The future of truth and freedom of the press in today’s era

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru termed the media as the “watchdog of our democracy”. Democracy and freedom are meaningless until people have the freedom to express their opinions freely. Media is the medium of expressing our views and opinions freely. This is why Nehru called the media a watchdog of democracy.

India is said to be a country where there is freedom of speech. Though there is nothing mentioned about the freedom of the press in the Indian constitution. Only under Article 19(1) of the constitution, there is freedom of speech and expression which is a fundamental right.

During the time of India’s independence, the media and press played a major role it was considered to be the voice of the common man against oppression, which inspired a lot of Indians in spreading the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, and various other freedom fighters.

The Britishers brought in the vernacular press act to curb the freedom of the press which agitated the public even more. the press is considered to be the fourth pillar of Indian democracy. Press keeps us informed about what is happening in society, in government as well as in public and private sector institutions.

After the 44th amendment of the constitution in the year 1978. The constitution protects the journalist from breach of parliamentary privileges as they are allowed to publish proceedings of parliament.

Under Article 361(A) of the constitution “No person shall be liable to any proceedings, civil or criminal, in any Court in respect of the publication in a newspaper of a substantially true report of any proceedings of either house of Parliament or the Legislative Assembly or as the case may be either house of the legislature of a state; unless publication is proved to have been made with malice[1]”.

A common man may not be able to take part in the parliamentary proceeding, the press acts as a mediator between and helps the members of the parliament to know what the public wants from its government. It is the press that acts as a representative of public opinion in such matters. Before the amendment, this right was protected under the protection publication act of 1956.

Other rights of the media include, free press, freedom of speech and expression, right to publish and circulate, right to receive information, right to conduct interviews, right to report court proceedings, and right to advertise.

Even though there are so many rights enjoyed by the press in India, freedom of the press when compared to independence has drastically reduced. Three main reasons have constrained the freedom of the press in the recent years

1) Increasing of Crimes against the journalist

3) 124(a) of the Indian penal code

3) Paid media

Increasing of crimes against journalists

The press freedom index of 2022 by Paris-based non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) measures the level of freedom available to the journalist. India is ranked 150 out of 180 countries as the report also labeled India as Problematic.

The report also stated that the three main factors contributing to the downward spiral of press freedom in India are politically controlled media, the safety of the journalist, and the concentration of media ownership.

Society as well as the government are not paying attention to the condition of press freedom in India. Even some departments of the government tried to bring down the authenticity of the press freedom index. The ministry of information and broadcasting stated that the method used for calculating the press freedom index is not transparent and non-reliable.

In the year 2020, the government of India decided to set up an “index monitoring cell” in India to check the press freedom index. The then information and broadcasting minister wrote on Twitter that “Media has the power to inform and enlighten people. Media in India enjoys absolute freedom. We will expose sooner than later, those surveys that tend to portray a bad picture of “Freedom of the Press” in India”.

According to the 2002 world press freedom index, India is in the 80th position but after the year 2010, it constantly decreased. The main reason behind the sharp decline in the press freedom index is mainstream media affiliation with a political organization that supports only a few interest groups and government controls indirectly. Media is controlled by few people and this is the reason why issues shown in media are mostly biased.

Same in RSF 2021 report India along with Yemen in the 3rd position is ranked the most dangerous country for journalists. And the global impunity index brought up a committee to protect journalists in which India is at 12th position where journalists are murdered and their murders are set free.

According to the RSF record, India is among the 5 most dangerous countries for journalists. Around 45 journalists were killed between the years 2010-2022 in India and over the past 5 years that is from 2017 to 2021 around 138 cases are reported by journalists of assault, abuse, and attacks. In Uttar Pradesh alone 48 were attacked, 12 killed and 66 journalists charged under different cases.

