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'Unsafe Working Condition For Journalists': India Slips To 150th Rank On World Press Freedom Index 2022
Writer: Ratika Rana
Her primary objective is to inform, promote, educate and cultivate readers through writing.
India, 4 May 2022 7:26 AM GMT
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A literature lover who likes delving deeper into a wide range of societal issues and expresses her opinions about the same. Keeps looking for best-read recommendations while enjoying her coffee and tea.
Creatives : Ratika Rana
Her primary objective is to inform, promote, educate and cultivate readers through writing.
The recent rankings of the World Press Freedom Index reported that India ranked 150, slipping 8 ranks from 142 in 2021. The index highlights the degree of freedom journalists and news organizations have in each country.
International organizations often question press freedom in the world's largest democracy due to the recent spike in incidents of violence against journalists. Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers released the World Press Freedom Index rankings, which mentioned that India further slipped to the 150th rank from 142 last year. Moreover, India's position has been consistently falling from 133 in 2016 to 150 in 2022, highlighting the unsafe working conditions for journalists in the country.
In 2021, when India had secured the 142nd position, experts categorized the country as a 'bad' place for journalists. The latest edition of the report mentioned, "The violence against journalists, the politically partisan media and the concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that press freedom is in crisis in "the world's largest democracy", ruled since 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the embodiment of the Hindu nationalist right".
'Fairly Progressive' Media Until the Mid-2010s
Further, the report also highlighted that even though India was a British colony until 1947, the country's media was relatively progressive until the mid-2010s, when PM Modi's massive rapprochement between BJP and big media houses. The report provided the example of Mukesh Ambani, who has become Modi's close ally and owns more than 70 media houses which more than 800 million people follow.
The report from the Paris-based organization alleged that under the 'guise of COVID-19 pandemic', the ruling party and its supporters unleashed several lawsuits against media organizations which contradicted the official numbers of COVID cases and deaths. Currently, over 13 journalists are behind bars, and one has been killed since January 1. Experts also believed that internet shutdowns and the massive spread of misinformation could have contributed to India's declining performance in the index.
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