Press freedom in India!

By M.Y.Siddiqui

With violence against journalists, highly concentrated media ownership, arm-twisting of the corporate media houses, political alignment, press freedom in India, the world’s largest democracy, ruled by the RSS Pariwar union government since 2014, is in deep crises. In this connection, the first step of the union government was installation of surveillance camera at the entrance of each ministry and the second was withdrawal of PIB (Press Information Bureau) issued press card allowing special press correspondents and senior journalists to visit ministries and talk to senior officials without having to reveal their own, or their hosts’ identity. Created by the first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, PIB press card was designed to encourage public debate by allowing senior journalists to explore different views on impending policy decisions within the government, at a time with virtually no opposition in Parliament. The RSS Pariwar union government destroyed this freedom within a fortnight of forming the government in 2014. This also ended all communications between government and the public except what the PM wanted the people to know and hear. The routine PIB press releases or cryptic official information on social media do not help create informed decisions and evades government accountability.

Indian media landscape comprises 210 million homes with TV sets, 900 privately owned TV channels, half of which are dedicated to news. Doordarshan, the public broadcaster, operates in 23 languages with its reach out almost across the country. Around 140, 000 publications are there in 20 languages, including some 20,000 daily newspapers. Their combined circulations total 390 million copies. However, younger population generally favours online news on social media. Social media have overtaken print media as the main source of news. Radio news broadcast remains a state monopoly, with the national public broadcaster, All India Radio (AIR), which along with Doordarshan, forms part of the public broadcasting group Prasar Bharati. The country’s media have fallen into undeclared state of emergency since 2014. The mainstream media owned by business houses like Reliance Industries, Adanis are disseminating news promoting the PM. Reliance Industries alone own 70 media outlets covering 800 million people. The NDTV acquisition by Adani in 2022 signaled the end of pluralism in the mainstream media. Emergence of Godi (lapdogs) media mixes populism and pro-PM and pro-RSS propaganda. Through pressure and influence, the Indian model of pluralistic media is almost dead. The PM does not hold press conferences. The journalists critical of government face harassment, the Sangh trolls, repression, violence and incarceration.

Freedom of the press is not mentioned in the Constitution of India, but the fundamental right to freedom of expression protects it. However, governments have used laws of sedition, defamation, and anti-state activities to suppress the media. Anti-terrorism laws are increasingly used against journalists for intimidation and retaliation. The RSS Pariwar union government has introduced several new laws that give the government extra-ordinary power to control the media, censor news, and silence critics. Legal steps taken include Telecommunications Act; draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill and the 2023 Digital Personal Data Protection Act. Besides, Rules under the Information Technology Act have been tightened to curb the digital/online media.

Unlike the Emergency (1975-77), there is no constitutional suspension of fundamental rights today. However, the situation is the worst today. People live in fear and insecurity. The constitutional promise of free speech/press freedom is undermined through the legal process itself. The use of criminal laws as a deterrent, the rise of internet surveillance and the Supreme Court of India’s preference for case-by-case relief, raise important concern about the erosion of institutional safeguards, and a lack of doctrinal uniformity. As a consequence, media persons are unable to report freely, the ability to contest dominant narratives, document abuse or even preserve memory is threatened. In democratic republican India, the press plays a pivotal role in amplifying the voices of the people and shedding lights on government actions, serving as a crucial watchdog, tasked with scrutinizing the workings of the government and bringing attention to any perceived injustices or shortcomings by state actors. However, recently released World Press Freedom Index for the current year 2025 presents a worrisome concerning picture for India with its ranking at 151 out of 180 countries. It is alarming, especially considering India’s status as the world’s largest democracy.

The challenge to freedom of press in India includes the concentration of media in the hands of a few individuals or entities, corporate or politicians. The ownership of the media lead to a lack of diversity in viewpoints and dominance of specific narratives or agendas that limit the plurality of voices, hindering the ability of media professionals to report freely. Other restrictive factor is primarily the funding of media by advertising revenue, the main source of which is the government. Under the current RSS Pariwar regime, billions of rupees (thousands of crores) have been spent on advertising since 2014. Both central and state governments put pressure on the media to censor their contents to their (governments) advantages, through this funding on which many media outlets depend. The government has tightened its grip on both state and privately owned media. Media ownership is heavily concentrated in the hands of a few conglomerates mostly allied with government

The great diversity of Indian society is not reflected in the media landscape. The journalism profession remains the prerogative of upper caste majority of people, seen as a bias that has repercussions on the angles and subjects of news and views. For example, on Godi (captive) TV media, women represent less than 15 percent of guests. Hindu nationalist majoritarian ideology gets a significant portion of Godi media space or airtime, to religious news, openly advocating hatred of Muslims. The Indian landscape has examples of the opposite as well, like the Khabar Lahariya outlet, composed entirely of women journalists from rural areas, and ethnic and religious minorities.

With an average of two to three journalists killed annually due to their work, India is one of the most dangerous countries for the media. Journalists critical of the government are routinely subjected to online harassment, intimidation, threat and physical attacks, as also criminal prosecutions and arbitrary arrests. They can be victims of violence from police, politicians, political activists, criminal groups or syndicates, businesses, and corrupt officials. Hindutva proponents call for popular revenge against critics branded as traitors and anti-national. Terrifying coordinated campaigns of hatred and calls for murder are conducted on social media, campaigns especially violent when they target women journalists whose personal data is divulged. The situation is also very worrisome for journalists covering environmental topics or news in Kashmir, where reporters are often harassed by police and paramilitaries and detained without trial for several years! 

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