India’s ranking dips in global index on media freedom
26 Apr 2018
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Reporters Without Borders, an NGO that defends freedom of the press, has been critical of the Narendra Modi government in its report, RSF Index 2018: Hatred of Journalism threatens democracies.
“Any investigative reporting that annoys the ruling party or any criticism of Hindutva, an ideology that blends Hindu nationalism with an almost fascistic rhetoric, elicits a torrent of online insults and calls for the death of the reporter or writer responsible, most of it coming from the prime minister’s troll army,” alleged the NGO.
The focus of the RSF Index was on the worsening regional indicators across the globe including the US and Europe. “It’s in Europe, the region where press freedom is the safest, that the regional indicator has worsened most this year,” said the report.
In North America, Donald Trump’s USA slipped two places while Justin Trudeau’s Canada rose four and entered the top 20 at 18th place, a level where the situation is classified as ‘fairly good,’ said the report.
On Asia, the report pointed out that the Chinese model of state-controlled news and information “is being copied in other Asian countries, especially Vietnam and Cambodia. North Asia’s democracies are struggling to establish themselves as alternative models.”
And violence against journalists is increasingly worrying in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and the Philippines, added the report. Hate speech is also an issue in India, which fell another two places to 138th rank.
“Ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014, Hindu fundamentalists have been referring to journalists in extremely violent terms,” it said.
This unbridled verbal violence served to support a leader who asserts himself as a strongman, a leader whose authority does not tolerate being undermined by reporters or editorialists.
“As elsewhere in the world in 2017, this verbal violence has tragically led to physical violence,” pointed out the report. “Newspaper editor Gauri Lankesh was gunned down outside her home in September after being the target of hate speech and death threats for criticising Hindu supremacy, the caste system and discrimination against women,” it added.
The physical violence against journalists is largely responsible for India’s low ranking. At least three journalists were murdered in connection with their work and more were killed in circumstances that were unclear, as is often the case in rural areas, where reporters are poorly paid.
“The situation in the Kashmir Valley, a news black hole, contributed to the poor ranking of a country whose long tradition of vibrant media could nonetheless enable it to rise again in the Index,” said the report.
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