For the first time since 2016, the global body Reporters without Borders (RSF) has brought out a list of people identified as ‘Predators of Press Freedom.’ The list includes 37 heads of state or government out of which 13 are from the Asia-Pacific region.
Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi joins the likes of Pakistan’s Imran Khan, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Myanmar’s military head Min Aung Hlaing and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, along with 32 others. Women have made it to the list for the first time — Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam — as has a European leader, Hungary’s Viktor Orban.
In the explanatory note of the list that the RSF has brought out after a gap of five years, the organisation has said that some of these “Predators pf Press Freedom” have been operating for more than two decades while others have just joined the “blacklist”. The RSF is a France-headquartered international non-profit and non-government organisation that aims to safeguard the right to freedom of information.
Modi has been classified as a “predator since taking office”, and the explanatory note has pointed out that India is ranked 142nd among 180 countries in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, same as last year, after it had consistently slid down from 133 in 2016. There has been no response from the Union government so far on the inclusion of Modi in the RSF list.
At the time when the 2020 World Press Freedom Index was published Union Minister for Information and Broadcast Prakash Javadekar had tweeted on May 2, 2020: “Media in India enjoy absolute freedom. We will expose, sooner than later, those surveys that tend to portray bad picture about ‘Freedom of Press’ in India.”
While expression of concern by foreign countries or global bodies regarding human rights, religious violence or media freedom is routinely dismissed as external interference in India’s sovereignty, the government knows all too well that these perceptions matter in a globalised world. This is evident in the government’s fervent pursuit to improve India’s position in the World Bank’s annual Ease of Doing Business ranking.
But if India is concerned about its reputation in terms of business and investment, it should be equally or even more concerned about its standing as a democratic, pluralist country with a dynamic and free press. Investments and global corporations may flow in despite dents in the country’s democratic credentials, but what about India’s well-being?
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