Freedom of Speech and Expression in Regards to Media

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” - John Milton, Areopagitica

‘Speech’, the only thing that makes us human, puts us highest in the order of species, an important quality that provides validation to our living. Expressing ourselves has been the strongest form of liberation. Thus, expressing ourselves, not only becomes our fundamental right but is a basic human right, which is entitled to all living beings. Even though this right does not need to be mentioned specifically in the constitution as one of the fundamental right, its mention however makes thing clearer that it is not supposed to be exploited. Article 19 (1) (a) of the Indian Constitution states that “all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression.” But there are restrictions that can be imposed as mentioned in the sub section of Article 19 (2), which states “reasonable restrictions can be imposed on the exercise of this right for certain purposes.

Whenever freedom of speech and expression is mentioned, the freedom of speech of the press is also automatically taken into account, because they are governed by the similar laws. Press or the media is an integral and important part of our democracy, so much so that it has grown up to acquire the status of being the fourth pillar of our democracy. The role of the press cannot be compared with any other thing, as the press bridges the gap between the government and the citizens. It not only disseminates information but also decodes the information for laymen and helps them in making an informed decision. Before making an informed decision, it is important that the citizens know about it, similarly, before trusting the press or relying completely on them for decoding the news, it’s important for them to understand what is press, what are its role and responsibility and what actually does the term freedom of press means and from where has it come from.

According to the Merriam Webster’s dictionary, the press includes of people (such as reporters and photographers) who work for newspapers, magazines, etc. The media has one of the biggest and most important roles to play, as it is expected to bring out the truth. The media is expected to be free of any biases while it fulfills its role. The freedom of press, as defined by the Merriam Webster’s Dictionary is the right of the newspapers, magazines, etc. to report news without being controlled by the government. Change is inevitable! Especially in this fast changing world, where everything is available at a click and the news dissemination is at its fastest pace, it is important to go back in time and understand from where it all began and how has it managed to become such an integral part of our society and lives.

History of the Press in India

Press in India came with the arrival of the British. After Hickey’s Bengal Gazette, various newspapers came in India with the intent of spreading information about the wrongdoings of the British officials. It can be thus said that the history of the freedom of speech of the press cannot be separated from the history of the nationalist movements, because the British officials time and again introduced various acts in order to curb the freedom of the press and especially the ones that were operating in the vernacular languages. Prior to the 1857 mutiny, the press was actively involved in rallying the masses. It was through the newspapers that the people were uniting against the atrocities of the British. In light of such events, “Gagging Act” was passed, in order to curtail and control the Indian publications’ content. The act forced everyone (Indian publications) to apply for a license, while also ensuring that nothing was written against the government. Apart from the Gagging Act, there were several of the other acts, which were much more stringent in nature. For instance, the Vernacular Press Act was passed in 1878, where the British government had a stronger control over the vernacular newspapers in the interests to curb “seditious writing” in “publications in oriental languages.”

Other acts that were slapped on the Indian publications included:

• The Newspapers (Incitement to Offences) Act of 1908
• The Press Act of 1910
• The Prevention of the Seditious Meetings Act of 1911
• The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1908
• The Official Secrets Act as amended in 1903

The Press Act of 1910 was the one that affected the Indian publications to a greater extent. A report stated that nearly 1,000 newspapers had been prosecuted under the Act, while on the other hand several editors were charged with sedition for publishing material that was anti-government. The tension was further heightened with the Press Emergency Act of 1931.

While the press was subjected to a lot of restrictions during the colonial era, the restrictions were somewhat eased out, for instance media has been given a lot of freedom which has helped in proving that how media functions as the fourth pillar of the democracy. Cases such as Jessica Lal murder case and Arushi Talwar’s murder case, the justice was delivered only because media highlighted it. But it has also been noticed that the press sometimes misuse their freedom, for mere increase in their TRP ratings, for instance covering the live footage of NSG Commandos during the 26/11 attacks, the media was not only serving its citizen, but was also somehow putting more lives in danger.

