The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reignited worries about press freedom and censorship in India, particularly as it might further shrink independent media and freedom of expression by granting more powers to the state.
The Modi government has started taking formal action under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act to curb online voices contrary to or critical of its policies, says Indian news website The Wire.
The trend of using such powers, the Wire wrote, is a grave threat to freedom of expression and independent journalism, which are guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.
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The worries are part of broader trends of erosion of audience confidence in the Indian news media.
India’s journalist Pooja Prasanna shared data from the Reuters Institute that found trust in news dropped to 39 per cent, with 52 per cent of the population avoiding news.
The numbers indicate the rising worry over the consumption and engagement with news among Indians in a restricted media context.
The Wire also noted that press freedom in India had been constrained at multiple levels, including through government policies which restrict the freedom of media organisations and journalists to operate independently.
CNN-South Asia reporter Ria Mughal noted that media freedom in India had grown even more curtailed and had diminished since Modi’s assumption of power.
The developments have stirred up fresh controversy around the future of freedom of speech, independent journalism and access to information in India.
As governments increasingly resort to measures against critics, critics fear that this may further damage the country’s media environment and may compromise democratic freedoms.
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