Image Courtesy: theweek.in

The several hour’s long multi-city raids on the digital media platform The Wire have drawn a string of national and international condemnation of the same

Claws Out, read the Telegraph’s editorial on the raids of editors of The Wire, published on November 4.

            “The men in uniform swooped down after Amit Malviya, at the helm of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s potent social media wing, accused The Wire of running a fake story that had tarnished his reputation: The Wire had alleged that Mr Malviya’s special privileges with Meta had enabled him to take down posts critical of the BJP on Instagram. After allegations of inconsistencies emerged, The Wire suspended access to its stories, conducted an ‘internal review’, and retracted the report. It was subjected to a disproportionate retaliation even though it played by the book.

“This anomaly — targeted punishment even after the media entity owned up to an error and retracted a story — must be one of the enduring features of press freedom under Narendra Modi’s watch. The episode raises an additional — relevant — concern for the media fraternity. News gathering is tricky business, with sensitive information often being obtained from anonymous sources. It is possible that such intimidatory action would — is meant to? — discourage sources from sharing crucial nuggets with the media.

“Of course, the response of the powers that be to The Wire is by no means unprecedented. One of the world’s largest democracies has, earlier, been a mute witness to this government cracking down on a number of media organisations. NDTV suffered the proverbial knock on the door by the taxman, as did Newslaundry. Meanwhile, the news channel, MediaOne, has had its security clearance denied by the Central government without being given reasons — a point that has attracted the attention of the Supreme Court. The consequence of stifling the media is apparent. India has continued to slide on the Press Freedom Index, with the deterioration being marked since the BJP’s assumption of political dominance. Indian democracy’s fate would be contingent on robust checks and balances against such predations on the media. 

Heavy-handed hurry: On The Wire fiasco, read The Hindu’s editorial also dated November 4. adding that while the “Perils of editorial laxity are obvious, but defamation should be decriminalized.”

“What happens when there is a grave lapse in editorial judgment and something false gets published? If the report is against someone who wields influence, and the media institution concerned is a known critic of the Government, the consequences might turn out to be disproportionately severe. Digital publication The Wire finds itself in precisely this predicament after a series of its stories has been discredited due to what it admits is fabricated evidence provided by one of its own consultants. Its reporting relating to the alleged privileges enjoyed by a purported beneficiary of social media giant Meta’s ‘XCheck’ programme — privileges that it claimed included the right to report any post and have it taken down with no questions asked — has turned out to be a major debacle. Amit Malviya, head of the ruling BJP’s national IT department, named as the one who had got an Instagram post removed, has filed a police complaint, alleging a conspiracy by The Wire to harm his reputation through forgery. The Delhi Police, with whom The Wire too filed a complaint against its consultant Devesh Kumar for allegedly perpetrating an elaborate hoax by submitting fabricated digital proof, lost no time in searching the residences of its editors and seizing laptops and phones. Even by the set standards of the present regime in dealing with vocal dissenters, the hurry shown and the seizures made by the police are shocking. The effort seems to be to make an example of The Wire.

“Despite the element of forgery in this case, one cannot dismiss a possible conspiracy to discredit The Wire. Mr. Malviya has limited his complaint to its founders and the journalists whose bylines appeared in initial reports concerning him. Further, the complaint does not name Mr. Kumar, raising a doubt whether this is intentional. The police should not really be investigating the defamation angle, as Supreme Court judgments are clear that prosecution for defamation should only be at the instance of the aggrieved person, and there can be no police FIR. The case highlights the continuing hazard of having defamation on the criminal statute to be exploited by influential state-backed actors rather than a civil remedy to aggrieved individuals. The Court’s refusal to decriminalise defamation does add state power to the armoury of those waiting for occasional lapses in the media. The absence of malice, a key defence in such cases, is quite obvious in The Wire case, as no one would willfully publish a report based on fabricated proof and fake validation by experts under the clear risk of exposure. At the same time, media outlets should acknowledge the perils of the interplay between editorial laxity and confirmation bias in assessing a potential story.

It was the Indian Express’ editorial on November 3, 2022 that was most telling however:

Titled The Wire story and the police raids: A tale of two, it reads:

“Those in power out to delegitimise a free press. And a newsroom that put selfrighteousness above rigour.

