By Ranjona Banerji
Reporters Without Borders issued its Press Freedom Index for 2023 on World Press Freedom Day, May 3. India has slipped down even further. In 2022, India was at its lowest ever at 150. In 2023, we have been ranked at 161. There are 180 countries on the list, for context.
RSF has written a succinct appraisal of India’s media situation today:
https://rsf.org/en/country/india
Media ownership, political patronage and administrative harassment are all mentioned – which all of us know.
One of the other reasons why we have slipped lower than the year before is presented to us in these two simple examples of media behaviour: protests by India’s wrestlers and the situation in Manipur.
The first case we have discussed earlier. At any rate, since the Supreme Court told the Delhi Police to take action, the wrestlers have faced the wrath of a media that must side with the perpetrator, whether by order or inclination. Thus, independent reporters have been harassed by the police, family members of the wrestlers have been denied permission to meet protestors and people who have heckled PT Usha for not supporting the wrestlers have been vilified by these same sections of the media and by BJP supporters. Thus are complaints of sexual assault and harassment treated by the Indian media.
The current result is that in spite of the Supreme Court, social media and popular pressure, the Delhi Police and the mainstream media, especially television, continue to treat the victims as the villains.
And then there is Manipur.
Through the BJP campaign for the Karnataka state elections, as he has during other state elections, the Prime Minister as star campaigner has stressed that the “double engine” model is best for every Indian state. The BJP at both the Centre and state governments, that is.
Manipur is a prime example of a “double engine” state. If a political dispensation’s main purpose is to establish a single religion majoritarian state, then is it the media’s responsibility to hold the dispensation accountable as per the Constitution of India? Of course, if the bulk of the mainstream media had ever asked this question even once in the past nine years, we wouldn’t be in this position at all. Or fall to 161 in the press freedom rankings.
And there is more than one crime when it comes to Manipur. That it is out of our radar because of its location: for decades the North East has not entered the consciousness of the Delhi-based media. Too far, too remote, too not all exciting enough to get me invited to fancy parties and meet important people. Newsgathering is expensive, why should we bother. Our readers and viewers don’t care about such places. These excuses have been trotted out and accepted for years.
And thus we reach various points of alienation, dissatisfaction, and neglect. Then comes the double engine. It stirs up communal issues by attacking churches, favours the majoritarian group by granting it status over existing tribal rights, denies access to forests, lands and jobs. Manipur starts burning, literally. But the mainstream media once again ignores the violence and the anger, until evidence mounts via social media.
It is only after shoot at sight orders are issued that we see increased media coverage.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/imphal/manipur-violence-army-stages-flag-march-curfew-in-eight-districts-mobile-internet-suspended-for-five-days/articleshow/99975468.cms
The bigger picture however is almost never to be found in the ‘legacy’ media. For that, as ever, you have to search elsewhere.
https://thewire.in/politics/manipur-violence-death
There was a time when newsrooms would blame Bollywood and cricket for impinging on space which could be given to more serious issues. One almost craves for those days. Now you know that it is not the entertainment industries which are to blame. It is the Indian media itself. It has to toe the establishment line. It is more than willing to create social distress and increase dissonance. And it has no qualms at all about being a mouthpiece for the ruling party.
This is not just a few rogue elements. This is all of it. It is only actual journalism which is treated as “rogue”.
161 on the rankings did you say? Too high, maybe?
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.