Fourth Estate
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has urged political parties in India to commit to press freedom and suggested concrete measures that aim to “defend the right to reliable news and information and protect journalists”. https://thewire.in/culture/rsf-urges-political-parties-to-commit-to-press-freedom-suggests-10-concrete-steps
“It is unacceptable that the country portrayed as the world’s biggest democracy now lacks so many of the safeguards needed to sustain a free and diverse press. It is unacceptable that Indian journalists and foreign reporters are subjected to so much obstruction in their day-to-day work,”Célia Mercier, head of RSF’s South Asia Desk said.
Notably, India is now ranked as low as 161 out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index. Since 2014, at least 28 journalists have been killed and nine are currently imprisoned, as per RSF.
15/04/2024
As unfortunate as it is, India is a founding and permanent member, it appears, of this cloud of shame where journalists get killed in connection with their work and no final justice is rendered.
https://thewire.in/media/m20-india-press-freedom-g20-impunity-it-cell
The most shocking thing in recent times was the takeover of an independent news channel in English called NDTV taken over by Gautam Adani’s Adani Group and the whole thing has changed. There are a couple of channels which are notorious for playing a propaganda role. They really do hit jobs, you know. They play along with disinformation on social media and do hit jobs on those who are independent and speak out.
The Committee to Protect Journalists justifiably called India one of the most “dangerous” places for journalists to work. Journalists are being arrested on the laws relating to terrorism – the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and also the state Acts, which are draconian – in a targeted way. But it’s the fate of the Editors Guild of India, which in recent months has issued a number of statements raising concerns.
N. Ram
08/09/2023
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.
From Prime Time On Journalist being put in Jail. Will the officials or persons responsibile for false cases be held accountable? . https://www.youtube.com/enbed/start=1121&end=1425
Loktantra TV Blocked By Govt, Founder Dev Chaudhary Says, 'It's An Attack On Freedom of Press' Aug 25, 2022 http s://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjS1wq7EIPY
The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry on August 18 blocked 8 YouTube news channels under the IT Rules-2021. It also includes a Pakistan-based channel. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has informed that the blocked YouTube channels had more than 114 crore views.
One of the blocked YouTube channel, Loktantra TV, had nearly 13 lakh subscribers. The Wire spoke with Dev Chaudhary, the founder of the current affairs and news based channel. Chaudhary says that no prior information was given to him before blocking the channel from the MIB. He also feels sad for being labelled as an "anti-national" and alleges "an attack on the freedom of press".