By Subramani Arumugam
First time in the history of Independent India that a Prime Minister will have spent an entire tenure without addressing a single press conference. Modi cut off all communication with media instead to direct his messaging through tweets, radio programs like Mann Ki Baat, and fluffy staged interviews with pliant journalists. The same Modi has criticized former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as silent during 2014 election campaign.
Lured by Modi’s speeches people thought that he would be an effective communicator, but later on only they understood that he is only a one way series of monologue.
During Modi era social media has become very popular and the Government exploited social media to the hilt to target critics, mobilise public opinion and use tags like “anti national” to discredit anyone showing a hint of circumspection with the state narratives.
Social media is being widely used by ruling party to spread half truth and fake news through a cobweb of unofficial accounts and unleash trolls to attack journalists who tried to counter them.
There have been more attempt to arm-twist media proprietors. Raiding news channels, boycotting prime-time debates, stopping government advertisement a significant source of revenue for the industry have been among the common tactics used by the Modi regime. Unwilling to toe the line has often led to high-profile editorial sackings. Government had employed 200 staff to monitor the media and send directions to editors on how they must report on the PM’s activities.
Issuing of TV licenses is brazenly selective while the application of Bloomberg quint a critic of the government is pending for years where as Republic TV was given without hassle. Mukesh Ambani and like corporate now holds big stakes in the country’s news business, can ill-afford to rub the government on the wrong side. Sting operations by Cobra Post exposed the nexus between government and leading media organisations like TOI, The New Indian Express and India Today group to participate in propaganda for BJP and agreed to spread communal hate in return for cash from the ruling party.
NDTV, The Hindu News Paper, investigative and independent on-line portals such as The Wire, Scroll, BOOM LIVE, The News Minute, and Air News continue honorable service despite facing defamation suits and court cases, they have been responsible for some of the most important news breaks that have kept the government in check and India’s democracy alive.
During the COVID19 lockdown period also the police often use criminal prosecutions to gag journalists critical of the government and authorities. Invoke sec124 of IPC a non-bailable offence ,defamation and sedition charges in a blunt and indiscriminate manner against journalism. FIR’s and charge sheets have been filed against 55 journalists across the country.
Ten journalists in Himachal Pradesh were booked for reporting poor handling of lock down and the plight of migrant workers. FIR filed against Mr Siddarth Varadarajan , founding editor of The Wire for wrong attributing a quote to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Mr Vijay Vineet for reporting a story of dalit children eating grass in Varanasi (Modi’s constituency) due to non availability of ration. Leading journalists Peerzada Ashiq, Masrat Zahara and correspondent of The Hindu Gowhar Geelani were arrested in Srinagar for exposing the real situation.
As per Press freedom rankings of “ Reporters Without Borders” , an international media freedom watchdog India ranked 142 out of 180 countries due to the pressure and violence on the media to toe the Hindu nationalist government’s line. Neighboring countries like Myanmar, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka are in better position. India was ranked at 136 in 2015 and 140 in 2018. Even though no journalist was killed in 2019 and six were killed in 2018. Modi government is refusing to accept the above report and had set up its own “Index Monitoring Cell”.
Journalism in India remains a risky pursuit as India ranks 13th among countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go scot free. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ‘2009 global impunity index”.
As per The Coalition of Women in Journalism between jan and Apr ‘2020, there have been 145 threats and intimidation against women journalists globally.
India had third highest cases of intimidation.
BJP government filed a petition in Supreme Court to stop publication of any COVID19 information without clearance. Court denied the petition but directed the journalists to refer to and publish the official version of the developments. A medical emergency should not serve as the pretext for the imposition of a de-facto political emergency.
The government can muzzle the media through its powers but it cannot shut peoples voices. Between 2016 and 2018 social media users in India was increased from 168 million to 326 million, it is estimated that it will reach 450 million in 2023. Let us use social media widely to raise our dissent voices.