Mediapersons in rural areas taking to petty jobs in absence of internet

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 12/13/2019 12:37:18 PM

Journalism’s labour lost in Kashmir

JAMMU, Dec 12: Photo-journalist Muneeb-ul-Islam’s transition from the clicking cameras to one of working on construction sites with brick and mortar looks almost surreal. But four months of communication blockade and virtually no internet facility in Kashmir has pushed many journalists to the edge, particularly those in the rural areas.
Valley’s weekly newspaper, Kashmir Life, recently in its latest issue brought this shocking reality to the public domain with its cover story ‘Labour of Journalism’ (Full story on Page 9). The story reveals how lack of communication, which is much more severe in the rural districts where unlike Srinagar, no government facilitated Media Centre exists, has forced journalists to look for alternate sources of livelihood.
The most shocking and heart-wrenching is the case of Anantnag based photographer, Muneeb who figured on the magazine’s cover page, carrying heavy bricks at a construction site. But he had no choice. Thirty year old Muneeb, who has been working as a photo-journalist for seven years, his work appearing in reputed publications at the national and international level, had not made any money all these months barring a few bucks he earned working as a construction labourer. “It was a painful transition but I had no choice,” he was quoted as saying. Muneeb got married last year and was expecting a baby. He needed some money to show his wife to a doctor but had none. That left him with no option but to work as a labourer for a few days.
The media in the Valley has been hit hard by the blanket ban on mobiles, landlines and the Internet. The restrictions on landlines and post-paid mobiles were gradually lifted but Internet and pre-paid mobile services remain shut.
The journalists based in Srinagar can access the Internet at a media facilitation centre, which functions under complete government surveillance, but scribes working in other Kashmir districts enjoy no such facility, making work nearly impossible for journalists working out of these places.
The absence of the Internet for the past four months, and the restrictions on traffic for several initial weeks, meant the journalists could not send articles and pictures to the news outlets.
Besides, many of the rural based journalists are not on regular pay-rolls of news organisations. They either freelance or work as stringers. No work virtually meant no earnings. According to senior journalists in the Valley, many of the regular staffers were also being laid off by the local newspapers in view of the financial crunch being faced by news organisations. The communication blockade has severely hit the news industry and the circulations, bringing down their revenues.
The restrictions, coupled with shutdowns, have forced several prominent Valley-based publications to retrench their staff, also because of a sharp fall in advertisement revenue.
The journalists who have borne the brunt were mostly those working in the districts. The Kashmir Times has received several applications for jobs from the rural areas for part-time or full time jobs from some of the reporters who have been laid off. Its editor, however, said that in view of the existing financial crunch it was impossible to offer jobs. Many of the newspaper’s stringers have not been able to file anything. But some of its regular staffers in the rural areas manage to visit Srinagar personally once or twice a week to occasionally file stories.
The same is true of journalists working with other news organisations. This, however, is unsustainable as the travel is a costly affair, they say.

 

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