On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, observed on May 3, the National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ) and the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) have expressed shock and anger at increasing attacks on the media in the past year. the journalists’ bodies have demanded that a “comprehensive law be immediately enacted to protect media persons from arbitrary arrests and prosecutions.”

The media bodies led by veteran journalists S K Pande, N. Kondaiah,  G.Anjaneyulu, and Sujata Madhok have also demanded a “Media Council for the entire media to replace the toothless Press Council.” The post of Chairperson of the Press Council has been vacant for almost a year and the media bodies alleged that “the government has not cared to widen the scope of the Council to include all news media today.”

The organisations have also asked for a “Media Commission of India” that also looks into “ethical issues broadly in the lines of the First and Second Press Commissions when the emergent media and new monopolies and interests were less conspicuous.” In perhaps a first, the media bodies also looked inwards and stated that there were many ‘journalists’ who brought infamy to the profession by “acting as drumbeaters for the powers that be.” They put on record how “media barons have colluded in this process, hiring pliant ‘journalists’ whose nightly antics on television have destroyed the credibility of the medium.”  

Attacks on media

The National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ) and the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) stated put on record the multiple challenges faced by media “from open fascism, administrative and police excesses including jailing of journalists, false cases, raids, internet shutdowns, spyware, increasing moves to ‘regulate’ digital social media, trolling, widespread sexism and abuse, besides job losses and the dismantling of labour laws.” Hate speech and fake news are the order of the day, they stated. 

The number of attacks on journalists, on those “who do not toe the line has increased sharply” and Reporters Sans Frontieres’ World Press Freedom Index for 2021 had lowered India’s ranking to 142. “The government continues to imprison journalists under draconian Acts like UAPA. A colonial era Sedition law is still on the statute books and many journalists have been charged with sedition for offenses such as a tweet or Facebook post. During the Covid lockdown media persons braved the pandemic to report from the ground, yet some were arrested for reporting on lapses by public hospitals or corruption in hospital supplies. Recently, journalists were paraded in their underwear in a police station. Others were arrested for exposing an examination scandal and spent three weeks in jail until concerted protests ensured their release on bail,” stated the media bodies.

They also put on record how even as trolling has become a professional hazard, it is often the “minority journalists face some of the worst hate speech. Women journalists are repeatedly targeted with sexist abuse and threats of rape.” The organisations condemned the “inaction on the Sulli Deals episode which led to further targeting of politically active women including leading journalists under the Bulli Deals” and demanded a “swift, deterrent punishment in all such cases.”

India, they said “holds a world record in the number of internet shutdowns” as shown by the digital rights group Access Now’s calculations that the internet was shut down by the authorities “at least 106 times in 2021.”

“Internet shutdowns impede the work of journalists who cannot check the veracity of news and/or send out their stories on time. Meanwhile surveillance of the media is on the rise, with spyware like Pegasus being used for dubious purposes,” they stated, adding that this creates hurdles in the work of a journalist as well. 

Job losses in media

No data is available on the number of journalists who have succumbed to Covid, although a few families have received some compensation. Approximately 3,000 journalists lost their jobs in the lockdown during the first wave of Covid 19, stated the NAJ-DUJ, adding that fast track courts to decide labour matters concerning journalists be set up. “The government has virtually demolished the Working Journalists Acts that provided some protection and mandated a periodic wage board for the profession. We demand a permanent wage fixation machinery for the entire media industry and demand that the  anti-labour codes affecting the entire working classes besides journalists go lock stock and barrel,” they demanded. 

The entire statement may be read here: 

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Khargone: Why is the administration ignoring the proliferation of hate on social media?

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‘World Press Freedom Day’ (3 May) in India is a day of reckoning: a time for  stock-taking and for soul-searching; to realise the abysmal depths to which the ‘press’ has fallen in the country and the way several journalists have stooped for petty gains, for political patronage and for their own TRPs. It is a day on which the Indian press needs be challenged on whether it has completely abdicated its role and responsibility as the fourth pillar of democracy or if there is any possibility left for it to redeem itself? Certainly a dilemma – because most will not have the courage to answer it!

In December 1993, the UN General Assembly proclaimed ‘World Press Freedom Day’, following a recommendation of UNESCO’s General Conference. Since then, 3 May, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day.

The day acts as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom. It is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics. It is therefore an opportunity:

to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom;

to assess the state of press freedom throughout the world;

to defend the media from attacks on their independence;

to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

The theme for this year’s World Press Freedom Day is ‘Journalism Without Fear or Favour.’ It calls for awareness on specific issues about the safety of journalists, their independence from political or commercial influence, and gender equality in all aspects of the media.

