The latest press freedom index prepared by the Paris-based non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks India 150th out of 180 countries. The index indicated a steady decline in press freedom in India over the past few years. What concerns the nature of the index is the shrinking distance between India and countries with dictatorships and authoritarian governments. Countries that normally occupy the bottom of the index like Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Myanmar, etc. are infamous for their ruthless dictatorships, their violations of human rights and their absolute disregard for any democratic value. The media is used as a propaganda machine or as a branch of government in these countries. There is no independent press in these countries where the media belong either to the regime or to people close to the regime. India’s recent performance in many global indices related to independent media and press freedom shows trends that are irrelevant to the world’s largest democracy.

This sharp decline reveals a dangerous situation in the functioning of the media and democracy in India. The state of the press in India is more often attributed to vulnerabilities in Indian democracy and the attitude of political leaders. India’s famously diverse media landscape has never translated into a free and independent media ecosystem. RSF highlighted three important factors such as politically controlled media, safety of journalists and concentration of media ownership behind the downward spiral of press freedom in India. However, such a marked decline in press freedom has failed to create a discourse in the public sphere in India. The silence of civil society bodies is the most worrying factor in this regard. In particular, political parties, universities, social activists and major media companies have never questioned or discussed the conditions that have led to the weakening of press freedom in India.

Indian democracy has gone through a turbulent situation in recent decades. This undoubtedly affected the country’s media. However, the lack of meaningful discussion of the state of the media has remained a constant phenomenon over the past decades. Civil society’s silence on media freedom has undermined the role the media can play in a democracy like India. The media’s political bias or lack of independent journalism has never elicited a response from many sections of civil society. Blatant political prejudices and association with feudal and religious forces define the nature of civil society in India in contemporary times. This could be the main reason for the indifference of sections of civil society to the erosion of democratic institutions like the media in the country.

Likewise, the democratically elected governments in India have never paid attention to the deteriorating condition of press freedom in the country. Instead of creating space for free and independent media, the government has always suspected the intentions of international free press watchdogs. More recently, various government officials have attempted to deny the authenticity of the press freedom index. The Indian government has always taken a position that questions the credibility of these indices. In 2021, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting told Loksabha that the methodology used to calculate the index was questionable and non-transparent.

In 2020, the government decided to set up a “Index monitoring cell” (BMI) to look at the fall in the freedom of the press index. While setting up the Watch Cell, I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted on May 3, 2020 that “Media has the power to inform and enlighten people. The media in India enjoy absolute freedom. We will expose sooner than later, these polls which tend to give a bad image of the “freedom of the press” in India”. The committee then submitted a report to the Department of I&B with its recommendations. However, veteran journalist P Sainath, who was a member of the IMC, wrote a strong dissenting note stressing that “the right to dissent should be at the center of press freedom” in India.

The first one World Press Freedom Index released in 2002 ranked India 80th. India’s ranking had been in continuous decline since 2010. The graph below illustrates the fluctuations in India’s ranking over the past 20 years.

According RSF, politically partisan media is one of the reasons for the sharp decline in the index in recent years. Changes in ownership patterns and political affiliation of the media constitute the most significant transformation that has occurred in India in recent decades. Affiliation of mainstream media with political parties, interest groups and their inability to act as independent media in a democracy are the biggest challenges facing the media ecosystem in India. Along with these issues, corporatization and monopoly ownership are serious media concerns. Media in India is known for its size and diversity in the global media market. However, it is controlled by a few people and directly reflects the problems that the media represent in democracy at large. RSF in their Media Property Monitor argued that some of the major outlets are controlled by individuals with political connections in India.

The safety of journalists is a serious concern in the Indian media landscape. Various independent international bodies position India as a dangerous country for journalists. In RSF’s 2021 report, India shares third position with Yemen in the ranking of “the most dangerous countries for journalists”. Likewise, the Global Impunity Index prepare Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) places India 12th in its index where journalists are murdered and their killers go free. India also tops the charts with the highest number of cases filed against journalists during Covid-19. According to Freedom of Expression Collective, 67 journalists were the subject of cases in the course of their work in 2020. Most of these cases concerned smaller media outlets and journalists from small towns. Various government authorities have targeted journalists during COVID-19 for reporting misuse of lockdown rules or questioning governments’ public policy mistakes.

According RSF, India is among the five most dangerous countries for journalists. Incidents of journalists being killed in the course of their work illustrate the degree of violence against journalists in India. RSF argues that over the past 5 years, the majority of deaths have come from 10 countries, including India as well. According to the UNESCO observatory, nearly 45 journalists have been killed in India between 2010 and 2022.

According CPJ88 journalists and media workers have been killed in India between 1991 and 2021.

The attack on journalists and media workers has become a daily reality in India. Weak legal frameworks, a lack of proactive government action and the nexus between politics, religion and business fuel these incidents. The misuse of existing laws by authorities is a serious concern in this regard. P Sainath pointed out in his dissenting note to the IMC report that about 52 media laws and their misuse by the state to intimidate journalists in India. State actions and actions of non-state actors are also responsible for the targeting of journalists in India. It also underlines the complete lack of state accountability in cases related to violence against journalists. Intimidation of the press by the ruling regime is a norm in contemporary India. The sedition and UAPA cases filed against journalists in UP & Kashmir and various cases across the country are the best examples.

The state of press freedom in India depends on factors such as lack of proactive measures by the government, silence from civil society, weak legal framework, corporatization of the media, etc. Major political forces in India rarely take the time to answer press freedom issues. Most of the time, political parties limit their responses to social media posts. However, most of these attempts never succeeded in pressuring the government to take proactive measures or forming public opinion. Very few political parties have used their media platforms to critically assess the situation that has led to the decline of press freedom in India.

Another important factor to consider here is the silence of the country’s powerful media. No major media outlet has ever held meaningful discussions about the downfall of press freedom or campaigned for a free and independent media ecosystem. Most newspapers published minor articles on the latest ranking. Meanwhile, primetime television has rarely witnessed shouting matches or discussions to understand the issues behind India’s media’s consistent poor performance in the global index. Constant media coverage and discussion is essential to bring media issues to the mainstream. The silence and apathy of the media in the face of the situation calls into question its interest in functioning as the fourth pillar of democracy.

This is an opportunity to discuss the essential reforms of the country’s media ecosystem. Establishing multiple owners, better legal frameworks to protect journalists, and measures to reduce the influence of vested interests in media operations are the immediate steps needed to restore media independence. Recent incidents show us that India is gradually moving towards the reality of a captive press in a democracy. Any struggle to protect democracy and the constitution should include safeguarding the rights of journalists and freedom of the press in India. At the same time, an attack on the free press can only be prevented by joint resistance from all components of civil society.

(The writer teaches Media Studies at FLAME University, Pune)