain of fake news being published or telecasted by the Meitei media has led to a steady decline of trust and confidence in the Imphal valley based media houses. The mainstream Meitei media houses in this current crisis have given tough competition to social media in originating and circulating fake news.

This also exposes the Meitei media of their sinister variety of agenda-driven fake stories circulated by their publications or channels.

Nowadays, due to the unsettled ethnic crisis in the state of Manipur, mass media is often used as a tool to gain power over public’s consciousness by the Meiteis.

The Meitei media chooses only a few of them, separating ‘important’ from ‘secondary’, and publishes or telecasts only those news that can paint the Kukis in a bad limelight. Their reporting is far from objective; each Meitei media outlet creates a unique picture of the day, presenting its own interpretation of political reality.

The media persons are supposed to be the whistleblowers in a democracy; they are not here to appease only a certain community or sections. The media is to ensure that there is no biased reporting or alienation towards a particular community.

Though a big number of the media houses including the blabbering class on TV have sold their souls to the highest bidders, there are many who still believe in media as the fourth pillar of democracy.