An apt theme for the press in India, who in recent years can easily be defined as ‘journalism only with fear and favour’. One does not need to be a rocket scientist today to realise that, by and large, the Indian press is corporatised by the big moneybags of the country; is co-opted by a fascist regime which brooks no dissent; is communalised to the core, catering to a group that cares two hoots for the Constitution of India and has become highly commercialised in its desperation to garner revenue through advertisements either from the Government or the private sector.

Most (particularly many journalists) seem oblivious to the fact that in India, the right of freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right in our legal system and guaranteed in our Constitution. The right to free press does not exist independently and is incorporated in the right of freedom of speech and expression; and therefore the right to free press is regarded as a fundamental right.

A few days ago, ‘Reporters without Borders (RSF)’ released their ‘2020 World Press Freedom Index’. Their report shows that the coming decade will be decisive for the future of journalism, with the Covid-19 pandemic highlighting and amplifying the many crises that threaten the right to freely reported, independent, diverse and reliable information.

This 2020 edition of the Index, which evaluates the situation for journalists each year in 180 countries and territories, suggests that the next ten years will be pivotal for press freedom because of converging crises affecting the future of journalism: a geopolitical crisis (due to the aggressiveness of authoritarian regimes); a technological crisis (due to a lack of democratic guarantees); a democratic crisis (due to polarisation and repressive policies); a crisis of trust (due to suspicion and even hatred of the media); and an economic crisis (impoverishing quality journalism).

On expected lines, India is place 142 out of the 180 countries evaluated; this is two notches below the 140 position of 2019 and worst ever placement for the country. Analysing the ground reality in India the Report says, “With no murders of journalists in India in 2019, as against six in 2018, the security situation for the country’s media might seem, on the face of it, to have improved. However, there have been constant press freedom violations, including police violence against journalists, ambushes by political activists, and reprisals instigated by criminal groups or corrupt local officials. Ever since the general elections in the spring of 2019, won overwhelmingly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, pressure on the media to toe the Hindu nationalist government’s line has increased.

Those who espouse Hindutva, the ideology that gave rise to Hindu nationalism, are trying to purge all manifestations of “anti-national” thought from the national debate. The coordinated hate campaigns waged on social networks against journalists who dare to speak or write about subjects that annoy Hindutva followers are alarming and include calls for the journalists concerned to be murdered. The campaigns are particularly virulent when the targets are women. Criminal prosecutions are meanwhile often used to gag journalists critical of the authorities, with some prosecutors invoking Section 124a of the penal code, under which “sedition” is punishable by life imprisonment

India’s score in this year’s World Press Freedom Index is heavily affected by the situation in Kashmir where, after rescinding the state’s autonomy, the federal government shut down fixed line and mobile Internet connections completely for several months, making it virtually impossible for journalists to cover what was happening in what has become a vast open prison”. Certainly, no credit to a country that prides itself of being the world’s largest democracy.

It is no easy job being a journalist in India today. If one has to stand up for truth and justice one will have to pay the price. We have seen recently, when honest journalists just reported facts they are simply hauled up by a prejudiced system based on some frivolous FIR. On the other hand those who spew hate and venom, can literally get away with murder, provided they are in the camp of the ruling regime (as we have seen in the case of a garbage journalist not long ago). That fear is evident in several cases; a few days ago, there were allegations, after a response to an RTI  that the Centre “waived” Rs 68,607 crore in loans to 50 willful defaulters( most close friends of the Government) identified by the RBI. Whatever, the merits of the case, few of the print media had the guts to take the story on their front-page. Thankfully some of the electronic media did cover the story and there was plenty of it on social media too.

There was also the issue of COVID- 19 and reporting on it especially on the realities of migrants and the daily wage earners. The Centre, filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, praying that “no media outlet print, publish or telecast anything on coronavirus without first ascertaining facts from the mechanism provided by the government”. Fortunately, the apex court did not fall into the trap of the Government’s desire to gag the media.  In an order dated 31 March, the Supreme Court said, “We do not intend to interfere with the free discussion about the pandemic, but direct the media refer to and publish the official version about the developments;” adding, “in particular, we expect the Media (print, electronic or social) to maintain a strong sense of responsibility and ensure that unverified news capable of causing panic is not disseminated.”

