Dr Moa Jamir
On January 30, media bodies in India came out strongly renouncing the filing of First Information Report (FIR) of sedition charges against six senior journalists and editors for their reporting on the farmers’ tractor parade and the ensuing violence on Republic Day.
At a ‘protest meeting’ held in Delhi, a number of media bodies including the Press Club of India, Editors Guild of India (EGI), Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC), Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) and Indian Journalists Union (IJU) condemned the “practice of filing sedition charges against journalists,” PTI news agency reported.
At the meeting, some alleged that the situation in the country is akin to an “undeclared emergency” while other alleged the government “does not care for the notion of democracy” as the smallest voice of criticism may land people in jail, the report added.
The immediate context to the protest was the filing of FIR on January 28 by the Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh Police against the journalists based on their reportage on the farmers’ protest rallies and the ensuing violence that took place in the national capital on January 26.
In recent times, however, filing of different FIRs against journalists are increasing alarmingly in India, begging one to wonder if the media is under unprecedented assault both from State and non-state actors, despite India’s robust constitutional safeguard for freedom of expression as well as periodic platitudes and commitment made by powers-that-be on ensuring press freedom.
The continued sliding of India’s ranking in annual World Press Freedom Index (PFI) by the Reporters without Borders (RSF) in the recent past is a clear indication of the ground situation.
With no murders of journalists in India in 2019, as against six in 2018, the security situation for the country’s media might seem improved at face value, the 2020 World Press Freedom Index (WPI) noted. However, it underscored that there have been “constant press freedom violations.”
It included “police violence against journalists, ambushes by political activists, and reprisals instigated by criminal groups or corrupt local officials,” the report added. India’s ranking has dropped from 136 in 2015 to 142 in 2020 out of 180 countries surveyed in the published in April last year.
Those at the helms of affairs are often perturbed by such depiction. On the World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2020, the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar said that the government “will expose” the surveys that portray a “bad picture about ‘Freedom of Press’ in India,” The Hindu then reported. Likewise, an article on Niti Aayog’s website in July maintained that, “Multiple countries and commentators have raised concerns with both the WPFI criteria, methodology and also about RSF’s perceived biases, lack of objectivity in ranking and lack of transparency.”
However, the ‘situation’ since the publication of WPI has not been encouraging. “As many as 55 journalists have been targeted for covering the pandemic in India between 25 March, when lockdown was first imposed, and 31 May,” the digital news portal, The Print reported in June, 2020 citing a report by Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG), a Delhi based think tank.
A study called ‘Behind Bars: Arrest and Detention of Journalists in India 2010-20’ by found out that “154 journalists were arrested, detained or interrogated between 2010 and 2020 in India, and 40% of these cases were reported in 2020 alone,” The News Minute reported recently.
On the January 26 incident, the EGI while condemning the filing of FIR emphasised that, “on the day of the protest and high action, several reports were emerging from eyewitnesses on the ground as well as from the police, and therefore it was only natural for journalists to report all the details as they emerged. This is in line with established norms of journalistic practice.”
As a mass communicator, the press or journalists, among others, have the professional obligation of reporting accurately without biasness and the “Norms of Journalistic Conduct” by the Press Council of India act as a guiding principle. However, as noted by EGI, developing stories required constant updating of ground report as well as official version as details emerge, and with often factual correction.
As the PCI’s ‘Good Practices in Journalism’ recommended, a “mistake of inconspicuous nature cannot be said to be violating the code of conduct of journalism. However, an error simpliciter shall need to be corrected.”
Most importantly, “Great editors keep erasers and do not hesitate in using it when an error is pointed out.”
Such good practice should also hold true for those at the helm of affairs to ensure press freedom.
Comments can be sent to jamir.moa@gmail.com
