The CBI raids on NDTV promoters has given rise to two sets of reactions: one, of outrage, with 500 journalists assembling in the Delhi Press Club of India to protest against an attack on press freedom, and the other suggesting that the CBI was justified in raiding the premises of the promoters. The second view does not recognise that the CBI raid should be seen in the larger context of attacks on mediapersons critical of the government; it is not just a routine investigation.
The recent raid has rightly been likened to the gagging of the press during Indira Gandhi’s Emergency and the atmosphere of fear created then. India has slipped three notches on the World Press Freedom Index 2017, released by Reporters Without Borders, which has expressed concern over growing “self-censorship” by the media.
“With Hindu nationalists trying to purge all manifestations of ‘anti-national’ thought from the national debate, self-censorship is growing in the mainstream media. Journalists are increasingly the targets of online smear campaigns. Prosecutions are also used to gag journalists who are overly critical of the government”, said the report.
Veteran editors have warned of an “effort to de-legitimise” the mainstream media (a Minister in the Modi government has used a term like “presstitute”). However, the ‘mainstream’ media has changed since the Emergency days. In a corporatised world, press freedom has been eroded; journalists are seen as mere ‘content providers’ or ‘content managers’. It is often an arrangement of convenience between media managers, business interests and political power.
What’s remarkable today is the lack of information flow from the Modi government. Lakhs of RTI applications are either pending or, if answered, do not contain the desired information. A “majoritarian” government can make things hard for dissemination of information. Worst of all is the Modi government’s bid to create an “us” versus “them” divide within the media and in society.
Senior Deputy Editor