In a video message for World Press Freedom Day, UN Secretary General António Guterres underscored the crucial role media has in helping people make informed decisions. “As the pandemic spreads, it has also given rise to a second pandemic of misinformation, from harmful health advice to wild conspiracy theories. The press provides the antidote: verified, scientific, fact-based news and analysis.” Mr. Guterres urged governments to protect journalists and others who work in media, and to uphold press freedom. The UN chief thanked the media “for providing facts and analysis; for holding leaders – in every sector – accountable; and for speaking truth to power”.

The famed American newspaper editor and publisher Joseph Pulitzer once said, “Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together. An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery.” Words that surely ring a bell on the reality of freedom of the press in India today. Not long ago our own Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said,
“The press should do what it can to minimise the abuse of power (self-scrutiny can help and so can competition), but we should also try to understand with clarity why and how press freedom can enrich human lives, enhance public justice, and even help to promote economic and social development.”  The point is whether the press in India will pay attention and act on these words of wisdom.

On another World Press Freedom Day the moot question which the Indian press must ask itself is ‘Whither Freedom of Press in India’? Only then, will it be able to delve on ‘Journalism without Fear or Favour!’ This calls for tremendous courage to stand up for justice and truth!

2 May 2020

*(Fr Cedric Prakash SJ is a human rights and peace activist/writer. Contact: cedricprakash@gmail.com)

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Reporters Without Borders has ranked India at 142 out of 180 countries in the light of recent attacks on journalists and scholars under a right wing Hindutva nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi. On the World Press Freedom Day, India has slipped on the global press freedom index. What could be more shameful for a country that claims to be the world’s largest democracy than this?

The news follows the recent incidents of slapping of criminal charges against several journalists in different parts of the country in an attempt to suppress voice of dissent and right to question.  

Only last month, a well-respected columnist Anand Teltumbde was sent to jail under malicious charges for being critical of a government that wants to transform India into Hindu theocracy and has given legitimacy to those involved in violence against religious minorities and other oppressed communities.

He has joined a few more thinkers already rotting in prisons. Among them is a disabled Delhi University Professor G.N. Saibaba, who is suffering with 19 ailments. His only fault is that he has been raising his voice against repression of minorities and state violence. Not only the Indian government and its courts have refused to set them free on humanitarian grounds in spite of a grave threat of COVID 19 in overcrowded jails, they have ordered the arrests of others, such as Teltumbde.  

Ironically, Modi government had recently started the broadcasting of Ramayan – a television serial based on the epic of Lord Ram, a revered Hindu god to entertain Indian masses locked in their homes because of COVID 19. It is believed that Ram was the King of Ayodhya. The Episode 13 of the serial (posted on Youtube) shows that when Ram was designated as the king, his father had advised him to be respectful of scholars and intellectuals as they are like “guiding lights” and accept their criticism with an open mid.

However, Modi government is doing exactly the opposite despite its advocacy for a Hindu nation. After all, the BJP has been campaigning for years to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya. The party supporters had razed an ancient mosque built in the city in 1992. They have been claiming that the mosque was forcibly built on the birthplace of Ram by the Islamic rulers after demolishing a Hindu temple. Ram has become a rallying point for BJP to polarize Hindu majority.  

In complete contradiction of its own politics that revolves around Ram, this government is throwing the scholars in jails, leave aside the question of listening to their concerns. It’s time for the Hindus to step forward and challenge this government which is bent upon using their religion for narrow political ends and show Modi and his hypocritical cabinet colleagues the mirror. If they really care for Ram, then they must liberate scholars and save democracy otherwise, the history won’t ever forget Modi and those who voted him to power in the name of a faith that teaches everyone to see the entire world as one big family.

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Screenshot: Prime Time with Ravish Kumar, May 9, 2018, NDTV. YouTube.

In India today, one cannot talk of science, history or politics without a reference to mythology. Godmen and astrologers make their daily pronouncements on the TV channels. So, how does one report the emergence of an independent journalist in a sea of embedded media. One attributes it to the divine intervening to reform His degraded profession!

Sorry, this outrageous statement was designed to make you read this piece on Ravish Kumar, a TV anchor from India. In order to be read or heard today, one has to shout and shock. In the confrontation-loving high-decibel society, the one who shouts the loudest wins.

Most newspaper readers have got addicted to hyperbole and rhetoric and the TV viewers to screaming anchors. Journalism promotes vitiated public discourse and falls victim to it. “On the other hand,” is a phrase banished from journalism. Fair journalists are hunted and silenced. Those of the other kind are bought and deployed to make maniac noises in favour of the ruling establishment and against its critics.