The killing of a journalist in India is creating a lot of fear among those who want to take up this profession. Some famous cases of journalist killing are

Daniel pearl: He was an American who worked for the wall street journal. He went to Pakistan to enquire about Richard Reid and Gaedat Al Jihad. He was kidnapped and later was found dead on February 1, 2002

Gauri Lankesh: she was the editor of Gauri Lankesh Patrike she was shot dead on September 5, 2017, in front of her residence in Banglore. The then-congress government set up a team to investigate the case. the reason for the killing could be that she constantly opposed Hindutva in her writing and speeches.

Subash Kumar Mahto: this is a very recent case of press killing. Subash was returning from a family dinner on 20th May 2022 in a small district in Bihar. He was shot dead by 4 men. The reason for the killing could be that he reported against liquor mafias and sand mafia.

Section 124A of IPC

It was during the time of Indira Gandhi that sedition was made a cognizable offense. in the case of Kedarnath vs State of Bihar[2]  the supreme court of India validated section 124A[3] of IPC. However, this law is used to suppress the freedom of speech and expression. This law is now used by the government to protect itself from public criticism and protest.

The number of cases booked under sedition is increasing rapidly and it is identifiable that the case increases when the public opposes the actions of the government. We were able to witness this in the CAA (citizenship amendment act) when people protested against the government.

According to the recent report submitted by the national crime records bureau (NCRB), there is an increase in sedition cases by 160%. The government is using the sedition law trying to avoid all the criticism against them.

How does this law affect journalists and freedom of the press?

A very recent case of Vinod Dua, who was a Delhi-based journalist

and the case was filed in Himachal Pradesh.

Dua was quite influential and powerful that he was able to file a plea in the supreme court of India to quash the case. There a journalist from a small town who may not be influential and they might get caught in such a process and some freelance and independent journalists might suffer majorly. This discourages journalists from expressing their opinion and it affects the freedom of speech and expression of that individual.

In the case of Siddique Kappan who was arrested on his way along with 3 others who were going to report the Hathras case. He was booked under sedition but later the case was dismissed.

In the case of Leichombam Erendro, he was arrested under sedition because he wrote “cow dung and cow urine don’t work”- on Facebook. Supreme court-ordered release of journalists because the detention leads to a violation of the right to life and personal liberty.

The sedition law that is misused in today’s era by the government is a big concern. And the trial courts not going to give bail concerning sedition. Freedom of speech and expression is very important in a democratic country. Expression of criticism against the government should not be considered seditious. The law of sedition should be used very carefully.

Paid media

Another important factor that affects the freedom of the press is the government pressure faced by the press in the name of regulations, the compulsion in reporting fake news, and the influence of social media. Some news published by the media is fake. All these effects freedom and makes the press biased.

In recent days we see that freedom of the press is rapidly decreasing and that these are major factors that affect the freedom of the press to a large extent. The condition of the media is as such mainly because of proactive measures, weak legal framework larger political forces that influence media.

No media has ever discussed the decline in press freedom. Constant discussion and coverage are essential to bringing these issues related to media highlights. For India to protect its democracy it should safeguard its journalists and freedom of the press.

What can be done to improve press freedom in the future?

1. Plurality in ownership
2. A better legal framework that protects the media persons
3. Reduce the influence of political parties

References:

• Freedom of Press – Article 19(1)(a), from http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1847/Freedom-of-Press—Article-19(1)(a).html#:~:text=In%20India%2C%20freedom%20of%20press
• Freedom of Press – Indian Constitution, from https://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l448-Freedom-of-Press.html
• Freedom of Media.  Drishti IAS, from https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-news-analysis/freedom-of-media-1
• Subhash Kumar Mahto was shot dead in Bihar state. from https://cpj.org/2022/05/indian-journalist-subhash-kumar-mahto-shot-dead-in-bihar-state/
• Why Declining Press Freedom Is Nobody’s Concern In India https://www.outlookindia.com/national/why-declining-press-freedom-is-nobody-s-concern-in-india–news-205243

This article has been authored by Priyanka VK Nair, a student at Amity University, Mumbai.