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Is Indian Media Free from State Control? An Appraisal
Abstract
This paper argues that Indian media is state-controlled and biased in its reporting. It has become a tool in the hands of Indian government for spreading Hindutva agenda and jingoistic sentiments in people, consequently giving rise to communal riots. The paper also draws attention to the phenomenon of paid news and fake news. It discusses the increasing incidents of corruption in the Indian media industry, also highlighted by the Press Council of India (PCI). Citing some specific examples, the study contends that those media channels and journalists who refuse to toe government's line face reprisals. The paper also analyzes the coverage of Indian media vis-à-vis revocation of article 370 and 35 A of the Indian constitution; most media outlets in India described situation in the Occupied Valley as ‘normal’ and Kashmiris to be ‘happy’ which could not be more far from reality.
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Author and article information
Footnotes
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Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
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Ibid.
S. Y. Quraishi, “Elections and the Media,” in A Handbook of Journalism: Media in the Information Age, eds. V. Eshwar Anand and K. Jayanthi (New Delhi: Sage, 2018), 88.
PCI, Report on Paid News.
Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (New York: Pantheon Books, 2002); and Sahil Wajid, “As India Heads for Polls, Does its Media Pass Chomsky's Five-Filter Test?” Quartz India, January 7, 2019, https://qz.com/india/1516311/indian-media-can-learn-from-noam-chomsky-ahead-of-2019-elections/.
Chomsky and Herman, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.
Ibid.
Wajid, “As India Heads for Polls, Does its Media Pass Chomsky's Five-Filter Test?”
RSF, “Attacked Online or Physically” (Paris: Reporters sans Frontiers [Reporters without Borders], 2018), https://rsf.org/en/india; “Deadly Threat to Journalists from Modi's Nationalism,” Citizen, July 4, 2018, https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/newsdetail/index/2/14292/deadly-threat-to-journalists-from-modis-nationalism.
Ibid.
Vijayta Lalwani, “Anil Ambani's Defamation Blitz: 28 Cases Filed by Reliance Group in Ahmedabad Courts this Year,” Scroll.in, November 25, 2018, https://scroll.in/article/903119/anil-ambanis-defamation-blitz-28-cases-filed-by-reliance-group-in-ahmedabad-courts-this-year; and “Anil Ambani to Withdraw Defamation Suits against Cong, Herald,” Outlook India, May 21, 2019, https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/anil-ambani-to-withdraw-defamation-suits-against-cong-herald/1539079. Anil Ambani recently withdrew the defamation suits filed by Ambani Group against Congress Leaders.
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Wajid, “As India Heads for Polls, Does its Media Pass Chomsky's Five-Filter Test?”
“Naseeruddin Shah Appears in Amnesty video, says ‘Walls of Hatred Erected in The Name of Religion’,” Times of India, January 4, 2019, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/67384209.cms?utm_source=contento finterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst.
Ibid.
Ibid. He was speaking in the wake of a mob violence that erupted in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh on December 3 over alleged cow slaughter in the Mahaw village. The violence led to the death of two men, including police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh.
Raju Gopalakrishnan, “Indian Journalists say They Intimidated, Ostracized if They Criticize Modi and the BJP,” Reuters, April 26, 2018, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-politics-media-analysis/indian-journalists-say-they-intimidated-ostracized-if-they-criticize-modi-and-the-bjp-idUSKBN1HX1F4; and Inamdar, “How Narendra Modi has almost Killed the Indian Media.”
Devjyot Ghoshal, “Modi Government Freezes Ads Placed in Three Indian Newspaper Groups,” Reuters, June 28, 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-media/modi-government-freezes-ads-placed-in-three-indian-newspaper-groups-idUSKCN1TT1RG.
Barkha Dutt, tweet, June 7, 2018, 11:36AM, https://twitter.com/bdutt/status/1004612940417253378?lang=en.
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“Indian Police Arrest a Journalist in IOK,” Kashmir Media Service, August 2, 2019, https://kmsnews.org/news/2019/08/02/indian-police-arrest-a-journalist-in-iok/; and “News Behind The Barbed Wire: Kashmir's Information Blockade,” Free Speech Collective, September 4, 2019, https://freespeechcollective.in/2019/09/04/news-behind-the-barbed-wire-kashmirs-information-blockade/.