A sober beginning to this article would not have worked.  “Indian journalism in crisis” would strike no new note since this is not typical of India alone. America’s President is told every day that free press is essential for sustaining democracy.

Dark spots

The theme of this World Press Freedom Day on May 3 was “Keeping Power in Check: Media Justice and the Rule of Law”. One heard stirring calls on governments to strengthen press freedom, and to protect journalists. Many depressing headlines marked the occasion. One from India said: “Bastar journalist charged with sedition for sharing cartoon lampooning the government.” With seven complaints registered against reporters in one month, the police of the Chattisgarh state are notorious for acting against journalists. Old headlines of journalists murdered featured in opinion pieces.

The threats to press freedom even by the so-called democratic governments were discussed. Some references came up to the internal threat from within the profession. Veteran journalist Thalif Deen recalled that once a Malaysian politician, asked about the leading newspapers in his country, shot back: “We have only misleading newspapers”.

Reports about the dark spots carried references to fake news, enforced disappearances of journalists, authoritarian governments tightening grip on press freedom, getting away with murder in Slovakia, pre-election tension threatening free speech in Brazil, Azerbaijan blocking news websites, Kenyan journalists feeling heat, and to internet freedom rapidly degrading in Southeast Asia.

Hostile environment

There is a hostile environment in India in which Ravish Kumar and other independent journalists work. They are attacked by the devotees of the Modi Government. Ravish Kumar’s fans keep alerting him and wishing for his safety and security. Ravish Kumar works for a Hindi TV channel. Thanks to the translation of one of his books in English many more citizens can understand the dangers to democracy that he warns against in his Hindi programmes.

The Free Voice: Ravish Kumar on Democracy, Culture and the Nation is a more searing document than a Free Press Inquiry Commission Report. Of course, it is more interesting to read. The author recalls that within a few months in 2017, journalists were forced to gather twice to condemn violence against colleagues. In a sequel to this book, he will have to say, “our speeches made no difference as threats and violence against journalists continued or even increased”.

The chapter headings give a flavour of Ravish Kumar’s short book: The Robo-Public and the Building of a New Democracy. The National Project for Instilling Fear. Wherever a Mob Gathers is Hitler’s Germany.The Robo-Public and the Building of a New Democracy. The National Project for Instilling Fear. Wherever a Mob Gathers is Hitler’s Germany.

The book covers an area wider than just press freedom. Ravish Kumar refers to the wars for religious pride. He writes about the ongoing battles against what some radical Hindus call ‘Love Jihad’. “Every other day a handful of goons go on a rampage because a girl of one faith chooses to marry a boy of another faith.”

Internal threats to press freedom are not new. In many democratic countries, including India, advertisers and media owners diminished it. Some of the organisations fighting for press freedom during the cold war era never dealt with this internal threat. The state was their only target and change of regime their goal.

A western media mogul inspired his Indian counterparts to transform journalism into a profit-making ‘infotainment’ business. The media feeds the readers and viewers with what they supposedly want. The owners dumped the editors who thought the readers should be given what is good for them and for society! What the newspaper readers really want remains a controversial topic. The readers’ appetite can be whetted by titillating stories and images. If a tabloid prints a naked woman’s photo, its rival has to flash two women. It is said that readers of a British tabloid do not care who ruled the country as long as they see the photos of porn stars every morning!

Most TV anchors can be called the children of a former TV star, an American of Irish origin, who gained mass popularity for his extreme right-wing views and for his ability to silence his studio guests with insults. His pernicious influence afflicted a host of Indian TV journalists.

Badge of honour

Ravish Kumar seeks to counter such trends night after night, challenging his Hindi TV viewers to change to another channel if the issues of unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and sick hospitals and under-funded state schools do not interest them and if they are obsessed with the Hindu-Muslim debates engineered by the vote-grabbing politicians.

His selection of topics can bore the viewer looking for titillation. The disclosure that so many schools have neither teachers nor buildings and so many officially electrified villages turn dark at night may interest some concerned citizens. But most others want to know whether Rekha was seen with A or with B at last night’s Bollywood bash. So, Ravish Kumar’s news and discussion agenda drags his channel down in the ratings competition and affects its balance sheet. However, his channel wears it as a badge of honour and Ravish Kumar gets an honourable mention in select circles of media critics and enlightened TV watchers.

Screenshot: Ravish Kumar’s Speech On Fake News Order At Press Club Of India, April 2018. YouTube.