“These are challenging times for the independent press, their work an inalienablepart of the citizen’s fundamental right to freedom of expression and the right to know. Across the world, even and especially in settled democracies, fidelity to Constitutional compacts is tested by the weight of popular and populist movements. India is no exception. Governments both at the Centre and in many states have often shown a striking disregard for press freedom. Two years ago, on the watch of a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress dispensation in Maharashtra, policemen barged into the home of TV anchor Arnab Goswami after the government re-opened an old case — the arrest spectacle was the message. Two months ago, the Income Tax department that reports to the BJP-led Centre raided the Centre for Policy Research, one of the country’s most respected public policy think tanks, and IPSMF, a foundation that supports independent digital media platforms. The police and agencies like the I-T Department, ED and CBI, sometimes act in concert to subdue and intimidate. It is in this setting — of a take-no-prisoners government and an FIR-happy police — that The Wire, a news website, made a grave mistake. And, in the aftermath, self-righteously continues to compound it.

“The saga began with The Wire publishing a story about a take-down of a post on Instagram. Citing purported electronic documents, including internal e-mails and videos, allegedly from Instagram and its parent company Meta, it sought to establish that immunity had been given to the BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya vis a vis his own posts and also special privileges in terms of taking down the posts of others, no questions asked. The story, or stories, unravelled after Meta categorically stated that the “documents” The Wire had relied on were not authentic and “independent experts” trotted out by the website to verify them said they had done no such thing. At this point, along with the lack of journalistic diligence and rigour that the sorry saga exposed, The Wire showed an abdication of responsibility. It apologised, belatedly, to its readers, not to those it had ostensibly called out. On the very day the police filed an FIR on Malviya’s complaint against it, The Wire itself filed a police complaint against its own reporter or “consultant”, who had allegedly supplied the electronic documents that the stories had drawn upon. This last act, of passing the buck to the weakest link, does not just belie The Wire‘s own moral posturing. It raises a significant question: Are The Wire, and others who model themselves on it, mere platforms for unreliable propagandists, or responsible newsrooms and, therefore, accountable for the mistakes that bear their name?

The answer is consequential when those in power seek to delegitimise all questioning media as “presstitutes” to entrench their own top-down, one-way messaging. That The Wire‘s complaint should invite the police to probe its own “consultant” and that it should mirror the language of the FIR filed against it on Malviya’s complaint — “the accused alongwith unknown others” says Malviya; “at the behest of other unknown persons”, says The Wire‘s complaint — is disturbing. The police breached an important red line when it entered The Wire‘s newsroom, seized the electronic devices used by its staffers. In a democracy, a newsroom’s exchanges with the world, many of which are and must remain confidential, the back and forth of honest journalistic practice, need protection. In its effort to distance itself from its own story, The Wire, which to its credit, most recently brought Pegasus to light, breached an important line too. It did not do its job, it blamed everything on a colleague, and, on record, invited the police and the powers in — playing perfectly to the latter’s script.”

Here is what the Editor’s Guild of India said in its statement dated November 2, 2022.

“The Editors Guild of India is extremely disturbed by the manner in which Delhi Police Crime Branch carried out search and seizures at the homes of founding editors and senior editors of the Wire, as well as their office and the newsroom in Delhi, on October 31, 2022. The searches were carried out in a follow up to a First Information Report (FIR), registered in response to a complaint filed on October 29th, by the BJP national spokesperson and head of the party IT cell, Mr. Amit Malaviya, against the news organisation.

“The haste with which the police searches were carried out at multiple locations, is excessive and disproportionate, and in the manner of a fishing and roving enquiry. Further, as per a statement published by the Wire, the police personnel seized phones, computers, and iPads from homes of the journalists, as well as from the office, and no hash value of the digital devices was given in spite of requests made by them.

“This is a serious violation of procedures and rules of investigation. Moreover, digital devices of editors and journalists would have sensitive information pertaining to journalistic sources and stories under work, the confidentiality of which can be seriously compromised in such seizures.

