Pune, 3rd May 2023
Reporters Without Borders released its annual World Press Freedom Index and India has hit a new low of 161 out of 180 nations. Countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan have claimed higher spots as compared to India in the global rankings. India dropped 11 ranks from 150 in 2022 to 161 in 2023. The Press Freedom Index compares the level of freedom the press holds, including journalists and media, between 180 nations as well as territories. It is measured by the power of journalists to disseminate news which includes Political, Economical, Legal as well as Social Interferences within the nation. It also measures the safety of journalists reporting these affairs. It includes the absence of physical as well as mental abuse or torture for broadcasting news.
The ranking is allotted regarding a nation’s press in five categories which are: Legal Framework, Political Context, Socio-Cultural Context and, most importantly, the Safety Of Journalists. Alarmingly, India ranked the lowest in the safety class with an astonishing rank of 172 out of 180. India’s best performance was in the Social Indicator section with a rank of 143. India’s performance degraded consistently over the past nine years but hit the lowest in the current year.
The Central Government declined the views and rankings of the World Press Freedom Index in February 2022. They stated that the report is published by “a foreign” N.G.O and is thus not reliable. The report stated – “The violence against journalists, the politically partisan media and the concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that Press Freedom is in crisis in “the world’s largest democracy” ruled since 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and the embodiment of the Hindu nationalist right.”
The Indian press with its rich legacy of anti-colonial movement has largely held progressive views. This is not the first time the Indian press has come under the radar. Press freedom was deeply scarred in the Emergency era under the Indira Gandhi rule. In the recent past, things started to decline with the Modi government when tycoon families started taking over the media. The biggest example of this is the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries. Ambani owns over 70 media outlets and has a following of more than 800 million Indians.
One can argue that India’s press freedom has been steadily declining for the past two decades. India’s rank dropped from 80th position in the inaugural report in 2002 to 131 in 2012. However, India’s rank in the Press Freedom Index declined at a faster pace with India losing 11 points in the past year alone. From 150th in 2022, India’s Press Freedom Index hit a new low of 161 in 2023.
Prior to this, India had dropped 17 points under the U.P.A rule in one year between 2009-2010 due to the wide-scale violence in Kashmir. While India’s press freedom has been compromised in conflict regions over the decades, under the current regime there is a crackdown on mainstream press across the nation.
The latest takeover of the NDTV channel in 2022 by a close ally of Narendra Modi, Gautam Adani marked the end of mainstream media’s pluralism. Modi is known for his “not-so-friendly” relations with journalists as he sees them as pollutants between him and his audience. It is no wonder that the Prime Minister who has never held a press conference, turns to his Twitter handle and radio show to take the government’s message to the public. In this land, only he can speak from his ‘Mann’. In this land, only his Mann Ki Baat matters.
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