The unequal distribution of capital means that regional journalists operate inside a field where they are constantly overpowered before a story even begins.
The recent threat issued to journalist Rana Deka by former Assam Civil Service officer Hitesh Dev Sarma is not merely an unpleasant exchange between a powerful bureaucrat and a reporter. It is a symptom of a deeper, structural vulnerability that defines the everyday life of regional journalists in India. https://thewire.in/media/why-regional-journalists-need-greater-protection-from-threats-violence
In metropolitan newsrooms, institutional strength and legal safeguards cushion conflicts, but in the Northeast, the field is sharply tilted: journalists rely mainly on symbolic capital like credibility and public trust, while officials hold economic, social and institutional power, media houses remain financially fragile and dependent on state advertising, and blurred field boundaries force reporters to rely on the very authorities they may need to expose.
Thus, what happened to Rana Deka should not be understood as a personal dispute. It should be recognised as the field disciplining a journalist, a way of policing boundaries and punishing transgression.
by Alankar Kaushik 01/12/2025