India slips to 161st in press freedom, a lot for journos to worry about

In the recently released 21st edition of the World Press Freedom Index released on World Press Freedom Day BY Reporters Without Borders (RSF) a French media watchdog, India slipped to the 161st rank in terms of press freedom out of 180 countries ranked, 11 ranks lower than 2022, when it stood at 150.

In its opening remarks about why India has been classified this way, RSF states, “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 BJP and the embodiment of the Hindu nationalist right.” Bold observations indeed, in a country where journalists are threatened with charges of defamation, sedition, contempt of court, and endangering national security besides being branded as “anti-national” with those critical of the government inevitably coming under scrutiny.

Of course, the BJP government has rubbished the report as erroneous in methodology, having a low sample size, and disagreeing with the inferences of the report. Vibrant, independent journalism is essential for the functioning of democracy. But with the newspaper industry in a long struggle spiral and digital news now also hitting hard times, it is time indeed to be deeply concerned about the future of journalism.

More worrisome is the corporate influence on media ownership by oligarchs who maintain close ties with political leaders, a fact reported by RSF while mentioning Adani and Ambani influence on the mainstream media. This however does not mean that the media can give up its watchdog role and succumb to the pressures of the establishment.

In a country where rights violations are rampant to say the least and poverty continues to cripple lives, the common citizen has high hopes in the media which has a legacy of standing up for what is right ignoring the consequences, however serious they may be. Many leaders considered invincible, have bitten the dust because of the pioneering role played by the press in exposing them and this is a sacred role which they will have to continue to perform with even greater resolve in tough situations when press freedom is under threat.

A ‘few good men and women’ could make all the difference to the fortunes of the more than one billion people who detest most of all, attempts to snatch away their freedom, won with great sacrifice. Even when it comes to safety of journalists, India is performing poorly with an average of three or four journalists being killed in connection with their work every year.

Four journalists were ‘murdered’ in India for their work in 2021, the highest number in any country in the world, as per the US-based media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists, while a fifth died on a dangerous assignment. The most worrying collapse for India as per the RSF report is in the Security indicator category, where India’s rank is 172. This means, only eight countries rank worse than India out of 180 on this parameter.

A lot more obviously needs to be done by journalists and media organisations to ensure that those who endure adverse and life-threatening circumstances to secure and present the truth to the world, are safeguarded in the best manner possible. The World Press Freedom Index comprises five variables, for which scores are computed and then countries are ranked. The five sub-indicators are the Political indicator, Economic indicator, Legislative indicator, Social indicator, and Security indicator.