Indian Press

Freedom of press is not specifically mentioned in article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution and what is mentioned there is only freedom of speech and expression. In the Constituent Assembly Debates it was made clear by Dr. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting Committee, that no special mention of the freedom of press was necessary at all as the press and an an individual or a citizen were the same as far as their right of expression was concerned.

The drop in India's ranking in press freedom has been linked to the existence of a sedition law that encourages self-censorship particularly in a period of heightened nationalism.

On World Press Day, the fourth pillar of a democracy was celebrated. It was around then that the pressfreedom rankings were releasedby Reporters Without Borders (RWB), where India had slipped two points to 138, just ahead of Pakistan. While this continued low ranking is worrisome, Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI) rejected it claiming the rankings “were based on opinion or perception” and not on statistical data.

What the PCI seems oblivious to is that there cannot be any data to establish how free the press is or how muted the views of journalists are or their freedom to report. And there never can be, as fear in any case leads most people– including a journalist too– to turn a blind eye to incidents and facts, a pattern that establishes self-censorship. And ‘censorship’ is rarely defined in ‘company’ policy, as it is whispers, chatter and informal messages that establish the dos and don’ts in many organisations.

The ghastly murder of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh and the state of media outlets in Kashmir where some organisations have reportedly become the “targets of violence by soldiers acting with the central government’s tacit consent”, has also been cited as reasons. In addition, RWB highlights the killing of three journalists in 2018 while they were involved in professional activities.

To preserve the democratic way of life it is essential that people should have the freedom of express their feelings and to make their views known to the people at large. The press, a powerful medium of mass communication, should be free to play its role in building a strong viable society. Denial of freedom of the press to citizens would necessarily undermine the power to influence public opinion and be counter to democracy.