Both journalists and non-journalist employees of daily newspapers in Imphal staged a protest on the campus of the Press Club on Wednesday against the pressure laid on them by a banned underground organisation in Manipur.
On Tuesday, the organisation had issued a statement on the occasion of its 56th anniversary. A top leader of the organisation had also issued a message on the occasion. However, around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, a telephonic instruction was given to spike the message, while on the other hand the editors were told that the message should be published.
The editors and publishers decided not to bring out the Wednesday edition of the newspapers.
An emergency meeting of journalists and editors was convened by the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union and the Editors Guild Manipur on Wednesday. It was decided that the newspapers would not publish any contradictory statements of the outfit. However, police reports on the outfit would be covered.
It was resolved that employees should stay away from the protest. There would be no edition of the newspapers on Thursday.
Officials said that this was not the first time that journalists have abstained from work. There have been pressures and counter pressures to cover or spike some news, the officials said.
