Source: indianexpress.com
Since 1992, there have been the deaths of 68 journalists recorded
in India and the number seems to be ever climbing.
Press freedom has reduced further and further across the
last decade and this year India dropped by two ranks on the press freedom
rankings put forward by ‘Reporters Without Borders’ down to number 138. India
has never been a safe haven to journalists and reporters but what we are
currently witnessing is the beginning of a society that are becoming more and
more afraid to speak out against global and national injustices in fear of the
consequences that they may face.
The birth of a society so invested in the deaths of media
persona, had most considerably sparked after the death of Gauri Lakshmi in
September of 2017. The journalist had been a known critic of the right wing and
consistently voiced her opinions towards the declining democracy that India is
currently experiencing. Consequently, she was shot dead outside of her home in
Rajarajeshwari.
The initial reaction to this incident was the mourning of hundreds
of Indians for a woman who had represented and exposed the injustices they had
faced. But this soon evolved into a trend of seeking out more victims who would
suffer the same fate. The killing had initiated a wave of social media trends
all focussing on how this particular murder would be sure to begin the trend of
silencing media individuals. Eventually social media users, political members
and so called “nationalists”, had curated a sort of “hit list”, targeting all
those who had essentially stepped out of line regarding their work.
The death of Gauri Laneksh had served as an example to journalists
seen as “antinationalist’s” and over the last year has created a series of
assassinations. This has seen the deaths of numerous journalists and reporters
including: Santanu Bhowmik, reporter with the Din Raat news channel, KJ Singh,
editor of the Indian Express, alongside his mother, and most recently Shujaat
Bukhari, editor of the Rising Kashmir.
The irony of the situation is that those carrying out the killings
and threats claim to have the blessings of the Indian Prime Minister himself,
and as if to almost show his support and praise he is known to be following several
their twitter handles. All of this is occurring whilst Narendra Modi claims to
be fighting to maintain and uphold the state of press freedom in India.
In instances where media individuals are not killed, they
are made to endure severe public humiliation and threats. This is evident in
the case of Rana Ayyub, an independent reporter working in Mumbai. She has
faced multiple death threats and was the victim of public humiliation when her
face was edited into a pornographic video and then shared with her friends and
family in a bid to stop her from investigating and then reporting. Whilst Modi and
his government made light of the situation, it was the UN who had reportedly
called upon India to protect the journalist from coming to harm. As of yet, the
Indian police have failed to respond to her complaint and prosecute anyone.
Every week multiple pleas are made to the Prime Minister to finally
act on his plans to better the welfare of the media. Unfortunately, in addition
to these appeals being blatantly ignored, Modi and his BJP spokespeople have
denied such anti-social behaviour even occurring, especially of those whom he
follows.
Essentially, whilst the UN have begun to show initiative in
protecting individual reporters, there is a large amount of responsibility to
still be taken. When Western reporters encounter even the smallest amount of
danger, it is made public news to the world immediately, but in instances where
journalists in small towns are endangered, the media community and officials need
to put far more pressure upon the BJP to change a seemingly toxic democracy in
India.
Thank you for reading!
Aman
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