The World Press Freedom Index is out, and it shows that India has fallen from 133 last year to 136 this year. Which means, that according to the report, press freedom has gotten worse. The reasons :

With Hindu nationalists trying to purge all manifestations of “anti-national” thought from the national debate, self-censorship is growing in the mainstream media. Journalists are increasingly the targets of online smear campaigns by the most radical nationalists, who vilify them and even threaten physical reprisals. Prosecutions are also used to gag journalists who are overly critical of the government, with some prosecutors invoking Section 124a of the penal code, under which “sedition” is punishable by life imprisonment. No journalist has so far been convicted of sedition but the threat encourages self-censorship. The government has also introduced new foreign funding regulations to limit international influence. Coverage of regions that the authorities regard as sensitive, such as Kashmir, continues to be very difficult

Above India, in the rankings, are Palestine (135) , Algeria (134),Burma (131) ,  Zimbabwe (128), Kuwait (104). Pakistan (139). Russia (148) are worse off.

i am having difficulty believing this. Not that i believe that India is better than Norway (1) in press freedom, I don’t. I just don’t think that it is as bad as it is made out to be.

What does the World Press Freedom Index 2017 say : it essentially says that Democracy is being eroded worldwide, and that means that freedoms are decreasing, including freedom of the press. Also, the erosion of Democracy is accompanied by the rise of Strongmen. The Index laments the decrease in freedoms even in democracies.

Once taken for granted, media freedom is proving to be increasingly fragile in democracies as well. In sickening statements, draconian laws, conflicts of interest, and even the use of physical violence, democratic governments are trampling on a freedom that should, in principle, be one of their leading performance indicators.

Another contributing factor to the overall decline in World Press Freedom is the rise of the surveillance state:

The obsession with surveillance and violations of the right to the confidentiality of sources have contributed to the continuing decline of many countries previously regarded as virtuous. This includes the United States (down 2 places at 43rd), the United Kingdom (down 2 at 40th), Chile (down 2 at 33rd), and New Zealand (down 8 at 13th).

As if this wasn’t enough, there is surveillance on sources, targeting of whistle blowers, political and economic pressure on publishers and journalists.

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Much of this is not new. Those in power, will always try to hold on to power, and effective journalism can be a stumbling block to them. However, when much of journalism is owned by big business, then the quest for the bottom line will always impact coverage. If you were in the news business, would you run an investigative series on how processed food harms health. In such a case is Press Freedom impacted or not ? What happens, if your news organisation completely drops rural India from it’s coverage, or out sources it to agencies – because their Target Audience, urban India, is not interested in rural India — does that impact press freedom ?

The press in India, has no special freedoms. It has the same freedoms as any of us have as individuals. A decline in press freedom (even if you disagree with the ranking, and i do) means a decline in all our individual freedoms.