Shillong, Sept 26: A delegation of the Meghalaya Editor’s & Publisher’s Association (MEPA) on Wednesday met the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Manish Tewari, and apprised him of the numerous burning issues currently faced by the journalists and publishers in the state. To which, the Minister assured full support and address these issues in an expeditious manner.
The MEPA led by its President R.M. Shabong, Editor and Publisher of Rupang, brought to the notice of the Minister the disparity in distribution to advertisements by state government, wherein many of the local newspapers have been ignored against regional and national papers. According to him, the regional papers having a small office and without contributing much to the state have been taking away lion share in the advertisements whereas the local papers are either completely ignored or given minimal advertisements. This has burdened the local media fraternity as the state does not have any visible industry or corporate presence so the private advertisements are already out of the scenario and the preferential treatment to regional and national newspapers shown by the state government has further weakened them.
On this, the Minister assured that he will issue a suitable directive to the state government and also send a delegation of DAVP to further address the need of local media houses.
He also assured to give directive to the Chief Minister to expeditiously setup the Single Window Agency for dispatch and clearance of advertisement and their bills in-line with DAVP.
Further, he agreed to assess the present role of PIB in Meghalaya and ensure that it functions in its right earnest towards the duty it is designated to perform and be the nodal point for coordination and interaction between the centre and the state media fraternity.
On the tours of VIPs⠴o neighboring countries with matters relating to the region, he was of firm opinion that local media personnel should accompany them.
Also, with regards to insurance of working journalists, he expressed his interest to extend the Central Health Insurance Scheme (CHIS) to accredited journalists serving in Meghalaya besides also providing them with central welfare schemes.
Besides, he assured to examine the demand for having a dedicated counter/ quota for journalists to available railway and flight tickets in Shillong, thus avoiding the need for local journalists to go to Maligaon in Assam to such facilities.
The MEPA delegation included Editor of The Shillong Times, Patricia Mukhim, Editor of Meghalaya Times, Prof Thomas Lim, Joint Editor of Meghalaya Times, Deepak Singh, Editor of U Peitngor, S.S. Syiem, Editor of Garo daily Da.alni Kobor, Digros D Shira, Editor of SP News Agency, Starfing Pdahkasiej and Editor of vernacular weekly Kyrsiew,AnthonyN.Nongbri. (SP News)
