A deteriorating democracy? India Press Freedom Index improves by a margin

Image Source: NewsLaundry

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a renowned non-profit organization; centred on safeguarding the right to freedom of the press, released a finding today that demonstrates the dwindling freedom in our nation. India, which previously stood at 159, has plummeted back to an alarming low; according to the report. Meanwhile, countries like Norway & Denmark topped the rankings.

The report is a composition of several factors, including the legal, cultural, and economic landscape. The report denounces the Modi regime and says, “ India’s media has fallen in a state of emergency ever since Narendra Modi usurped the throne and subsequently manufactured a rapport between the big media houses and the government.” 

Furthermore, the finding also mentioned the term “godi media”, a catchphrase used by the opposition media to target and ridicule the excessively pro-establishment media houses, further criticizing the government for heckling & hounding journalists who critique them, alleging that half of the 28 journalists who have been killed since 2014 were those who covered environment news.

While commenting upon the contemporary legal framework, it said how Governments have never shied away from weaponizing colonial laws like defamation & sedition to smother the voices of those critical of them; they also dragged Congress in but really doubled down on PM Modi, saying how new laws like Telecommunications act and Broadcasting services bill will further subjugate critical voices.

Image Source: The Indian Express

It also stated how the media is being monopolised and appropriated, referring to Adani’s group power, and how it acquired NDTV and conglomerates like Reliance, who own around 70 media outlets. Meanwhile, our neighbor Pakistan placed higher on the index with the 152nd rank. The report went so far as to say that ours is an “unofficial state of emergency.” 

The finding also called the situation of journalists in Kashmir dire & worrisome, on how they are getting periodically subjected to harassment by the administration, incarcerated to perish indefinitely, namely Nitisha Kaul, who was restricted from travel and attending meetings in Delhi, people like Aasif Sultan, Fahad Shah, among others who have been at the receiving end of such injustices. 

Now, our government deems such institutions’ rankings as propaganda and has recently enlisted an Indian think tank to engineer its own index in a bid to do away with the international agencies and their assessment of us. The Organization is called the Observer Research Foundation, which has close ties with the government itself. 

CM M.K. Stalin took digs at the BJP, on a post on X, he said that the deaths of journalists like Gauri Lankesh and Kalburgi showcase how India’s press freedom is in a dire state, urging the populace to stand together and fight the swarm of fake news and misinformation which pervades our current ecosystem for a better tomorrow.

The list of countries that did worse than us includes Bangladesh, China, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, and North Korea, coming at the bottom category, labeling them as the most dangerous countries for journalism.

In the Middle East, Qatar was painted as the only region where the situation was neither difficult nor very serious, whereas all the countries that are pioneers in press freedom came from Europe.

Image Source: Doha News

On the other hand, it is staggering to see how Palestine just fell down by one rank, even though it has seen more than 100 journalists dead in the wake of last year’s conflict with Israel, which had escalated after the attacks of October 7th. On a similar surprising note,  Israel fared better than Palestine in the index.

On the 31st World Press Freedom Day,  which is marked by some glimmer of hope as we climb up two spots but somewhat gets overshadowed by the declining state of liberty our pillars of democracy hold.