He refrains from using the formula to win the ratings war. Apart from politics, he covers education and health extensively, highlights public grievances, failures of the administration and hypocrisy of politicians. He does this effectively, gently and with a literary flair. Irony and satire mark his coverage at a time when many other journalists either lack this talent or dare not use it lest an intolerant government is offended. Ravish Kumar seeks to give voice to the powerless. He cajoles the powerful to hear the voices from the margins.

Such journalistic conduct was taken for granted once but “old-fashioned” journalism has gone out of fashion. Ravish Kumar is conscious of his profession’s failures and indulges in self-criticism. He distilled his disappointment in a memorable programme titled “TV stricken with TB”. That night, black screen was all that there was to see. A powerful commentary made up for the loss of picture. The surprised viewers were told that the black TV screen was not due to a technical problem but was designed to make a point!

Unleashing the Rottweilers

The risks that Ravish Kumar takes by practicing developmental journalism pale into insignificance when compared to the risk to his life and limbs that he takes by criticising the Modi Government. He is spared no threats, abuses and insults. And these are not just via the social media. He has been chased and his live interviews interrupted by bikers. After one such incident, he telecast a programme recreating the scene through computer graphics and images of menacing shadowy figures. It seemed like a thriller film clip.

Many others like Ravish Kumar face similar problems. The women journalists refusing to be embedded anger the ruling party activists even more. A minister calls them “presstitutes”. Not many fellow journalists protest. Some because they have been won over by the ruling establishment flaunting its power to punish and reward.

Ravish Kumar and his ilk work in a hostile environment. Dealing with independent journalists has been outsourced since official measures to curb press freedom attract too much frontal criticism. This kind of threat is new for India. It once went through a much darker but brief period when the state suppressed press freedom and arrested some dissenting journalists. That was when the Indira Gandhi Government declared Emergency and suspended the civil rights. Then the suppression of press freedom was blatant and was there for all to see. These days “crowds” deal directly with the critics of the government which may signal to the police force to look the other way.

This method is subtle and insidious and invites less criticism. When the state suppresses press freedom, it becomes an identifiable target for the NGOs and brave newspaper editors. The BJP-ruled Government of Rajasthan tried to curb press freedom through an official order but had to retreat in the face of powerful protests.

A safer strategy is to unleash state-sponsored or state-inspired Rottweilers against a few targeted journalists. Dissenters and critics can be silenced as easily by threats of physical and psychological violence delivered by goons personally or through social media, as by a local police inspector knocking at the door at midnight.

Debate abandoned

Once goons terrorise, discretion trumps bravery. Self-censorship attracts little attention and the government achieves its objective without getting blamed. This has become common in democracies where unconstitutional conduct against suspected terrorists is outsourced by the governments.

Reporting rising sectarian violence makes independent journalists more vulnerable. When the accused persons belong to a political outfit, the party activists attack the reporters. Ravish Kumar writes: “Today, the number of people who spread hatred by highlighting this reason or that or by exploiting various inequalities has increased exponentially.” He talks about the erosion of liberty and dignity, the undermining of the Constitution and democracy and the collapse of institutions.

Screenshot: Ravish Kumar Acceptance Speech ‘Journalist of the Year’, 2016. You Tube.

The author scrutinises the Government’s mal-intention and society’s response. It is a field report on the spurt in intolerance, hate and sectarianism. It is about an emerging dictatorial order underpinned by mobocracy and populist politics spreading like wildfire in this post-fact era. The tradition of debate and dialogue has been abandoned. To be a critic of the ruling establishment is to be the enemy of the nation.

Ravish Kumar records the proliferation of programmed Indians who can see only one face (that of the Prime Minister). “They are programmed to dismiss not only contrary opinion, but also discussion. They listen to nothing, they read nothing. Those who behold a different sight are enemies and traitors – in the context of India, they would be anti-Modi, anti-Hindu, anti-national.”

Robo-public

He continues: “Fake news first falsified news and journalism and it is now turning the citizens fake. The Robo-public is a fake public. A fake public makes a fake Republic, a fake political consciousness, a fake democracy.”

Ravish Kumar begins the book narrating his own encounter with fear that affects all those who speak out. He describes the deadly feeling while handling a report about the sudden death of a judge dealing with a case featuring allegations against a powerful politician who went on to become the President of the ruling party. Ravish Kumar chose to speak out.

Some honest police officers or independent judges protecting the powerless must have been gripped by a similar fear during their careers, but Ravish Kumar recalls his experience with a literary flair. So, his introduction to the book becomes a moving and frightening document.

