Even as an environmental activist in Manipur Jiten Yumnam is detained under the National Security Act for waging war against the Government of India, there comes a special report from Reporters Sans Frontiers. It says environmental journalists are at the frontline of a new war against journalists, one that targets those exposing powerful polluters. Whether it is in
It observes,"There is a lot at stake in the environment. The first step in protecting nature is to carry out a detailed survey of the state of the resources and the way they are used. On the basis of this analysis • in which the press plays a significant role • political decision-makers can then establish rules and norms for economic actors and the public. The gathering of information alone is threatening for many companies, organised crime groups, governments and the various kinds of intermediaries that profit from misuse of the environment. Environmental concerns complicate their plans."
Yumnam is not a journalist, but his arrest reflects a new official will in tackling those who question how land is utilized, and in whose interest it is deployed as a resource. He has been an activist, working as a volunteer for Citizens' Concern on Dam and Development •"an organisation he co-founded to counter the negative impacts of development projects on tribal and indigenous people of the region." (Tehelka). Environmental journalists in
The RSF report unfortunately has no information on Indian examples, but it cites many other instances from across the world where both land use for polluting industrial purposes, and the act of pollution has been questioned by journalists who have come to grief as a result. Ten years ago, in 1998, a conference of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ) held in
The following examples have been cited by RSF:"Guinean journalist Lai Baldé has been threatened. Egyptian blogger Tamer Mabrouk has been sued. Russian journalist Grigory Pasko has just spent four years in prison. His Uzbek colleague, Solidzhon Abdurakhmanov, has just been given a 10-year jail sentence. Mikhail Beketov, another Russian journalist, has lost a leg and several fingers as a result of an assault. Bulgarian reporter Maria Nikolaeva was threatened with having acid thrown in her face. Filipino journalist Joey Estriber has been missing since 2006… What do these journalists and many others have in common? They are or were covering environmental issues in countries where it is dangerous to do so."
In the wake of climate change becoming a central issue internationally, environmental concern and coverage in the Indian mainstream press has been stepped up. There are plenty of stories journalists can do without specifically targeting government or industry. But when it is a question of taking a stand on land allocation in the country's forest areas to Indian and International industrial interests, uncomfortable questions have to be asked in a sustained manner. That is where the crunch will come. Not if the journalist in question belongs to an NDTV or a CNN-IBN, but if he or she is a local journalist exposing local vested interests. Those of the former have gone on to win awards, the latter could languish unheralded in jail.