Freedom of the press in India

Freedom of the press in India is legally protected by the Amendment to the constitution of India,[1] while the sovereignty, national integrity, and moral principles are generally protected by the law of India to maintain a hybrid legal system for independent journalism. In India, media bias or misleading information is restricted under the certain constitutional amendments as described by the country's constitution. The media crime is covered by the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which is applicable to all substantive aspects of criminal law.

Not to be confused with Free Press of India.

Nevertheless, freedom of the press in India is subject to certain restrictions, such as defamation law, a lack of protection for whistleblowers, barriers to information access and constraints caused by public and government hostility to journalists. The press, including print, television, radio, and internet are nominally amended to express their concerns under the selected provisions such as Act-19, though it states freedom of "occupation, trade or business" and "freedom of speech and expression" without naming "press" in clause "a" and "g".[2][3][4][5] The article allows a journalist or media industries to cover any story and brought it to the audiences without impacting national security of the country.[6]

To protect the intellectual, moral, and fundamental rights of the citizens, the government has taken several countermeasures to combat circulating fake news and restricting objectionable contents across the multiple platforms. The law of India prohibits spreading or publishing fake news through sicial or mass media, and could lead to imprisonment of a journalist or newspaper ban.[7][8]

Global ranking

In 2020, India's press freedom rank dropped to 142 out of 180 countries in Press Freedom Index, an annual ranking of countries published by Reporters Without Borders (RWB), an international non-governmental organization dedicated to safeguard the right to freedom of information. In 2019, the country's press freedom was recorded 140 rank in Press Freedom Index, making it a slight decline than in previous annual report.[9] The India's global index rank was declined for several issues such as killings of journalists, restrictions imposed on news media, censorship in Kashmir, and Jammu and Kashmir which has been a subject of dispute between India and Pakistan.[10]

Targeting victims such as physical abuse against journalists and prejudice is one of the other reasons for the decline in the world ranking index.[11] In 2017, the country was ranked 136 out of 180 nations, and later it declined to 138 in 2018 in the world index report.[12]

Reactions

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting criticised the report published by the Reporters Without Borders in 2020 citing "the surveys portray a bad picture about freedom of press in India".[13]

Censorship on press
Main article: Censorship in India

In 2020, the Press Council of India, a state-owned body argued that government authorities, including state police's censorship on mass media is unfavorable citing "intimidate" journalists and "curtail" press freedom. The country's news outlets and their associated journalists were allegedly charged with sedition and criminal prosecution charges by the authorities. The Press Club of India (PCI) described charges against journalists "string of seemingly malafide actions". The organization claims federal government of India responsible for unfavorable-censorship on press and journalists.[14][15][16] The International Press Institute (IPI), an international organizations dedicated to the improvement of journalism practices claims government of India responsible for restricting journalists covering COVID-19 pandemic-related reports in the country.[17]

In 2020, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting blocked the MediaOne TV temporarily for covering a news about the "mob attacks on Muslims" in the country's capital New Delhi. The channel was later resumed after a period of 48 hours.[18] The Jammu and Kashmir Police, a law enforcement and counterinsurgency agency often interrogate journalists while some are charged and arrested over national security reportage and nominally defamatory news stories involving government.[19] The state administration of Jammu and Kashmir also indefinitely stopped giving government ads to newspapers, including Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Reader running in the Jammu Jammu and Kashmir union territory,[20] while the federal government banned Times of India, The Hindu and Telegraph India temporarily from running government ads on their platforms.[21]

In 2019, the government of India restricted media coverage on Citizenship Amendment Act protests claimed to prevent law and order in the country. The federal administration along with prime minister of India stated the coverage on CAA demonstrations as "promotion of anti-national attitudes".[22]

Sometimes, only news that favours the regime is published by the local media, whilst news that covers the economic and political problems in the country, or criticisms of the regime faces government-issued warnings. The print and broadcasting media claims carrying stories on the bases of emotions or under the political pressure since Bhartiya Janata Party came into power,[23][24][25] while the domestic media outlets are claimed to support learders arguments.[26] Indian media is often argued for carrying media war during military conflicts, expressing one-sided identification with vigorous support for its interests.[27][28] Several media outlets cheerleaders by publishing political agenda of the ruling party's leaders. Freedom of the press is controlled by the state. The constitution of India protects freedom of speech and freedom of the press. In practice, however, the press is controlled, and the government only allows speech that supports it and the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party since 2014 it came into power.[29] The government according to Scroll.in, is falsely labelling independent press with "fake news" to try to evade critical observation of the media.[30]

In 2020 or earlier, the government of India issued warnings against the foreign newspapers, including The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, The Economist, BBC, and Huffington Post for portraying the India's image negatively.[31]