He breaks the shuddering silence surrounding that sensitive news story. He delivers the sensitive report on NDTV concluding with the words: “Now whatever will be, will be”. The closing sentence, he says, was “for my viewers, and also for myself”. Having done the programme, he finds release from the fear that had held him in its suffocating grip for two days.

This independent journalist says he makes the journey from fear to courage every day. “My days start with the trolls’ abuses and threats and end with the thought that I should be careful for the sake of my job.”

Republic of Fear

The recent transformation of the nation into a Republic of Fear has been observed by all but only a few like Ravish Kumar have recorded it for posterity that will inherit an officially revised history of the nation, its religions, and its leaders.

The author says: Post 2014, the political winds began to change course. Criticism of the government began to be equated with criticism of the nation. A factory called the IT Cell was set up and many varieties of fear were manufactured inside its basement.

The trolls of the IT Cell mounted fierce attacks on anyone who dared to ask questions. They were called many things, from anti-nation, anti-religion to even pimps of the opposition media…. Even serving ministers began to attack reporters. The IT Cell (of the ruling party) rapidly transformed media into lapdog media. He notes that many anchors and journalists crept into the laps of power and began to sing praises of Prime Minister Modi.

Ravish Kumar refers to the IT Cell running the WhatsApp university that specialises in teaching fake and poisonous history. He quotes politicians threatening to kill critics or announcing rewards for their heads.

The threats to the freedom of the press, like the violation of human rights, used to cause greater concern in international fora and the western capitals during the cold war. These days the “international community” is not shocked by the murder of journalists in India or the threats to the freedom of the press. It is different if such incidents take place in a country that refuses to be a “strategic ally” or that has neither oil nor market to offer.

The recent Commonwealth summit in London did not take much notice of these issues. The Commonwealth Journalists Association and the Commonwealth Human Rights initiative tried in vain to sensitise the leaders to such problems in the member-nations. The activists should try and slip the reprint of the chapter “Speaking Out” into the pack of agenda papers of the summiteers at every forum! Ravish Kumar’s prose may move some of them.

This article was first published on opendemocracy.net.

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Today is the 25th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1993 on the recommendation of UNESCO’s General Conference. It is therefore a solemn day for Indian journalists given how the Press Freedom is being curtailed in the country, by both, state and non state actors. Here’s a look at the struggle to establish and honour Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression across the world as well as how India is still struggling on this vital front.

The Windhoek Declaration

Since then, May 3, which is the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, has been commemorated as World Press Freedom Day. The Windhoek Declaration was compiled by African journalists in 1991. It was introduced at a UNESCO seminar for ‘Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press’ that was held in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia from April 29 to May 3, 1991. 

The Windhoek Declaration prompted similar moves, DW Akademie reported: in 1992, a UNESCO media conference in Kazakhstan adopted the Declaration of Alma Atma, which proclaimed complete support for the Windhoek Declaration. A similar move came with 1994’s Declaration of Santiago, and in 1996, the Declaration of Sana’a highlighted the priority of creating completely independent journalists’ associations, trade unions or syndicates, as well as publishers’ and editors’ associations. In 1997, too, the Declaration of Sofia called on “all parties concerned that the principles enshrined in this (Windhoek) Declaration be applied in practice.”

Click here to read the full articles
 

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As attacks on journalists rise, so does impunity owing to the politician-police nexus letting the culprits off. Exposing wrongdoing is now very risky.

Etv  Journalist Nagarjuna Reddy assaulted by brother of local MLA Amanchi Krishnamohan and his supporters,  February 11, Chirala, AP

 

May 3^rd  2017 was World Press Freedom Day.   A HOOT study finds that 54 attacks, and 25 cases of threatening journalists took place in the past 16 months. Though 7 journalists were killed, reasonable evidence of their journalism being the motive for the murder is available only in one case.

Over the last 16 months 54 attacks on journalists in India were reported in the media, according to the Hoot’s compilation.  The actual number will certainly be bigger, because last week Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir said during question hour in the Lok Sabha that 142 attacks on journalists took place between 2014-15.

The government will take its own time to disclose the figures for 2015-16. Meanwhile the data reveals a disturbing pattern of impunity. In the 114 incidents of attacks on journalists in 2014, only 32 people were arrested and in relation to the 28 incidents in 2015, 41 people were arrested.
Journalists are increasingly under fire for their reporting. They are killed, attacked, threatened. Barely three days into 2017 came news of the killing of yet another journalist from Bihar. Predictably, the details that followed adhered to the same pattern: a gang of unidentified shooters; motive not known; police suspect a family dispute or a business rivalry, anything but a killing caused by the professional work of the deceased.
 

