Army’s Invite To Editors Guild To Probe Coverage Of Manipur Violence Raises Eyebrows

It wasn’t just Chief Justice Of India D Y Chandrachud who was perplexed by the revelation that the Army invited the Editors Guild Of India (EGI) to Manipur to investigate the “unethical reporting” of ethnic violence in the state by what the Army termed the “vernacular media”. 

A number of others, including Army veterans, senior civil administration officers, as well as senior ministers in Manipur, have expressed surprise over the Army inviting the EGI to Manipur. 

The invitation to the EGI by Colonel Anurag Pandey, the Colonel General Staff (Information Warfare) at the 3 Corps Headquarters at Rangapahar in Nagaland, has come in for criticism. 

Many have even termed it an “illegal act” by the Army and called for action against the officers who issued the invitation and facilitated the visit of the EGI team to Manipur. 

The Army’s letter (No. 10604/Media/GSW(IW) dated 12 July, 2023) addressed to EGI President Seema Mustafa complains of “partisan manner of reporting undertaken by media outlets in the Imphal Valley in Manipur which incidentally could be playing a major role in arousing passion and not letting sustainable peace to come in (sic)”. 

The letter signed by Colonel Pandey on behalf of the GOC of 3 Corps, which oversees Army operations in Nagaland, Manipur and eastern Arunachal Pradesh, states: “Media outlets of Imphal Valley have been indulging in outright misrepresentation of facts that violate all norms of journalistic ethics and in the process may be one of the major contributors to the instigation of further violence. The bias of the media in favour of one community against the other community emerges clearly in their reportage”. 

The letter cites three incidents to buttress the charge of media bias and terms those as “black moment in journalism” and “nadir of journalism”. 

The letter ends with a request to the EGI President to conduct an inquiry and “ascertain whether the guidelines for journalists and media houses have been violated by these media houses which appears to be one-sided and appropriate action be taken accordingly”. 

Why the Army’s invitation to the EGI is problematic

• The Army is not a media watchdog and has no business to ask the EGI or any other body to conduct an inquiry into reportage by any media outlet. 

• The Army may argue that the “partisan” coverage of incidents in the state (Manipur) is hampering the return to normalcy and exacerbating tensions, thus making its job difficult. But then, the Army’s mandate is to assist the state machinery (the police and civil administration) to maintain law and order and help return to normalcy. It cannot act on its own in these matters.

Thus, if the Army had grievances against the Imphal-based media houses for their coverage of the ethnic violence, it should have taken those concerns up with the state authorities instead of overstepping its mandate and reaching out to the EGI.

And if the local army authorities (the 3 Corps) felt that the state government was unwilling to address its concerns (those ‘concerns’ should not have been the army’s, in any case), it ought to have complained to the Army Headquarters which could then, if it felt necessary, referred the matter to the Ministry of Defence. 

• The Press Council of India (PCI), and not the Editors Guild of India, is the right forum to take grievances or complaints regarding media coverage to.

The PCI, headed by former Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and comprising members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, University Grants Commission (UGC), Bar Council of India, Sahitya Akademi, the EGI, journalists union of various states, representatives of managements of newspapers and media outlets and prominent press clubs of India, is the appropriate forum for sending such complaints to. 

The PCI is a statutory, quasi-judicial autonomous authority that was set up by an Act of Parliament.

The EGI, on the other hand, is a cabal of editors and senior journalists of media outlets. It has no legal mandate or standing, and is unrepresentative of the Indian media with many media outlets choosing to stay away from the EGI or not being invited to join the body that is often accused of being partisan.

The biggest media group in India--the Bennett Coleman & Co (with publications like The Times Of India and The Economic Times--is unrepresented in the EGI.

The EGI has often been accused of being biassed against a particular party and the Union Government, and most of its office-bearers and executive committee members are perceived to be prejudiced and partisan. 

• The Army has to operate under civilian control and oversight, and rightly so. To bypass the civil administration and state authorities, or even the Union Government, and reach out to a body like the EGI on an issue that is beyond its mandate and of no concern to it can even be taken to be an act of insubordination. 

Criticism of Army’s invitation to EGI

Many army veterans, senior bureaucrats, top police officers and ruling politicians have criticised the act of the 3 Corps authorities. 

“This is unprecedented. The Army invites and hosts the media, but that is to facilitate exposure of journalists to military operations and forward bases, or to cover CI (counter-insurgency) operations. The Army has never extended such an invitation in the past,” an Army veteran who retired in the rank of a Major General told Swarajya. 

Another Army veteran said that it is unlikely that the invitation by the 3 Corps to the EGI was cleared by the MoD (Ministry of Defence) or the Army Headquarters. “At most, it (the invitation) would have been cleared by the Eastern Army commander, but even that is not clear. But what is clear is that the 3 Corps commander and his officers overstepped their mandate. The complaint to the EGI was not in order,” said a retired Lieutenant General who served as Corps Commander in the eastern sector. 

The political leadership of Manipur is livid with the Army’s act. “This is unprecedented and unpardonable. The Army has no business to reach out to a private body like the EGI and those who did this should face strong disciplinary action,” a senior Minister in Manipur told Swarajya. 

It is learnt that Chief Minister N Biren Singh has taken up this “grave matter” with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. 

“The army’s role is very clear. It is called to the aid of civil authorities in times of emergencies and crises. It cannot act independently in any situation and has to be subservient to the civil authority. Sending a letter to a private association without the concurrence of the state administration complaining of media bias does not fall within the well-defined role of the army,” said a former IAS officer who retired as an additional chief secretary of Manipur a couple of years ago. 

The letter to the EGI by 3 Corps authorities has triggered a storm of criticism in the social media as well. 

“If media outlets in Imphal valley have reported events in a partisan manner, so have media outlets in the Kuki-inhabited areas in the hill districts. But to complain against one and remain silent on the other reveals the bias and prejudice of the complainant,” a serving bureaucrat who is a secretary of an important department and hails from a northern Indian state told Swarajya. 

It is, thus, being alleged that the Army’s 3 Corps authorities overstepped their mandate while sending the letter to the EGI. And to make matters worse for the Army, the EGI’s report has been termed as “highly partisan”, “half-baked” and “factually incorrect” with the Manipur Police registering two FIRs against the EGI president and three members of the EGI fact-finding team which visited Manipur. 

Also read: 

Why The Editors’ Guild of India Report on Manipur comes across as biased and politically motivated