Free Speech
PM Modi "Press Freedom Predator", Riding On National Populism and Disinformation: RSF Jul 6, 2021 https://youtu.be/ceeZCYKKVk8?t=98
From 2016 onwards India has consistently slid down on the World Press Freedom Index. Currently, it is at 142nd rank. which is same as last year. But that makes us country in the ranks with Pakistan and Bangladesh etc in terms of Press Freedom index. Even Nepal and Bhutan have better ranking than India. This report By Reporters Without Borders, a media watchdog said that India shares the “bad” classification with Brazil, Mexico and Russia.
Now Reporters Without Borders, has published another report in which it has listed leaders from around the world who are classified as “press freedom predators”. And the report has also named Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in its list of 37 heads of states who have astronomically suppressed Press Freedom in their respective countries.
French media watchdog lists Modi as ‘predator of press freedom’, govt rubbishes it as ‘baseless’ https://theprint.in/india/french-media-watchdog-lists-modi-as-predator-of-press-freedom-govt-rubbishes-it-as-baseless/690574/
International non-profit Reporters Without Borders alleges Modi preys on the press by using a method based on national populism and disinformation.
Kanchan Gupta, senior advisor in the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, rubbished the report, calling it “fact-free” and “baseless”.
“A report is framed on the basis of facts and figures. A fact-free, broad-brush labelling of the elected Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy as a ‘tyrant’ and baselessly accusing him of ‘divisive disinformation’, is at best an ill-informed opinion beneath contempt,” he told ThePrint when reached for comment. “…at worst, it’s a malicious and malevolent targeted attack not only on the Prime Minister of India but also on the country’s established political process as well as its sovereign laws. Media freedom is hale and hearty in India and does not require any intervention by an agenda-driven foreign NGO,” Gupta added.
A 'predator' with an 'insidious strategy': Narendra Modi figures on RSF's list of 'press freedom predators' https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/07/06/a-predator-with-an-insidious-strategy-narendra-modi-figures-on-rsfs-list-of-press-freedom-predators 06 Jul, 2021
Describing Modi's methodology, the report claimed that he floods mainstream media "with speeches and information tending to legitimise his national-populist ideology" and pushes forward the discourse of “media against journalism”.
The report continued: “On the one hand, by visibly ingratiating himself with the owners of leading media outlets, their journalists know they risk dismissal if they criticise the government. On the other, prominent coverage of his extremely divisive and derogatory speeches, which often constitute disinformation, enables the media to achieve record audience levels.”
Furthermore, Reporters Without Borders' report talked about the tools that Modi employs to enforce his control which include judicial provisions, such as the vague charge of sedition, and an army of online trolls that “wage appalling hate campaigns on social media against the journalists they don’t like.”
1990 - Justice P. N. Bhagwati's speech on Freedom of Expression | Part 1 | अभिव्यक्ति की स्वतंत्रता Audio lecture https://youtu.be/W4aQeprXN9s?t=684
Part II - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpcBuqKQ5dc
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Memorial Lectures - 1990 - Justice P. N. Bhagwati's speech on Freedom of Expression
Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati was the 17th Chief Justice of India, serving from 12 July 1985 until his retirement on 20 December 1986. He introduced the concepts of public interest litigation and absolute liability in India, and for this reason is held, along with Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, to be a pioneer of judicial activism in the country.
New IT Rules: How Is The Modi Govt. Working To Censor Digital Media? | Arfa Khanum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs3e6UnCDOg
नए आईटी नियमों के तहत गूगल ने अपनी पहली मासिक पारदर्शिता रिपोर्ट दी है, जिसमें कहा है कि उसे स्थानीय क़ानूनों या व्यक्तिगत अधिकारों के कथित उल्लंघन को लेकर शिकायतें मिलीं, जिसके परिणामस्वरूप 59,350 सामग्रियां प्लेटफॉर्म से हटाई गईं. इस मुद्दे पर द वायर की सीनियर एडिटर आरफ़ा ख़ानम शेरवानी ने चर्चा की हार्ड न्यूज़ के सम्पादक संजय कपूर, सत्य हिंदी के संपादक आशुतोष और वरिष्ठ पत्रकार अनुराधा भसीन से
A Spectre Is Haunting This Government - The Spectre Of Digital News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBKPasAMVtw
FIR In UP Against News Site Over Documentary On Mosque Demolition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRq4IgxRWeU Days after a case was filed against online news platform - 'The Wire' - and several others over tweets linked to the assault of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, the state police have filed another case against the news website - this time in Barabanki. In the FIR (first information report) filed over a documentary on the demolition of a mosque in Barabanki, which the authorities describe as an "unauthorised structure", the news website has been accused of "promoting enmity" and holding an "intent to cause riot".
How A Mosque In Barabanki Was Demolished | Ground Report | Seraj Ali https://indianexpress.com/article/india/fir-against-the-wire-3-journalists-for-video-on-barabanki-mosque-demolition-7374688/lite/
Jun 22, 2021 FIR against The Wire, 2 journalists for video on Barabanki mosque demolition By: Express News Service : June 25, 2021
Last month, Barabanki district administration had demolished a mosque located in the Ramsnehi Ghat Tehsil premises. Siddharth Varadarajan, the Founding Editor of The Wire, said: “This is the fourth FIR filed by the UP Police in the past 14 months against The Wire and/or its journalists and each of these cases is baseless. The Adityanath government does not believe in media freedom and is criminalising the work of journalists who are reporting what is happening in the state.”
Justice (retired) BN Srikrishna, who has chaired a committee of experts on data protection, has told The Indian Express that he is alarmed by the surveillance of phones of Indian human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, and scholars by operatives using a WhatsApp spyware called Pegasus. Asked what the government should do to prevent illegal snooping, Srikrishna said: “Generate strong public opinion against what you see as a clear onslaught on democratic and constitutional rights of citizens.”
Srikrishna was appointed to head the data protection committee on July 31, 2017. The following month, in a landmark decision in the Puttaswamy case, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld right to privacy as a fundamental right under Constitution.
Comment : Unfortunately in 2012, we are seeing this interpreted as the government's right to ask platforms to keep information on originators of posts ( ie asking platforms to do the surveillance for them), through a single point of contact (whom they can influence) without actually setting up a proper law on privacy, or norms and procedures for grievance redressal, as well as transparency and public disclosure of the decisions taken..
- Media Firms Move Madras HC
- Cartoonist get a twitter notice on Complaint from Government
- FIR Against Twitter And Journalists
- Free Speech - Hate Speech - Election Speech
- Free Speech creating Public Order Crisis?
- Academic Freedom
- 'Deprived of Rights, Non-Application of Mind': J&K HC Tears Into PSA Proceedings Against Fahad Shah
- Bombay High Court Refuses To Quash FIR Against Kashmiri Professor Booked For WhatsApp Status on J & K 370
- Allahabad HC restrains Al Jazeera from telecasting documentary on Hindutva in India
- Allahabad HC ‘Restrains’ Al Jazeera From Airing Docu on India’s Muslims for Fear of ‘Evil Consequences’
- 7 Imprisoned Journalists in India as of December 1, 2022