by Nava Thakuria/ July 28,2022

Guwahati: That was an amazing experience to attend thefoundation day of a 25-year-oldpress club in central Assam on a lazy Sunday, where a number of senior citizens along with rural scribes and novice journalists were waiting to listen tomy speech.

It’s easier to addressa journalists’ meet- where we can discuss many issues with liberties, but while the audienceincludes respected senior citizens andyoung people, it becomes a difficult task to speak to them together.

First, the question that arises, how much should I highlight the eroding credibility of the mainstreammedia around India in general andAssam in particular and secondly what may be the role of social (alternate/digital) in reshaping thenewspapers and satellite news channels!Thirdly, I must discuss the abundant opportunities brought out by the internet services, whichhave almost redesigned the present socio-cultural,political and economical landscape around the world.

As I got down from the long-drive bus at a point near toJakhalabandha stoppage, it wasJayanta Kumar Sarma who came to escort me to the function. Jayanta, secretary of Kaliabor Press Club, gave me the initial briefing about the organizationand its function. Soon Nayan Saikia,a Guwahati-based senior journalist- who continues to be a supportive hand to the local pressclub, welcomed me to the programme. Beforethe meeting began, we had some time for lunch, which was simple but tasty.

After a few formalities, including a welcome chorus by somelocal girls who performed aspirited song of Dr Bhupen Hazarika, the chair asked me to address the gathering. Prior to it, the organizersgreeted me (along with NabinBorthakur- associated with Asom Sahitya Sabha and Pranab Mahanta, a media enthusiast on the dais) in traditional ways and the press club president TapanSaikia introduced me to the audience.Some distinguished listeners (Hemadhar Hazarika, Bhupen Sarma, Dhruba Borgohain, Puspendra Saikia, Pulak Bora, AjitBhagawati, Jayanta Kr Khound,Bipul Hazarika, Achyut Saikia, Krishna Mahanta, etc) were even known to me.

I tried to analyze the crisis faced by the mainstream mediaoutlets with the advent ofaggressive social media. The shrinking space for newspapers was multiplied during the Covid-19 pandemic-induced national lockdown, as rumours spreadthat the physical paper would carrythe coronavirus. Slowly the readers turned to alternate media (precisely the news portals) and manyof them did not return to their age-oldhabit of reading a newspaper in the morning hours.Once a sizablenumber of committed readers go away, the newspapers have lost their influence on them for good.

Across India, we should have over 50 crores of mobile phone(connected to the internet) usersand many of them continue to read newspapers. The problem began, when the readers started questioning thecontents of newspaper columns asoften old, one-sided and non-comprehensive.

The issue did not end here, as many internet users began to criticise the newspaper (also satellite newschannel) contents in the digital mediaspace. Some of them even went on criticizing the editors with personal attacks.

So gradually the editor-journalists have found themselves inawkward situation while facing thepublic. Hence it’s time for the mainstreammedia persons to be more cautious, authentic and credible to the readers, listeners and viewers.Perhaps, we have arrived in a period where we can no longer generate news items according to our convenience. If we keep ouraccountability aside, the social media users(some of them may be retired working journalists) will remind us of it. The reminders may be polite innature or even aggressive (and
we will have no other option than to acknowledge it).

Finally, I insisted that journalists may continue to bepopular, inspiring and influentialif they can maintain their credibility andbe honest to their respective audiences. The so-called glamour, wealth and political affiliation would beuseless in the days to come. A challengingtime for professional journalists has welcomed all of us and we must survive with our truthfulness, dedication andcommitment to the medium, oursociety and the nation.

For records, Kaliabor Press Club was formed by somestruggling rural scribes on July17, 1997, and the present set of members (not more than 50) are celebrating their silver jubilee year. Stateminister Keshab Mahanta, hailingfrom the locality, launched the year-longcelebration at its premises on January 16 last in presence of distinguished personalities includingperforming artiste Jina Rajkumari.The press club members organized the foundation day program
on July 16 and 17.

A journalist workshop (in memory of two pioneer journalistsfrom Kaliabor namely GovindaramBhuyan and Abhiram Bhuyan) was also organizedat Jakhalabandha HS School auditorium where Asom Bani editor Dileep Chandan and NKTV news presenterBiswajyoti Sarma were present asresource persons. It was followed by a competition for information gathering and news presentation amongthe aspiring students. Senior ruralcorrespondents Kanak Hazarika and Narendranath Hazarika guided the event, which was assisted by TarunMuktiyar, Bhaskar Saikia, Ashish Saikia and others.

My proposals for the local press club include a media healthcheck-up camp (where theirfamilies would get the benefit of traditional and modern healthcare), regular sittings with classic movie shows,cartoon exhibitions and discussionon new books, interactions with celebrated personalities, and programs with video conference engaging journalist-authors across the globetime to time so that the local scribescan make them updated with the latest trend in national and international journalism,socio-political and environmental scenariofor their own benefits.