“It must be noted that the Wire has already admitted to serious lapses in their reporting on stories pertaining to Meta with references to Mr. Malaviya. These lapses are condemnable and the reports based on wrong information have since been withdrawn by the Wire. However, these police search and seizures in violation of established rules and in intimidatory manner is also alarming.

“The Guild urges the law enforcement agencies to strictly adhere to rules of investigation in this matter, and to ensure that integrity of sensitive journalistic information is not violated and other on-going work of the news organisation is not obstructed. The Guild further urges the Delhi Police to be objective and impartial in investigating all the complaints filed in this matter, and not use intimidatory tactics in disregard of democratic principles.

Meanwhile here is some international comment:

India: IPI condemns raid on The Wire, site’s top editors, comments IPI stating that, “Searches and equipment seizures, which follow reporting scandal, are excessive and violation of press freedom.

“The IPI global network condemns the raid by Indian police on top editors at the Indian news site The Wire after a complaint by a communications official of Indian’s ruling party.

“On October 31 police in Delhi searched the homes of The Wire editors Siddharth Varadarajan, MK Venu, Sidharth Bhatia, and Jahnavi Sen as well as at The Wire’s offices. The police seized several mobile phones and laptops belonging to the editors.

“The raids are in connection with a news report published by The Wire earlier this month claiming that Amit Malviya, the head of social media for India’s ruling BJP party, had a special arrangement with the social network company Meta under which Meta would remove content upon the BJP’s request. The Wire’s report was later found to be incorrect and based on fabricated documents and the news site later retracted it. It issued an apology to its readers and said it would be conducting a comprehensive review of its editorial processes. Malviya later filed a complaint against the paper’s editors for defamation and forgery, among other charges.

“IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen condemned the raids and equipment seizures as disproportionate.

“Indian authorities must stop their harassment of The Wire and its editors and return all equipment seized”, he said. “The raids on the news site’s offices and the homes of its editors, as well as the confiscation of mobile phones and other devices which may contain sensitive information related to the journalists’ work, are disproportionate, excessive, and a violation of press freedom.”

“The Wire has already stated that its news reporting in this case was not accurate and has taken steps to address the issue. However, this controversy must not be used as an excuse to intimidate The Wire as one of India’s leading critical news sites.”

“Media rights organizations in India have also condemned the raids. The Editors Guild of India said it was “extremely disturbed” by the raids, which it said were in “violation of established rules” and carried out in an “intimidatory manner”.

Related:

Raids on Wire editors & seizure of electronic devices did not follow law & procedure: PUCL

The Wire’s Intrepid and Pathbreaking Contribution to India’ s Journalism

Raids on The Wire criminalising journalism: DIGIPUB India condemns Delhi police action

Silence is not an option: Journalists to India’s Constitutional institutions

Webinar on rise in Human Rights violations in UP during lockdown

The post Varying Shades of Media Comment: Raids on Wire appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) has in a statement issued on November 1,  strongly condemned the raids on the residences and office of senior editors of the news portal, The Wire, in New Delhi and Mumbai on October 31 and November 1, 2022 as also the manhandling of advocate, Mr. Shadan Farasat and other staff members of the Wire.  The raids followed a First Information Report (FIR) registered in New Delhi on the basis of a complaint filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Information and Technology department in-charge, Amit Malviya. The allegations pertained to cheating, forgery, defamation and criminal conspiracy.  

It is pertinent to note that, a week ago, on October 23, 2022 itself, The Wire formally retracted the story (which is the basis of the complaint by Amit Malviya) after an internal review revealed discrepancies. The retraction was carried as a prominent article in the Wire with the title, “The Wire Retracts Its Meta Stories”. The Wire very clearly candidly and unambiguously explained the reason for the retraction saying, “Given the discrepancies that have come to our attention via our review so far, The Wire will also conduct a thorough review of previous reporting done by the technical team involved in our Meta coverage”. 

The PUCL statement further states that 

“What is shocking is that despite the unambiguous retraction and the public candour accompanying the retraction, the Delhi police have used the complaint filed by Mr. Malviya as an opportunity to register a more sinister FIR involving cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy as a cover to target The Wire and its staff.  

