Democratic Institutions

चैनल मालिकों को PMO से धमकी? दावे से हड़कंप https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvL3n7i4yYs   Sep 18, 2022 चैनल मालिकों को PMO से धमकी? दावे से हड़कंप

Under Modi, India’s Press Is Not So Free Anymore   April 2, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/world/asia/modi-india-press-media.html  By Vindu Goel and Jeffrey Gettleman

India’s government has pressured advertisers and even shut down channels to shape the information that 1.3 billion Indians receive. It’s part of a wider assault on dissent.

Through an aide, India’s information and broadcasting minister, Prakash Javadekar, initially agreed to discuss the government’s media policies. But in the two weeks since then, Mr. Javadekar has declined to answer any questions, including a written list emailed to him. His aide cited the demands of the coronavirus crisis.

India’s media universe is vast, perhaps the biggest in the world: More than 17,000 newspapers, 100,000 magazines, 178 television news channels and countless websites in dozens of languages. Thousands of Facebook pages call themselves news publishers, and YouTube is filled with local bulletins on everything from real estate trends to police raids.

But Mr. Modi’s ministers have leaned on business leaders to cut off support to independent media, slowly strangling their operations. His government has pressured media owners to fire journalists who have criticized the prime minister and told them to stop running features like hate-crime trackers that have embarrassed Mr. Modi’s party.

Mr. Modi is backed up by an army of online allies who discredit and harass independent journalists; female journalists, in particular. And for the most part, Indian news outlets have knuckled under, concluding that since much of the public supports the prime minister, they should, too. Even skeptical journalists censor themselves, afraid to be branded anti-national by a government that equates patriotism with support for Mr. Modi.