INTRODUCTION:

India is known as one of the largest democracies in the world. The key function of a democracy is to protect its founding principles of liberty, justice, and equality that constitute the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government. It is highly important for all three branches to work together yet being independent of each other and balance the powers of one another. The fourth estate, Media, is equally at the apex. As much as the first three branches have the power to control and provide the nation, media too carries a supreme role. The media should be fair and free. It should not be biased and shall provide with proper, clear and crisp information to the public. However, in recent times, censorship on media is taking a troll over the democratic state. The right to freedom in Article 19 of the constitution of India guarantees the Freedom of speech and expression, as one of its six freedoms. Unfortunately, it seems that these rights are being violated by the government it self.

Therefore, freedom of speech and expression, press freedom, online freedom and personal freedom are all the centre of debate today.

The news these days are either being censored or highly politicised. There is no ‘clean and clear’ picture anymore. “If You Don’t Read the Newspaper You Are Uninformed, If You Do Read the Newspaper You Are Misinformed” are the words said by Mark Twain which is very much the case in India, today. Some of the news that comes out are either in favour of political parties that have bribed the media house or have threatened them to write in their favour. Some news when brought out leads to ban of the channel for 24 hours by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. However, if the case is of national security, only then should there be some confidentiality so as to refrain the enemies to get information that can be used against our country and put its national security at stake. Some incidences that take place where there is public or crowd involved at the cite, the internet is shut down by the government. Some reporters or activists that publish articles criticising the government or any political party are threatened or murdered in a mysterious manner. This definitely does not seem to be a peaceful democracy having such violations of fundamental rights being made. The 2017 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders ranked India at 136 our of 180 countries. This ranking thus tells us how critical the condition of reporting news in our country is. In the interest of democracy, it is vital that the public should be able to participate as well as access information that is free of bias and prejudice. For the democracy to work efficiently, the elections to be fair and to know the real world one lives in, the media should be able to provide the citizens with the news that is out fresh and unbiased without being influenced by political leaders, media houses or any other entity. It is best for the news to be brought out to the public as it is with utmost truth and reality in it so as to let them form their own opinions and freely accept or criticise it. This research paper will try to answer why is there censorship of media? Is it required? And lastly, how free is the Press? It is also critical for giving the disadvantaged a voice in the formulation of local decisions that affect their lives (Anil Kumar Pathlavath, 2016).

For the democracy to work efficiently, the elections to be fair and to know the real world one lives in, the media should be able to provide the citizens with the news that is out fresh and unbiased without being influenced by political leaders, media houses or any other entity. It is best for the news to be brought out to the public as it is with utmost truth and reality in it so as to let them form their own opinions and freely accept or criticise it.

In this paper, we will see what is the general perception of the people regarding how media works and what are their opinions on issues such as the journalists being threatened, news being politicised or censored and what could be the possible solution for such matters. Dialogue process of various stakeholders in the process makes more evident (Anil Kumar Pathlavath, 2018).

Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by one’s behaviour or political views. Justice is the treatment of a behaviour being imposed. Equality is when all individuals are treated equally irrespective of their gender, religion or any other factor, in term of status, opportunities, and rights. National Security is the safety or protection of a nation against crimes or threats such as terrorism, wars, or any other crisis over the nation. It is the priority of every country’s government. Prejudice is the preconceived notion that may or may not be based upon the reality. it is just a biased opinion which may be influenced by past experiences or other incidents.

OBJECTIVES:

· To establish why is the news by media censored or why most of the news goes through political dominance. To identify the role government, political parties and other involved entities play in the news being broadcasted or published.

· To see the impact of the news that is being circulated through print and broadcast media.

GOALS:

To spread awareness of the current situation and have a fair and balanced flow of information without it being censored or it threatening a journalist. It may not happen overnight. However slow and steady steps can bring about a great change.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Soutik Biswas (2015) in his article titled “The fear of censorship in Indian media” explained:

People have started to fear Modi’s government after it went on to accuse three new channels for violating broadcasting regulations by airing interviews that criticised the government for the execution of Yakub Menon. In one of the interviews Menon’s former lawyer said that if the authorities of UK and US and other best brains as far as criminal law is concerned, get to hear about the execution, they will just laugh on the Indian Judiciary system. This was however taken as offence to the Indian government and the news channels were threatened for airing these interviews. Biswas also mentions a statement made by a journalist over how the Prime Minister’s office has been centralised. He concludes his article by pointing out this year’s Press Index ranking that is 137 out of 180 countries and says that the Press needs more freedom to thrive as a democracy. Kumar, A. (2019).

In another article written by Aarefa Johari (2017) titled “Attacks, bans, censorship: On World Press Freedom Day, a report on India’s ‘shrinking liberty” goes ahead by describing- An overall sense of shrinking liberty in the country due to the restrictions on the rights of citizens to information, internet access and online freedom. She states that between January 2016 and April 2017, there have been minimum of 54 attacks on journalists across the country. some have been beaten up, threatened and some have been killed. Unfortunately the number of such journalists for raising their voices and throwing their criticism and opinions are being increased. There have been two high profiled journalists that have been killed this year due to their courageous and bold way of working. Another essential topic that Johari has discussed about is the Censorship and internet shutdown. She included the 24 hour ban by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on NDTV India for allegedly revealing strategic information about the Indian Army’s operation during a terrorist attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in January this year. She also brought out the case of Kashmir Reader that faced harassment and censorship after killing of militant commander Burhan Wani. The office of Kashmir Readers were raided and their printings were closed down. She concludes her article by establishing that the Right to Information is being diluted. New delivery channel to commence and be useful to masses, it is worthwhile to examine various components of its interface with payment systems, technology, security, regulatory aspects and functionality (Anil Kumar Pathlavath, 2013).

