Self-discipline is the way out to protect media independence and maintain freedom of speech
UPDATE – Fri 05/05/23 12:31 AM
Self-discipline is the way out to protect media independence and maintain freedom of speech
Hyderabad: India’s drop in the latest World Press Freedom Index reflects a deplorable state of affairs. The country slipped 11 places, from 150 to 161, in the 2023 180-country index published annually by Paris-based international nonprofit Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In the 2022 report, India’s ranking dropped from 142nd to 150th. In terms of trends, the situation in India is getting worse every year. Reports by Hindu forces, encouraged by the ideological stance of the central ruling system, attempted to silence dissident media voices, causing panic. No wonder the opposition congress in pollstered state of Karnataka has pledged to power the Bajrang dal if voted to power in parliamentary elections. According to the RSF Index report, an average of three to four journalists are killed each year on the job, making India one of the most dangerous countries for media in the world. That’s a poor commentary on the state of media freedom in a country that prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy. The World Press Freedom Index highlights how free journalists, news organizations and netizens are in each country, and what governments are doing to respect that freedom. India, which ranked 80th in the 2002 index, has gradually declined in its press freedom rankings over the past two decades. RSF’s country profile on India also said that Indian media used to be seen as quite progressive, but that changed radically after Narendra Modi became prime minister in the mid-2010s.
It is deeply regrettable that Indian journalists are subjected to all kinds of physical violence, including police brutality, ambushes by political activists, and deadly reprisals by criminal groups or corrupt local officials by Hindu supporters. More specifically, journalists are being prosecuted under anti-terrorism and sedition laws. Critics of the media, academia, civil society groups and protesters have been cracked down, while NGOs involved in investigating human rights abuses continue to face threats and legal harassment. As a mature democracy aspiring to play a bigger role on the world stage, India cannot ignore concerns over the deterioration of media freedom. Past experience has shown that any attempt by the government to block the media in the name of regulation, whether it was the Rajiv Gandhi government’s infamous Press Act of 1988 or emergency-era restrictions, has failed. Self-regulation is the way out to protect media independence and maintain freedom of speech. In addition to job insecurity, journalists’ freedoms are also facing increasing attacks. A free press is integral to the functioning of a vibrant democracy, and the media must come together and renew its role to make this happen.