It has been alleged that the freedom of press in India is decreasing. The restrictions are increasing day by day, making it difficult for the press to fulfill their social responsibility. Major and important news are neglected while the unimportant ones manage to garner attention of all the media houses, one example of this being the Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan’s wedding coverage. The lesser degree of the freedom of press is a sad state of affair. The media is the bridge between the government and the citizens and by losing its credibility because of propagating more and more irrational and fake news, the media is becoming a victim to increased restriction and sometimes more than that. The increased restrictions have also resulted in the increasing threats and the accidents of journalists, keeping aside the online harassment that follows.

Rationale for the Study

Innumerable articles and reports have been written and circulated on the internet and have been published by people and agencies regarding the curbing of the freedom of the speech of the press. These articles, no matter how large in number do not really bring out the insider’s perspective, as to what journalists actually feel. Do they agree with these reports or is it all coming from another person’s perspective. The study aims to explore that facet, which has not been touched by many.

Review of Literature

The Hindu’s editorial points out that how the journalists are facing heightened threats around the globe and India is no different. India’s place is World Press Freedom Index has fallen down by 2 places and the countries regarded as safe for journalists are on a decline. Women journalists are at the receiving end. Use of anachronistic sedition laws by the government makes it all the more difficult for journalists to report fairly. In India’s context, both centre and state have shown extreme intolerance towards critical and objective reporting and have also taken measures to restrict journalism. There is a systematic attempt to limit the scope of journalism in India through physical restrictions, denial of information and hostile rhetoric against journalists by senior government functionaries. TRT World’s story covers that how the attack and arrests against journalists have increased. There are constant looming threats of being murdered and they are also picked up by police in light of expressing their opinions. Not only is the fundamental right being violated but the arrests also their constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and expression are clamped.

The Washington Post’s story highlights how the expose of major privacy breach of more than 1 billion Indians has made life miserable for a local journalist based in Chandigarh. Protesters marched in the street making it clear that the journalist deserve an award and not investigation. Times are tough for journalists in India, where many reporters and editors are a testament to how difficult it has become to do one’s job. The pressure of taking down a story is replaced with charges more serious than defamation suits. While many politicians have got journalists arrested and threatened them, while also blocking their information. The other way in which journalists have to drop stories is because the top media houses and conglomerates have business interests and they are reluctant to be critical of the government.

Reporters Without Borders gives out the details of all countries whose ranking in the world press freedom index has gone down, while also mentioning that Afghanistan and Burma are at a higher rank than India. The story also covers the changing trends along with the reasons that have led to media bashing and fall in the press freedom index. Media’s freedom erosion is particularly visible in the European democracies. The reasons include spying on sources, direct and indirect political pressure, media independence under threat, obstacles in the field.

B. Mugundhan and C. Renuga explore the freedom of press in India. They touch upon the historical and constitutional perspective, in order to understand the current scenarios. Further, they also mention the cases in which media proved to be of great help and where it lacked maturity by telecasting sensitive content. The research also focuses on the decline in the press freedom of the country and the rise in the number of cases in which journalists are threatened. Amit Kumar tries to explore freedom of press in India with the constitutional perspective. He further lists the cases in which the press freedom has been restrained by the Supreme Court in matters concerning the judges and the national interests of the country, whereas few other matters as well.

The complete shutdown of Tehelka.com and its journalists being harassed as they expose the scam in the defense ministry is another such example where the press’ freedom was taken away. Sahil Koul tries to find out about the human rights of journalists working in Kashmir. Time and again the state of J&K and particularly the Kashmir valley have not only seen the restrictions of the newspapers, but also how the journalists have been stopped from doing their work because of curfew like situations. Rampant killing of journalists, advertisement not being given to the newspapers and physical harassment and the restrictions on the free movement of journalists has been observed.