Editorial: Muzzling dissent
Media freedom is one of the key indicators of a successful democracy. In mature, liberal and open societies, journalists are allowed to express themselves freely and without the threat of any harassment from the governments. Unfortunately, over the last several years, India has seen a clear deterioration on this front, with a growing number of cases being foisted against the dissenting media. The latest instance was the arrest of the co-founder of fact-checking website Alt News, Mohammed Zubair, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity through one of his tweets posted in 2018. The case is based on a complaint filed by a Twitter user, alleging that Zubair had tweeted a “questionable” image to “deliberately insult the god of a particular religion”. The four-year-old tweet reproduced an image of a signboard from a Hindi comedy film. This is a clear case of cracking down on those who have been exposing the politics of hatred and bigotry. It must be pointed out that Zubair’s website AltNews has done some exemplary work over the past few years in identifying fake news and countering disinformation campaigns. Last month, he highlighted BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s derogatory remarks about Prophet Mohammad during a debate on a news channel, triggering a torrent of protests. And, at least 15 countries condemned the remarks of Sharma who has since been suspended from the party. Fact-checking websites have a vital role to perform at a time when the spread of disinformation has become the order of the day. It is ironic that Zubair’s arrest by the Delhi Police came on a day when India joined G7 and four other countries to protect free speech online and offline.
This marks another low for media freedom in India as the government has created a hostile and unsafe environment for members of the press reporting on sectarian issues. There has been a consistent crackdown on critics in the media, academics, civil society groups and protesters while the NGOs involved in the investigation of human rights abuses continue to face threats and legal harassment. As a mature democracy aspiring to play a larger role on the world stage, India can ill-afford to belittle the concerns over deteriorating media freedom. The reports of Hindutva forces, emboldened by the ideological position of the ruling dispensation at the Centre, trying to muzzle the voices of dissenting media are causing alarm. No wonder the country has dropped eight places to 150 — out of 180 countries — on the World Press Freedom Index, 2022. Along with job insecurities, journalists are facing increasing attacks on their freedoms. They are being incarcerated under draconian laws for flimsy reasons. Freedom of the press is integral to the functioning of a vibrant democracy and the media must come together to reclaim its role in realisation of this objective.
