Media Asked to Focus on Development of Northeast States

By Shreeraj Gudi

New Delhi, Apr 1 : Union Government's interlocutor for Naga peace talks R. S. Pandey on Wednesday asked the media to report more on progress and development of the northeast region than just covering problems.

"Northeast has more stories on prospects and development than problems. There is a vast region of peace and tranquility. The areas which are enjoying peace and harmony should be shown to the outside world," Pandey said.

His comments came while participating in a dialogue on "North East: Fallen off the media map?" organized by the Foundation for Media Professionals (FMP).

Pandey asked the scribes to highlight the basic human values in their reporting when he said the northeastern part of the country can really produce good and sellable news. But he expressed concern that the mainstream media did not have much focus on that region.

In his address, Pandey stressed that the psychological gap between northeast region and mainstream or metropolitan cities-centric media should be bridged.

"There is an immense psychological difference, this needs to be filled with," Pandey said.

He said covering northeast is a big challenge and a bit difficult but even in that one can achieve success.

"This is the time of media proliferation. If the bosses in the media can decide, they can send and get report extensively," Pandey said.

He said there are commonality as well as differences in the homogenous group of northeastern states, which are home to over 200 tribes.

Pandey, who also served for over a two decade in Nagaland as Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer acknowledged that infrastructure development in the region is still a big challenge, though the region showed good in Human Development Index (HDI).

He expressed confidence that the things were improving compared to 30 years ago, but they still need more focus.