Sagrika Kissu, “Kashmiri Daily Editor Interrogated by NIA as Persecution of Journalists Continues,” News, July 12, 2019, https://www.newsclick.in/kashmiri-daily-editor-interrogated-NIA-persecution-journalists-continues. Fayaz Kaloo, editor-inchief, Greater Kashmir was interrogated by NIA for continuous six days about funding sources to his organization. Both Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Reader faced ad-freeze from the government as reprisal.
“NIA Quizzes Editor of Srinagar-Based English Daily,” Kashmir Media Service, July 19, 2019, https://kmsnews.org/news/2019/07/19/nia-quizzes-editor-of-srinagar-based-english-daily/. NIA questioned the owner-cum-editor of a Srinagar-based daily English newspaper, Haji Mohammad Hayat Butt, at its headquarters in New Delhi.
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Laxmi Murthy and Geeta Seshu, “Silence in the Valley: Kashmiri Media after the Abrogation of Article 370,” Economic & Political Weekly 54, no. 43 (2019), https://www.epw.in/engage/article/silence-valley-kashmiri-media-after-abrogation.
“Facebook Removes Nearly 700 Pages Linked to Congress due to “Inauthentic Behaviour,” Economic Times, April 1, 2019, https://m.economictimes.com/news/elections/lok-sabha/india/facebook-removes-687-pages-linked-to-congress-party-due-to-coordinated-inauthentic-behaviour/articleshow/68669174.cms.
“Almost Million Tweets on Kashmir Blocked at India's Behest: CPJ,” Kashmir Media Service, October 26, 2019, https://kmsnews.org/news/2019/10/26/almost-million-tweets-on-kashmir-blocked-at-indias-behest-cpj/.
Aditya Menon, “Kashmir Crisis: Are Indian & International Media Talking about the Same Place?” Quint, September 4, 2019, https://www.thequint.com/news/india/kashmir-crisis-indian-international-media-bbc-aljazeera-arnab-goswami-ani.
Ibid.
“Kashmir Situation Normal, People Happy with Article 370 Abrogation: Prakash Javadekar,” Times of India, October 6, 2019, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/kashmir-situation-normal-people-happy-with-article-370-abrogation-prakash-javadekar/articleshow/71464893.cms.
“PM Modi Reaches Out to J&K, says Revocation of Article 370 ‘Historic’,” Economic Times, August 8, 2019, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/article-370-has-given-separatism-terrorism-in-jk-pm-hails-its-revocation-historic/articleshow/70591996.cms?from=mdr.
“Violence in Kashmir Reduced after Abrogation of Art 370: Army,” Economic Times, October 11, 2019, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/violence-in-kashmir-reduced-after-abrogation-of-art-370-army/articleshow/71539925.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst.
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Ibid.
“In First Speech on Article 370, PM Modi Talks Development in J&K,” India Today, August 8, 2019, https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/pm-narendra-modi-speech-article-370-highlights-development-agenda-jammu-kashmir-ladakh-1578882-2019-08-08.
“Sarpanches, Panches Term BDC Polls ‘New Dawn of Grassroots Democracy’ in JK,” Business Standard, October 24, 2019, https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/sarpanches-panches-term-bdc-polls-new-dawn-of-grassroots-democracy-in-jk-119102401513_1.html.
Amar Diwakar, “As Elections Loom, India's Modi Vows to End Terrorism in Kashmir — with more Military Force,” Public Radio International, April 8, 2019, https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-04-08/elections-loom-indias-modi-vows-end-terrorism-kashmir-more-military-force; and Jitendra Bahadur Singh, “Pakistan Perpetrating Terror Activities in India through J&K, Punjab: Rajnath Singh,” India Today, December 20, 2018, https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/pakistan-perpetrating-terror-activities-in-india-through-j-k-punjab-rajnath-singh-1414095-2018-12-20.
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Aman Madan, “India's Not-So-Free Media” Diplomat, January 23, 2019, https://thediplomat.com/2019/01/indias-not-so-free-media/.
Ibid.
Salil Tripathi, “How the Fog of War has Blinded Journalists to their Roles,” commentary, Caravan, March 2, 2019, https://caravanmagazine.in/media/question-journalists-support-for-armed-forces.