Imphal: The News Newmai Network (NNN), one of Manipur’s well-regarded and long-standing news agencies, has announced the closure of its news service after more than two decades of operations.
In a statement issued on Monday evening, NNN said it had decided to bring its journey to an end and would no longer be functional from the date of the notification.
Founded by editor Witoubou Newmai, NNN began its operations at a time when there were no smartphones, social media platforms or digital newsrooms. With limited resources and a scarcity of news and information from the hill areas, the news agency was born out of a need, Newmai said. He had begun his career as a reporter with various newspapers.
“To call Newmai News Network’s initiation ‘trouble-free’ would be an understatement. The non-existence of smartphones, social media platforms or digital newsrooms in those days was undoubtedly one great limitation, but a larger impediment that Newmai News Network faced, and one that couldn’t be ignored, was the want of basic but vital key requirements of a setup of such significance,” the statement said.
NNN recalled that it did not have the funds to buy a typewriter or computer during its initial days. The team was therefore compelled to handwrite news reports, make carbon copies manually and distribute them to various newspapers.
Despite its humble beginnings, the news agency gradually built its foundation and earned the confidence of editors, newspapers and journalists. NNN reports began reaching newspapers across Manipur and, before long, other parts of Northeast India.
The agency said it took pride in having contributed, however modestly, to bringing the voices, events and stories of people, particularly those in the hills, to a wider audience at a time when there were few avenues for such coverage.
NNN acknowledged the transformation of journalism with the arrival of the internet and the resulting “information explosion”.
Access to news is now instant through countless platforms, while social media has enabled news outlets and individuals to disseminate information widely. Information that once took days or hours to reach newspapers can now be accessed across the globe within seconds.
In addition, the number of journalists, reporters and digital news portals has grown far beyond what could have been imagined when NNN began.
“In this changed setting, the intent for which Newmai News Network was conceived has to a considerable degree been fulfilled. People, it can be perceived, are now far more equipped to tell their own stories, share information and reach the world at large even more directly,” it said.
NNN said it was therefore time to acknowledge the change and “gracefully make way for a new generation of journalism and storytellers”.
“It is with a sense of fulfilment rather than regret that Newmai News Network has decided to wind up its office,” the statement said.
The agency acknowledged that closing something that had been part of its life for more than two decades was not easy, but said every journey has an ending and that it chose to conclude its journey with gratitude for having had the privilege to serve.
NNN expressed its gratitude to its readers, media houses, editors, fellow journalists, well-wishers and the people of the Northeast for their trust and for reading its stories over the past two decades.
While its reports may cease to exist as a functional entity, NNN said the memories of its journey, the people it encountered, the stories it carried and the purpose with which it began would remain a valued and cherished part of that journey.
From a few handwritten sheets of news and manually carbon-copied reports distributed in the early 2000s to the era of instant digital news in 2026, NNN described its journey as an “incredibly exceptional” one.
“Though the thought always belonged to a time perhaps further down its timeline, the time to bid adieu has dawned,” the agency said, ending its statement with a heartfelt “Thank You” to everyone who had shared its journey.
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