Where media is considered to be the third pillar in a democracy, the quaint hills of Darjeeling and Sikkim are in a shamble to find the local media impact to keep in control the politicians, the government or for that matter a body like Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).
The standard of journalism in this both hill stations where we saw pitched battles among political rivals, it draws attention that the media especially the vernacular print editions did not highlight the core issues in a bid to put forward a clear picture of what the battling outfits are upto before both the regions voted on April 12 and 17.
An unestimated figure tells that Sikkim has around 3 to 4 vernacular dailies, approximately 3 English dailies that are popular while in Darjeeling apart from English dailies published from Siliguri, there is a vernacular daily that is popular among the people in the hills.
By speaking of standard journalism, one expects that newspapers now should come to the level of journalism which Bengali dailies has reached in its endeavour to tell the people truth on what is happening. After years, the dailies that are popular in both the regions are still following the same old trend in journalism that keeps them away from controversy. Obviously, with limited readers it is understood that these dailies does not want to fall into controversy for reasons that it would not survive long.
But given that fact that time has come for the print media in both the regions to be stronger, it is recommendable that the format of the news be altered. The people of the region have been suffering for long and have no proper message delivering medium which is keeping them behind. In trying to keep its circulation intact, the media has been promoting events and news which actually in any newspaper does not find a place.
That a committee of a particular organization is formed in reality does not fir in the format of news but correspondents or reporters have been flooding the desk with such items. For readers this has been forcefully imposed for them to read.
Eventually, there is lack of strong media that highlights core issue, problems, controversies and many more.
An unestimated figure tells that Sikkim has around 3 to 4 vernacular dailies, approximately 3 English dailies that are popular while in Darjeeling apart from English dailies published from Siliguri, there is a vernacular daily that is popular among the people in the hills.
By speaking of standard journalism, one expects that newspapers now should come to the level of journalism which Bengali dailies has reached in its endeavour to tell the people truth on what is happening. After years, the dailies that are popular in both the regions are still following the same old trend in journalism that keeps them away from controversy. Obviously, with limited readers it is understood that these dailies does not want to fall into controversy for reasons that it would not survive long.
But given that fact that time has come for the print media in both the regions to be stronger, it is recommendable that the format of the news be altered. The people of the region have been suffering for long and have no proper message delivering medium which is keeping them behind. In trying to keep its circulation intact, the media has been promoting events and news which actually in any newspaper does not find a place.
That a committee of a particular organization is formed in reality does not fir in the format of news but correspondents or reporters have been flooding the desk with such items. For readers this has been forcefully imposed for them to read.
Eventually, there is lack of strong media that highlights core issue, problems, controversies and many more.
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