Cult of personality

The media have consistently upheld the personality cult of the leaders since the country's formation. It reported on the activities of the leader, regularly reporting on their political campaigns, frequently including "advertisements" to ruling parties through radio, television and Newspaper display ads. Previously, media would refer to 2014 Indian general election campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party, a major political party as the "Abki Baar, Modi Sarkar" (this time Modi government). The political slogan was heavily covered by news media in the country.[32][33][34] While supporting the regime, media reports in India are often one-sided and exaggerated, playing little or no role in gathering true information and providing propaganda on their platforms. The independent newspapers running in the country covered 2019 general election in favour of Narendra Modi, and raised concerns among the villagers the federal government wanted for doing so.[35]

The CMS Media Lab, a nonpartisanism subsidiary of the research organisation CMS stated in its report that Modi, the only prime minister till date [lower-alpha 1] received 33.21% of the primetime news coverage during his last election campaign while the competitors' political parties such as Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal received 10.31% media coverage and the Indian National Congress candidate Rahul Gandhi received 4.33% prime-time news telecast coverage.[36]

See also

References
  1. "In Modi's India, journalists face bullying, criminal cases and worse". Washington Post.
  2. "Article 19(1) in The Constitution Of India 1949".
  3. "What is Article 19 in the Constitution of India: Explained | India News – Times of India". The Times of India.
  4. "Explained: Section 499 — the defamation law in India". 15 October 2018.
  5. "Back to Law Commission Home Page". www.lawcommissionofindia.nic.in.
  6. "Freedom of the Press in India" (PDF).
  7. "New media policy for UT: J&K officials to rule on 'fake news', take legal action". 10 June 2020.
  8. Dore, Bhavya. "Fake News, Real Arrests".
  9. Jha, Fiza (21 April 2020). "'Pressure to toe Hindutva line' sees India drop to 142 on World Press Freedom Index".
  10. "On all fours: The press freedom". www.telegraphindia.com.
  11. "India's ranking in press freedom falls to 138". 26 April 2018 – via www.thehindu.com.
  12. "PCI rejects World Press Freedom Index citing 'lack of clarity'". 6 May 2018 – via www.thehindu.com.
  13. "India slips in press freedom rankings; Javadekar slams report". 3 May 2020 – via www.thehindu.com.
  14. Service, Tribune News. "Media bodies slam authorities for 'curtailing' press freedom". Tribuneindia News Service.
  15. "Press Club of India Slams Police Action Against Gujarati Editor, FIRs Against Himachal Scribes". The Wire.
  16. "The Fate of Press Freedom in India Over the Years". The Wire.
  17. Kamdar, Bansari. "COVID-19 and Shrinking Press Freedom in India". thediplomat.com.
  18. Goel, Vindu; Gettleman, Jeffrey; Khandelwal, Saumya (2 April 2020). "Under Modi, India's Press Is Not So Free Anymore" – via NYTimes.com.
  19. "Journalism in Kashmir in 'state of repression': Media watchdog". www.aljazeera.com.
  20. "J&K govt has stopped advertisements in two newspapers, alleges Kashmir Editors Guild". 23 February 2019.
  21. "How Modi government uses ad spending to 'reward or punish' Indian media". The Independent. 7 July 2019.
  22. Chaudhary, Archana (21 December 2019). "Modi govt warns Indian media against broadcasting images of anti-citizenship law protests".
  23. Kumar, Raksha. "India's Media Can't Speak Truth to Power".
  24. Inamdar, Nikhil. "How Narendra Modi has almost killed the Indian media". Quartz India.
  25. Filkins, Dexter. "Blood and Soil in Narendra Modi's India". The New Yorker.
  26. Daniyal, Shoaib. "The Indian media saw Modi's US visit as a great success. But Americans themselves barely noticed it". Scroll.in.
  27. "India and Pakistan: How the war was fought in TV studios". 10 March 2019 – via www.bbc.com.
  28. "Could better accountability put a stop to India and Pakistan's war-mongering?". www.ids.ac.uk.
  29. Bhurtel, Bhim (29 April 2020). "Corporate media a serious threat to Indian democracy". Asia Times.
  30. Daniyal, Shoaib. "Modi government is misusing the 'fake news' tag to try to evade media scrutiny". Scroll.in.
  31. "India As Seen From Abroad: Why Government Is Angry With Foreign Media". www.outlookindia.com.
  32. "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". www.ft.com.
  33. NP, Ullekh. "Abki baar Modi sarkar: whose line was it anyway?". Scroll.in.
  34. Mody, Anjali. "Media freedom in the Modi age: The cat-and-mouse game is set to get more fierce as 2019 nears". Scroll.in.
  35. Arora, Vishal. "How India's Liberal Media Facilitated Narendra Modi's Reelection Sweep". thediplomat.com.
  36. S, Rukmini (8 May 2014). "Modi got most prime-time coverage: study" – via www.thehindu.com.

Notes
  1. Year 2020
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