Protect press freedom

A crucial pillar of the Indian republic should not be weakened

Last week, Prasar Bharati, a supposedly independent public-service broadcaster financed by the taxpayer, declared reports by the Press Trust of India, a news agency supported by major media houses, “detrimental to national interest and undermining India’s territorial integrity”. The provocations for this missive were two interviews that would be considered conscientious journalism in any democracy. One was with the Indian ambassador to China, Vikram Misri, and another with China’s ambassador to India, Sun Weidong. Prasar Bharati’s objection to the first was a quote from Mr Misri that the Chinese troops needed to move back to their side of the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh. This statement became problematic only because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s earlier statement that “no one has intruded into Indian territory”, requiring a lengthy clarification from the Prime Minister’s office and the external affairs ministry the next day. The interview with Mr Sun marked the first time that the Chinese officially admitted to transgressions and casualties among Chinese troops, though he claimed that the onus was not on China to resolve the dispute. A truncated version of the interview was put up on China’s Indian embassy website, which, PTI officials said, did not answer queries on China’s LAC trespasses.

The Prasar Bharati management has been unable to explain why this basic exercise in journalism in a democracy that constitutionally defends press freedom is not in the national interest. It is also curious that neither the external affairs ministry nor the interviewees have said that they were misquoted. Prasar Bharati’s actions should be seen as part of a broader programme to muzzle those parts of the media that are deemed inconvenient. Reporters and commentators in different parts of the country are being charged with sedition, or hauled up under other draconian laws that were never meant to be used to impede the free flow of information. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, pressure on the media to conform has increased manifold, and the judiciary, which should be defending the right to free speech, has played its part. As the government initially denied the presence of thousands of jobless migrants on the roads, a consequence of the abrupt national lockdown, the Supreme Court asked the media to publish only the official version of Covid-19-related development. Earlier this month, the government in the newly created Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir announced a media policy that authorised the government information agency to vet print and electronic media content and block advertising to those outlets deemed to be publishing “fake” or “anti-national” news. This experiment smacks of a managed press and could well become a national blueprint.

This is a dangerous trend that can only harm India’s democracy and weaken its governance by removing an essential check on the executive. The government has made clear its innate hostility to the mainstream media, even as abusive elements favourable to the ruling establishment keep up a barrage against anyone with a different opinion. The trend has been noticed by observers in other democracies and has contributed to India slipping down the ranks of the press freedom index. This can only harm India’s soft power — a key national asset in the long-term adversarial contest with China, and also with Pakistan. All institutions concerned must stand up and speak up in favour of the fourth estate and a free press, as a crucial pillar of the Indian republic.