It is ironic that those in the media profession hardly write about themselves. We tell stories of poverty and deprivation to give voice to the unheard. We castigate the powerful and affluent for taking away the last vestiges of dignity from those who cannot fight back.

We expose abuse of power; we try in humble ways to fight the wicked system that has transmogrified democracy into a system where power- holders indulge in single-minded pursuit for power and pelf and where public service has turned into a meaningless cliché.

We report about the mindless exploitation of the earth by the mining mafia and use words like “rape” of mother earth to bring out the extent of devastation caused by the relentless mining of limestone, coal, iron and what have you. This is our life’s mission and anything short of that is not acceptable from the profession we have opted for. Going beyond the headlines is our brief. If we are not doing that we are missing out on the fundamental of journalism.

Philip Seib, Professor of Journalism and Public Diplomacy and Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California, has rightly remarked that truth has become an increasingly slippery notion in recent decades as the apparent certainties of modernity have come under challenge. Yet for many journalists, the truth is still out, there in the shape of “facts that are verified and explained.” Either you can get to the truth or you can’t; and if you can’t then it’s probably because somebody is trying to stop you. “It is true that truth has many versions and can become a victim of the journalist’s own subjectivity. But in journalism, as distinct from fiction, there is a truth of the matter and this is what objectivity in journalism aims at.”

Matthew Kieran writing on media ethics says,  “where reporting turns away from the goal of truth and journalists treat events as open to many interpretations, according to their prejudices, assumptions, news agenda or the commercial drive towards entertainment, the justification and self-confessed rationale of journalism threatens to disappear.”

We are in the world of post- truth and fake news; in a world where news is purveyed by someone sitting behind a computer and churning out yarns and yarns of lies; of half truths; of matter that suit the agenda of their paymasters. The arrival of Cambridge Analytica as a global mind influencer is actually mind-boggling. But again it is some journalist doing his/her job diligently somewhere which has exposed the dirty handiwork of CA whose mastermind has confessed that political parties in India are not averse to using such mind-reading tactics to influence voters to opt for a certain candidate as against another.

In this world where information about individuals vests the owner of that information with tremendous power and control over their lives and when that information is on sale to the highest bidder; when those who own that information have no dearth of money to buy loyalties, including that of media persons then journalism is in serious trouble.

The megabuck owners are difficult to compete with. It would sound idealistic to aver that we must continue to challenge such purveyors of untruth with the meagre resources available today with owners of media houses that seek not to compromise with truth. But that essentially is the challenge.

Journalism is not dead. There are people in every corner of the earth who have chosen this profession, not as a wealth creation project but because they have that spark which urges them to speak up and speak out come what may and no matter the threats to their lives.

In India, for instance, the corporatisation of big media is complete. One is unlikely to get objective views from the mainstream media, particularly television media. And by objectivity here I mean an unedited version of the truth which is written in direct language to reach the common person.

Much of what we see on television today is so tailored to suit the ruling party narrative and this is done so shamelessly that one wonders if this is journalism or a public relations enterprise. Indeed, most news consumers who really want to know the state of the nation go to online news websites that run on a shoestring budget and ask those who value objectivity in news reportage to contribute by way of subscriptions, to sustain the news portals.

It is in this climate of confusion – the post truth moment – inhabited by the likes of Cambridge Analytica, when you don’t know if the news you read is meant to influence your decisions in a certain way – that we as journalists are working in today.

And in this bewildering and chaotic scenario, some of us in the periphery of this country are expected to tell stories which must constantly remind the “nation” that we also exist. Journalists inhabiting that space called “the North-east” are stereotyped and pigeon-holed to only write about the region as if they have no idea of what happens across the nation; but also because the nation is illiterate about its periphery. So we continue to thump on our keyboards with the hope that our stories would get eyeballs and that the “nation” would pay attention to the administrative and governance lacunae that beset the region.

In scripting such stories we also tread on many toes. The powerful don’t like us anyway. But there are some who would even want to snuff the life out of us. There are powerful mining lobbies without scruples about what they would leave behind for the next generation. They are in a single-minded pursuit to extract and exploit the earth down to its last resource. They don’t care that they leave behind a trail of destruction for other living creatures including their fellow humans.

This mindless exploitation of not just mineral resources but boulders and river- sand through reckless quarrying has dried up many of the river systems in Meghalaya. Coal-mining has turned rivers that once were vibrant eco-systems in which marine creatures thrived, into toxic soak pits today. Limestone mining has blasted our pristine cave systems that carry our histories and are our precious heritage.

Naturally we are experiencing the impact of climate change from close quarters. Next to our lovely lakes and waterfalls you see cement companies belching out smoke and dust. The reason given by the state is that industries can be set up anywhere except next to international borders or on forested land. It’s a different matter that Meghalaya has redefined the meaning of “forests” to suit the cement companies.

Pollution is part of our existential dilemma even while the Pollution Control Board looks the other way because the hands of those who head this impotent board are regularly greased by the mining mafia. We are losing our forests at a rapid pace because saw and veneer mills have once again sprung up by the dozens. One is forced to ask if this is a sustainable model of existence.

And it is precisely because one asks this question time and again that one also gathers a bouquet of “enemies.” But what is journalism unless one challenges these wrong-doings on a regular basis? True, many who have crossed swords with coal and limestone mine owners have paid with their lives.

Journalists in other parts of the country who have exposed the sand-mining mafia have been killed and those of us who expose these unsustainable mining practices are being intimidated to abort that brand of journalism and write on inane matters that affect none and are unlikely to hurt the fortunes of the rich and powerful.

But mining and continued exploitation of the environment are not the only reasons for journalists being intimidated. It is a travesty of democracy that it allows pressure groups of all kinds to thrive. These groups are meant to put the state on notice so that its mandate is not sacrificed at the altar of politics, power and pelf. Alas! Many of these pressure groups have become Frankensteins that are used by politicians during elections and by the mining mafia at other times. They subsist on doles from their patrons.

Some pressure groups have enlisted lumens to carry out the mandate of their masters. In this situation when the forces that are continuously trying to throttle democracy are given the oxygen they need to thrive, then journalism and its practitioners are in deep trouble.

But even within this constricted environment, committed journalists will try and push the envelope for as long as they can.

Long live the Fourth Estate.

It is today the only lifeblood of democracy!

The writer is Editor of the Shillong Times and can be contacted at patricia.mukhim@gmail.com