“On the basis of these trumped up charges, the Delhi  Police Crime Branch arbitrarily conducted search and seizure operations at the homes of The Wire’s founding editors, Siddharth Varadarajan, M K Venu and Sidharth Bhatia as well as the deputy editor, Jahnavi Sen and product-cum-business head, Mithun Kidambi, relying on notice under Section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. The raid at the house of the latter was conducted past midnight at around 2 a.m. on November 1, 2022.  

“Any inquiry or investigation that the Delhi police wished to launch could have been carried out by summoning the Wire’s Editors for an enquiry along with the necessary evidence of their articles. The fact that the Delhi police decided to dramatically raid the residence of Siddharth Varadarajan, MK Venu and others shows that their intention was not to pursue an enquiry but to conduct a witch hunt by making a spectacle of the search. What makes the police’s actions suspect is that hey conducted the search and seizure despite knowing fully about the public retraction of the stories which formed the basis of the criminal complaint, what makes the police action suspect. The intention was clearly to browbeat the Wire’s Editors and to scare other media persons of their fates if they dared to challenge the ruling interests. 

“According to media reports, a total of 16 devices were seized from the office of The Wire. Two phones, a tablet and a laptop from Varadarajan, a phone and a laptop each from Venu, Bhatia, Sen and Kidambi, and two hard disks from the accounts department’s computers were among the devices seized. A reporter’s phone and the computer he worked on at the Wire’s office were also taken away in Delhi. In addition to these devices, the Delhi police also asked the four editors and Kidambi to remove passcodes from their phones and laptops, and to provide passwords to their official and personal email accounts. Three staffers were asked for passwords to their official email accounts while another staff member was told to give passwords to both official and personal email accounts. ”

Editor of the Wire, Siddharth Vardarajan told Sabrangindia that they had opposed the seizure of these devices without providing any hash value (ie numeric value that uniquely identifies data lodged in any device at a particular point of time. The Wire has given objections of this violation of procedure in writing to the Delhi Police contingent and Investigating Officer (IO). 

Meanwhile the PUCL statement noted that the Crime Branch did not follow the requisite procedure as it took away devices from the news portal’s New Delhi office and from the homes of those raided without providing any hash value, i.e., the numeric value that uniquely identifies data lodged in an electronic device at any given point in time.  There are legitimate concerns that absence of a hash value leaves the door open to planting material on the digital devices.  

“The blanket access so taken by the Crime Branch of the information on the devices seized also raises serious privacy concerns and is violative of Article 20(3) and Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. Concerns have been raised time and again on the arbitrary exercise of the powers of search and seizure by the law enforcement authorities of digital devices, especially since the existing legal provisions are highly insufficient and fail to provide any procedural safeguards for the same. The Supreme Court has recently issued notice in petitions filed before it by academics and journalist bodies for guidelines on seizure of digital devices and the matters are currently pending.  Forcing an accused to reveal the password of his or her electronic devices runs afoul of the right against self-incrimination. A Special CBI Court in Delhi has recently come to this conclusion based on an interpretation of the scope of the Supreme Court judgment in `Selvi v. State of Karnataka’.  

“The PUCL has strongly condemned this targeting of The Wire and the arbitrary raids as well as the search and seizure operations carried out by the Crime Branch as nothing but another brazen attempt to intimidate and silence independent media from performing its professional role. It should be pointed out that the current ruling dispensation has been targeting the Wire, and especially founder – editors, Siddharth Varadarajan and MK Venu, because the Wire has been at the forefront of investigative journalism which has repeatedly spoken the truth to power and sought to keep the executive accountable.   

“It is this important work done by The Wire which is the real reason for the raids. We in the PUCL stand with The Wire and condemn what is a blatant attempt to snuff out independent media voices. The PUCL demands that the Delhi police cease this persecution in the guise of a prosecution, drop all charges and return the seized electronic devices seized during the raids back to the people from whom they were seized.”

Related

The Wire’s Intrepid and Pathbreaking Contribution to India’ s Journalism

Raids on The Wire criminalising journalism: DIGIPUB India condemns Delhi police action

Silence is not an option: Journalists to India’s Constitutional institutions

Webinar on rise in Human Rights violations in UP during lockdown

The post Raids on Wire editors & seizure of electronic devices did not follow law & procedure: PUCL appeared first on SabrangIndia.