MAHADEEP SINGH JAMWAL
Since its declaration by the UN General Assembly in 1993, we celebrate May 3 as Press Freedom Day, an occasion to remind the Governments across the world to respect and uphold the right to freedom of opinion & expression, which is enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. In order for a democracy to work, it needs to have four solid aspects – free and fair elections, protection of the people’s human rights, the participation of citizens and the rule of law applied equally to everyone. I feel without the freedom of the press, all of this is moot. It has been said that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. The institution that maintains that vigil is the press or the media. In other words, if the people are to be free, it is the job of the media to ensure that it keeps a watch on those in power in whose hands the freedom lies. In order to do so, press that is free of any outside influences or influencers is absolutely vital. Press becomes a powerful tool for the efficient functioning of a democratic government. Ruling parties in India have too much power, and they often misuse those powers to control the media houses. Without freedom of the press, no government can be considered ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’. Freedom of the press in India is legally protected by the Amendment to the constitution of India. The press has a responsibility to act as check and balance for the administration and the government. It is the press that raises its voice against social ills, malpractices, corruption and oppression. It is also the press that gathers, verifies and distributes events, facts and information that allow the people of a country to make sound judgments. None of this is possible if the press is silenced or if its voice becomes the tool of those in power. More or less it is a fact that News media in India is owned by business families and individuals having political inclination or affiliation. For these reasons, obviously they manipulate content on their channel that suits the objectives of their mentors who wield power. The Indian press is deeply rooted in Indian history and had its beginnings under the aegis of the British Raj. During the Indian struggle for freedom, various acts were enacted by the British government to censor press coverage. With the advent of independence, Indian leaders laid out the Constitution of India which guaranteed certain rights to all its citizens as part of being a democracy. While there is no specific mention in the constitution regarding the freedom of the press, Article 19 (1) guarantees the right of freedom of speech and expression to all citizens and the freedom of the press is deemed to be part of this right. Ideally, this means that the communiqués and expressions in various media cannot be censored by the government. However, there are limitations to this freedom as listed in Article 19 (2) that apply to both private citizens and members of the press. When we talk of the current position of ‘Freedom to Press’, although India is considered the largest democracy in the world, the freedom of the press is declining in the country. The highest position the country achieved was in 2002 when it was ranked at 80. Since then there has been an alarming decline. Unfortunately, for the past few years have seen increasing curbs, direct or indirect, on the media. It has decreased 140th rank in 2014 to rank 161 of 180 countries in 2023. India’s global index rank has declined for several reasons, and one of them is restrictions imposed on news media. This oppression of the press is an alarming trend as it does not allow for proper checks and balances on the government and its activities and thus citizen’s right to know about transparent working of their elected representatives’ stand is shackled. The media is kowtowing to the political Government. And media is badly employed to propagate to convince the citizenry that there is only one person and one political party who has come as an incarnation of God, a prophecy indicated in Holy book Gita “yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srjamy aham. Paritranaay saadhunaam vinaashaay cha dushkritaam Dharm sansthaapanaarthaay sambhavaami yuge yuge” meaning: Whenever Dharma starts fading into oblivion and Adharma increases, I manifest myself. I take birth in every age to protect the virtuous, to annihilate the evil-doers and to establish (and re-establish) Dharma. At present politically controlled media has spread an uncontrolled biased wave of imaginary pictures that has pushed the shoddy image behind the silky curtain.
Media in India is mostly self-regulated. The existing bodies for regulation of media such as the Press Council of India which is a statutory body and the News Broadcasting Standards Authority, a self-regulatory organization, issue standards which are more in the nature of guidelines for the purpose of preserving the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of newspapers and news agencies in India. The PCI cannot penalize newspapers, news agencies, editors and journalists for violation of the guidelines. Likewise news channels are governed by mechanisms of self-regulation. One such mechanism has been created by the News Broadcasters Association that has devised a Code of Ethics to regulate television content.
The News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), of the NBA, is empowered to warn, admonish, censure, express disapproval and fine the broadcaster for violation of the Code. The ethical guidelines are badly missing for the press that needs to be architected in a way to avoid paid, influenced, fake, and politically motivated reporting. I still believe the influence of the media in changing the thought, and vision and, unbiased journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon. The media should realize that political governments reign for a certain period but the Press media governs forever and ever.