Out of 180 countries, India has been ranked in number 142 in the global press freedom index for the year 2019-20. Last year India was ranked at 140. The report released on April 21, 2020 states that there were no murders of journalists in 2019 as compared to 6 murders in 2018. Let’s have a look at the pointers of the report by the non-profit organization ‘Reporters without Borders’.
HIGHLIGHTS
- A report highlighting less number of journalist murder cases clearly acknowledged the predominant violence against journalists, constant violation of press freedom laws, reprisals backed by corrupt police officers, politicians, criminal groups, etc.
- The decline in the rank was attributed to media being pressurized to work for promoting and supporting Hindu nationalist ideologies.
- The report also presents the alarming situation of coordinated hate campaigns on social media against journalists who speak or write stuff that annoys Hindutva activists. These campaigns have been particularly severe against females.
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MAY 3?
The third of May was declared as the ‘World Press Freedom Day’ by the General Assembly of the UN to uphold the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments around the globe of their duty to safeguard and respect the rights of the press under the freedom of expression right of Article 19 in the 1948 ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’.
Thus every year the UNESCO marks this day by bringing media professionals, agencies of the UN, and press freedom organizations together to discuss the state of press freedom across the globe and state solutions for prominent challenges.
CONDITION OF PRESS FREEDOM IN INDIA
The Global Press Freedom Index and India’s rank states enough about the condition of freedom of expression in India. With the growth of religious nationalism and politics based on communal hatred, the press freedom rank has decreased sharply. Journalists and activists have been murdered or wrongly imprisoned for upholding truth and facts against false propaganda making a mockery of freedom of expression as a human right. The only step towards improvement can be proper education and removal of mass ignorance.
