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Pay and The Scribes
Are the journalists, the reporters, the sub-editors and the editors attached with the local newspapers poorly paid? Are their pay package and their salaries commensurate with the ungodly working hours and hostile conditions they work in? Or more specially are the proprietors of the newspapers getting rich at the expense of the journalists they employ? We asks these questions because these points have suddenly become very important, at least to those belonging to the print media, in the backdrop of the decision of the Labor Minister Z Mangaibou to study the possibility of implementing the Manisana Wageboard and make some of the major newspaper houses adopt the recommendations of the Wageboard and make some of the major newspaper houses adopt the recommendations of the Wageboard.
The stand of the Minister was even announced through the 7:30 pm news bulletin of the All India Radio, Imphal Kendra on August 8 and the Minister reiterated this during the Review Meeting of the State Labor Department at the State Guest House on August 9. As the Minister observed during his speech at the Review Meeting, some of the major newspaper houses can be clubbed in one of the nine categories spelt out by the Manisana Wageboard and accordingly the recommendations mentioned in the specified category can be applied to the respective newspaper establishments here.
All these sound very exciting and yes to a number of journalists attached with the local newspapers, the Manisana Wageboard will certainly look very attractive and while we do not doubt the true intent of the Labor Minister and the Labor Department to better the lot of the journalists working in the local newspapers, we wish the authority concerned had done a little more homework and taken the proprietors and publishers into confidence before coming out with its proposal to study the possibility of implementing the Manisana Wageboard in Manipur. If we are not mistaken, the Labor Department short listed some newspapers, numbering seven or eight, which can some under one of the categories of the Wageboard solely on the basis of the circulation figures forwarded by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations.
The question before us is, should the circulation figure be the lone criteria for deciding that the newspaper should come under the purview of the Wageboard? Moreover is there any mechanism to check whether the circulation figure submitted by the newspaper has been doctored or not? Has the Labor Department studied the advertisement rates or more especially when was the last time the advertisement rate was reviewed by the State Government? Advertisement is the oxygen of any publishing venture and suffice it to say that without advertisement it would be virtually impossible to sustain newspaper or a magazine.
Over and above this, there is a question of the newspaper distributors’ commission. It may sound unbelievable, but the commission of the newspaper distributors is an astounding 40 percent of the index price of the newspaper. And of course there is the question of procuring newsprint from paper mills from outside the State and with the situation on the National Highways, the question at hand can well be understood. These are the points that the State Labor Department should study. We do admit that some of the newspaper houses can definitely do better with the pay package of their employees, but the point is, is the Manisana Wageboard recommendations feasible in Manipur?
It is our firm belief that the best course for the State Government is to set up a committee to study the ground realities of the newspaper houses and the working conditions of the journalists, and the categorize the newspapers, and draw up the pay recommendations. Implementing the Manisana Wageboard now without studying the realities may amount to something like the implementation of 5th Pay Commission by the State Government.
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)
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