Freedom of press and current scenario

Freedom of press

Media is not only one of the pillars but also functioning part of any democracy. Freedom of
media is also ensured under the Grundnorm or constitution of India. Article 19 of the Indian
constitution secure the right to freedom of speech and expression but freedom of press is no
where mentioned in the constitution despite the fact that freedom of press is not specifically
mentioned in the constitution but it comes under article 19(1) (a) freedom of speech and
expression. At the time of framing the constitution freedom of press was considered freedom
as an integrated part of the freedom of speech and expression which is mentioned in Article
19 (1) (a) of the Constitution.

Freedom of press is not an absolute freedom but it is subject to certain restrictions which are
mentioned in article 19(2)

1) Sovereignty & Integrity of India

2) Security of the State

3) Friendly relations with Foreign States

4) Public Order

5) Decency or Morality

6) Contempt of Court

Misusing the freedom of press

There are some incidents where media started propaganda and fake news against a targeted
community is truly abusing force of power given by the constitution of India, the media
currently become the hub of commercialization and more often the media coverage is merely
for T.R.P. in a recent petition to the apex court of India that is prayed that “restrict the
assassination of dignity” of individual, communities, religious saint, and religious and
political organization in the name of freedom of press. World press freedom index 2019 India
was on 140 positions while within a year, in 2020 dropped two places and now India on 142
rank in world press freedom index 2020.

Media trial

Media trial is also one of the examples of misusing the freedom of press where without any
verdict from the court media with its exertion attempt to make the individual for blameworthy
of an offense and an ongoing and a recent example could be seen in case of Sushant Singh
Rajput.

Control of the government and safety of journalist

Government should control the uncontrolled and unregulated freedom of the media and
should regulate the media to a certain extent but whereas the matter of criticizing the
government journalists should not prompt the charges of the sedition and the tag of an anti-
national. According to a report by International Press Institute (IPI) showed the grave concern
over the laws used for the harassment of journalist. The government should protect the
journalist as data provided by an NGO, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), since
1992, while over 51 journalists and media workers were killed in general between 1992 and
2018. According to report that was published in scroll.in that since 2014 around 40 journalist
have been attacked and killed,

Kashmir and media crisis

Kashmir is the worst hit area in the matter of journalism and safety of journalists, after the
abrogation of article 370 and 35A it became more dangerous for kashmiri journalist to cover
the news coverage in the region of Kashmir. In April 2020, cyber police in Kashmir booked
three Kashmiri journalists, Masrat Zahra, Gowhar Geelani and Peerzada Ashiq, under various
anti-terror laws over a post on facebook. Masarat Zahra was suspected of offenses under
Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which talks about that
whoever takes part in or commits, or advocates abets, advises or incites the commission of,
any unlawful activity, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to
seven years, and shall also be liable to fine, as well as Section 505 of the Indian Penal Code.
Another concern is Media policy of 2020 of J&K which also a step towards the restriction of
journalist for criticizing the government.

Conclusive remark

What journalism should be it had been defined by our father of the nation. In the word of
Mahatma Gandhi “The sole aim of journalism should be service. The newspaper is a great
power, but just as an unchained torrent of water submerges whole countryside and devastates
crops, even so an uncontrolled pen serves but to destroy. If the control is from without, it
proves more poisonous than want of control. It can be profitable only when exercised from
within. If this line of reasoning is correct, how many journals of the world would stand the
test? But who would stop those that are useless? And who should be the judge? The useful
and the useless must, like good and evil, go on together, and man must make his choice.”