New Delhi: The coverage in sensitive areas in India like Kashmir continues to be very difficult without protective mechanisms for journalism and journalists alike in the region, said an International report.
The report on India released by international media advocacy group ‘Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that there is a “threat from [Narendra] Modi’s nationalism.”
The 2017 World Press Freedom Index ranked India 136 out of 180 countries surveyed for the report.
Last year, India was ranked at 133th place, which has gone down by three places in the media rankings out of 180 countries.
“With Hindu nationalists trying to purge all manifestations of ‘anti-national’ thought from the national debate, self-censorship is growing in the mainstream media,” the RSF report said about India’s journalism scenario.
It said the Indian journalists are increasingly becoming 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 124-a of the penal code, under which ‘sedition’ is punishable by life imprisonment,” it said.
Commenting over Kashmir media coverage, the short report about India said: “Coverage of regions that the authorities regard as sensitive, such as Kashmir, continues to be very difficult, and there are no protective mechanisms.”
Making a mention of 2016 unrest in Kashmir valley and the covering of events by the journalists, the RSF report said that on the first day of a wave of protests in Kashmir in July 2016, the “Internet was cut by the military and was often interrupted thereafter to prevent communication between protesters and prevent coverage by the media and citizen journalists.”
“Journalists working for local media outlets are often the targets of violence by soldiers acting with the central government’s tacit consent,” the report added.
The report said that in India “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.”
The report briefly mentioned the killings of two Indian journalists, Shantanu Bhowmick of Dinraat (Day and Night) and Gauri Lankesh of Gauri Lankesh Patrike.
On September 5 Lankesh was shot to death by unknown assailants outside her home in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Benguluru, the capital of southern Indian state of Karnataka.
Lankesh was known for being a critic of right-wing Hindu extremism.
Bhowmick, a political reporter for Dinraat (Day and Night) was beaten to death on September 20 by a mob while covering protests outside Agartala, the capital of north eastern state of Tripura.
In contrast, journalism has shown more encouraging trend in the neighboring Pakistan.
The report placed the country on 139th place from last year’s 147th out of 180 countries.
The report reiterated that Pakistani media is among the ‘freest in Asia’ “but are targeted by extremist groups, Islamist organizations, and the feared intelligence agencies, all of which are on RSF’s list of Predators of Press Freedom.”
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