 
In 2016, the deaths of journalists – six in all – made headlines but preliminary police investigations could indicate professional reasons in only three cases.
There were 17 instances in 2016 of threats to journalists – serious cases of death threats, rape threats and intimidation – and two in 2017 till now.

A clear and consistent pattern
The stories behind each of these cases reveal a clear and persistent pattern. Investigative reporting is becoming increasingly dangerous. Journalists who venture out into the field to investigate any story, be it sand mining, stone quarrying, illegal construction, police brutality, medical negligence, an eviction drive, election campaigns, civic administration corruption, are under attack.

Leave alone going out into the field, those who host chat shows in the relative safety of a television studio or voice opinions on social media networks are also subjected to menacing threats, stalking and doxing.

 
The perpetuators, as the narratives of these cases clearly indicate, are politicians, vigilante groups, police and security forces, lawyers (apart from the Patiala House court incident in Delhi in the wake of the JNU protests, just take a look at the spate of attacks by lawyers in Kerala), jittery Bollywood heroes and, increasingly, mafias or criminal gangs that operate in illegal trades and mining, often under the protection of local politicians and with the knowledge of local law enforcing agencies. Hence, even with clear accusations of the identities of the perpetuators, they get away scot-free.

The data with The Hoot shows that law-makers and law-enforcers are the prime culprits in the attacks and threats on the media. We need to call out the complicity of the political party leaders and politicians’ supporters who beat up journalists, the role of vigilante groups and of emboldened student groups who target journalists and systematically hound them and seek to muzzle them.
 

 
The efforts to censor and silence these journalists and writers is relentless, sometimes taking on absurd dimensions. In one case filed against Skoch group chairman Sameer Kochhar for allegedly writing a “misleading” article targeting Aadhaar, the complaint filed by an official of the UIDAI said his actions violated the Aadhaar Act. But according to reports,  the FIR has been registered manually as the term ‘Aadhaar Act’ is not updated in their system yet!
Thus far, our focus has been, and quite rightly so, on the brutal killings of journalists. Each death is a permanent silencing of the work of the journalist, the eternal censorship that simply cannot be broken. We have continuously campaigned – as media watchers, journalists’ organisations, editors’ guilds and even the Press Council – about the impunity that shrouds each killing.
 
Muddying the motives
We have seen family members and immediate colleagues of the deceased valiantly argue that the journalist did indeed die for professional reasons, not due to personal rivalries or disputes or any other non-professional motive that investigating police officers point towards. Often, as in three of the six deaths  last year, there are doubts about the motives of the killings.

Zee news report on the Rajdeo Ranjan case in Siwan.
 
But when journalists are threatened or attacked, that does testify that the motive for the targeting was clearly professional. That it is their stories, their investigative work and their bearing witness to all manner of wrongdoings that are under fire.

It is time to examine the threats and the attacks much more seriously than we have thus far. The journalists who have survived gruesome attacks – from immolation bids, acid attacks, strangling attempts and brutal beatings – need to be heard and the perpetrators need to be brought to book. These survivors tell tales and we need to hear them. But do we?

Take a look at this account of an assault in Andhra Pradesh:
Nagarjuna Reddy, a freelance journalist based in Chirala in the district, was assaulted by the brother of local TDP MLA Amanchi Krishnamohan and his supporters over a magazine article and false cases were filed against him. The write up of the journalist highlighted alleged corrupt activities that were undertaken by the MLA. The journalist was thrashed with sticks, other weapons and he cried for help as passer-by watched helplessly. According to News 18 reports, the MLA defended the  beating and said, “This is not a goonda raj, he used abusive language. Nagarjuna is not a journalist, he is sudo Naxal (sic).”
 
That was the report that appeared in the Financial Express.  There’s also a video for those who can stomach watching it. The report says only a five-year-old came to the rescue of the journalist. A five year old! What kind of rescue could a five year old have managed?

You would think that, with the obsession we have with violence porn, this video would get some crazy number of views. Till last week, it had garnered only 4291 views. Why didn’t it make more of an impact? Why were we in the media all silent?
 
Reporting, not being, the news
Perhaps the reason is because journalists hate to be the focus of news, despite the public’s impressions to the contrary, bolstered no doubt by some television anchors who are currently on a huge outreach to promote themselves and their channels. For one thing, drawing undue attention to themselves definitely hampers their news-gathering.
Some journalists, especially those from the electronic media who are increasingly targeted as they are so much more visible with their cameras and other equipment, have taken the beatings as a matter of routine. They curse the police or the mob when they are beaten and their cameras are smashed and then reassemble for the next story, often borrowing equipment from friends.

In the race to feed the beast, some of them are willing to ignore or bypass other beasts. They also know that filing complaints and pursing legal mechanisms to bring culprits to book are time-consuming and dangerous, bringing them more into the spotlight and vulnerable to further targeting. They know the threats and the attacks are a warning that their lives have been spared, this time.
 
Slow justice or no justice?
Yet, more and more journalists are being forced to file complaints before the police. Last year, an unprecedented number of prominent women journalists  had to file complaints about the death and rape threats that they got on social media networks. They are diligently following up on the cases with the police to identify the accused (usually anonymous or using false identities) and get the police to effect arrests.

In other cases, journalists run from pillar to post to get the police to lodge complaints. Take a look at this report from Assam:
14.09.2016, Margherita, Assam: Six journalists went to the Margherita area to gather the facts related to the alleged illegal smuggling of coal from Coal India when they were attacked by more than 40 people suspected to be involved with the coal mafia.
India Today journalist Manoj Dutta was among those assaulted by the mafia men. The journalists alleged that they had to request the Superintendent of Police M J Mahanta for intervention as both the Ledo and Tinsukia police station refused to take any action.
The six journalists were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
 
Why did local police fail in their duty? The journalists were injured, as the picture of the bloodied journalist clearly shows. Why did they have to go from one police station to another just to file a complaint? Why did they get the attention the incident deserved only on approaching a senior officer?

The reasons are hardly a state secret. As the report disclosed, the coal mafia in the area is ‘conducted under the supervision of  BJP MLA Bhaskar Sharma’s right arm men, Kuldeep Singh and Sandeep Sethia’. Coal worth crores, the report added, is smuggled each night by the mafia from the mines and exported to  Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.
The nexus, in almost every case, is there to see.  Not merely in cases of corruption and illegal trades, but in the coordinated intimidation between local police and vigilante groups like the Samajik Ekta Manch, which hounded journalist Malini Subramaniam out of Bastar in February last year. 

The police, under the guise of investigating her complaint of threats and attacks, intimidated her landlord and neighbours. As her statement said:
“It became clear that in the guise of investigating my complaint, the police was going after those associated with me. The last straw came when my landlord served me an eviction notice on Thursday afternoon. By evening, the Samajik Ekta Manch was staging another protest outside the house of my lawyer….At a time when the nation is outraged about attacks on journalists, one would expect the police to do its utmost to protect citizens and members of the press no matter where they are. Instead of offering this protection, the Jagdalpur police has contributed to a situation where I was so fearful that I felt compelled to uproot my family and leave my home”.
Leave or die. The options are limited. In both situations, justice is still elusive. In cases of deaths of journalists, it is the pain-staking efforts by family members that push the case forward. On May 14 last year, the killing of Rajdeo Ranjan shook the media and the administration in Bihar. Ranjan was a well-known journalist of Siwan and the needle of suspicion pointed to the jailed RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin.

Amidst intense political pressure and media scrutiny, besides petitions to the Supreme Court by the wife of the deceased, the case was handed over to the CBI for investigation and the accused arrested and put behind bars.

While justice takes years and the process itself is punishing, media scrutiny helps.  Last year, the trial in the murder of Mumbai journalist J. Dey began and there was some progress in the investigation of the death of journalist Umesh Rajput with the arrest of two persons. But there’s little detail and even less media attention over the CBI’s closure report on the suspicious circumstances surrounding the sudden death of Aaj Taj journalist Akshay Singh who was covering the Vyapam scam.
 
Can the law fix impunity?
Interestingly, even as Minister Ahir told the Lok Sabha that ‘existing laws are adequate for protection of citizens, including journalists’, the Maharashtra government acceded to the demands of a journalists’ organization, the Patrakar Halla Virodhi Samiti, to pass a law making attacks on journalists and the destruction of property of media persons and media houses a cognizable offence.

Will this help? The jury’s still out on this but if the focus returns to relentless follow ups in each case at the ground level, the strengthening of journalists’ and their working conditions at the professional level, more networking with media rights organisations and more baring of teeth by bodies like the Press Council, the Editors’ Guild and the News Broadcasters Association, perhaps we’ll get there.
 
 Details of attacks and threats
 

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