One article by Abhishek Dey titled “Journalists in Delhi-NCR receive identical messages threatening them with Gauri Lankesh’s fate” (2017) was published only a few days after Gauri Lankesh’s death- About four complaints were filed in Noide regarding death threats they had received over platforms like WhatsApp and phone calls. They were warned that if they are critical about Modi government the BJP and RSS shall not spare them and “remove” them. Another journalist from the Quint received rape and death threats for uploading a video in which she was describing the lyrics of “Bol Na Aunty Aau Kya” sexist, cheap and abusive. In the messages she received, some unrelated to the song, explained why Gauri was killed. The message said that Gauri was killed because she rigorously wrote against Modi, BJP or RSS. They called Gauri a traitor for doing so and tagged her as anti-national and anti-hindu. They thought she was as useless as the Muslims and they all shall be “removed”.

In one research article by Aritra Sarkhel (2017) titled “India shut down internet 29 times in 2017” he explained- It has become a norm to shutdown internet in India. He has enlisted all the regions where the shutdown has taken place along with the number of times, they have taken place. The list includes Jammu and Kashmir where there have been 10 cases of internet suspension due to various incidents, in Rajasthan it has been 3 times, in Haryana, 5, in Uttar Pradesh, 2, Madhya Pradesh, only one, in Nagaland the mobile internet services were taken down multiple times due to the clashes between the urban and local bodies and the state government, in Maharashtra the mobile internet service has been taken down once in Nasik due to the state wide protest by the farmers an in Odisha twice.

In an article by Abhishek Day on Press Freedom titled “Journalists in Delhi-NCR receive identical messages threatening them with Gauri Lankesh’s fate” he mentions that several journalists have been getting rape threats and death threats. Gauri Lankesh, 66, was the editor in Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada weekly. She was shot by unknown assailant outside her home on September 5, 2017. The threat makers used this case as an objective to threaten the other journalists of being killed.

In one more article by Ani (2018) titled “Censor board should be loyal to government not political parties: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore- By denying allegations against the government for interference and corruption by former Censor board members, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said that the Censor Board should be loyal to the Government of India and not to any political party per say. There was a huge controversy regarding the the clearance of controversial film “Messenger of God” citing interference, coercion and corruption of panel members. (Kumar, A. (2019).

In one journal by Philip N Howard called “When Do States Disconnect Their Digital Networks? Regime Responses to the Political Uses of Social Media” (2011) says- It is rare when the Internet or social media networks are shut down in an area. However it happens when the situation is so severe and sensitive that if not globally, it concerns the political, economical and cultural life. To find out the reason why such shut downs take place, the authors build an event history database and analyse them. The analysis indicates that the democratic and authoritarian regimes disable social media networks for reasons like national security, protecting authority figures and preserving cultural and religious morals. They stated that the social medias are disabled to protect children and also to eliminate propaganda on social media. what really matters, argue many development experts, is what happens after people are connected to technology. (Pathlavath, A, K, 2013).

In a journal by Ronald J. Deibert titled “Black Code: Censorship, Surveillance, and the Militarisation of Cyberspace” (2003) describes- The pressure from the security and commercial sectors to regulate and control the internet are beginning to alter its basic material to determine activities of global civic networks and long-term prospect for an open global communications environment. The author stated that “Internet censorship and surveillance becomes more widespread, and as states begin to militarise cyberspace, a radically different environment for global communications is emerging. However, these changes are not uncontested. While not having the influence over Internet security and design issues that security and corporate actors do, a growing number of civil society actors are merging with politically minded computer scientists and engineers to form policy networks and develop `hacktivist' technologies designed to support self-expression, privacy, and security for global civic networks”

Pre-2014 Era:

In 67 years of free India, Congress party had been in the government for 54 years. Three Prime Ministers came from just one family (Nehru dynasty) who remained in power for 37 years.

In these many years, strong nexus between Congress politicians and mainstream media were initiated, favours were exchanged, relationships were established and a whole ecosystem was created.

If one were to look deeper,

· Shobhana Bhartia, daughter of Congress loyalist KK Birla and herself a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha, is the owner of Hindustan Times

· Bhaskar Ghose who was known to be close to Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, was made the chief of Doordarshan. His daughter Sagarika Ghose has been associated with CNN-IBN, Times of India, Indian Express and Outlook

· Karan Thapar associated with India Today and CNN-IBN is related to Nehru family through marriage. Sonia Singh, associated with NDTV, is the wife of Congress leader RPN Singh

· No wonder that in 2009, Congress leader Kapil Sibal had proudly declared that over 150 media publications were owned by people affiliated with the Congress party

Today, the Congress party effectively controls everything that Indians hear, see and read. Consequently, most of these channels and journalists tend to be so blatantly biased in favour of Congress and against their political opponents BJP that they don’t even pretend to appear neutral.

1. Elections coverage:

· When Congress wins an election

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/defaultinterstitial.cms

· When BJP wins an election

Source: www.hindustantimes.in; Business Standard newspaper

2. How Government actions and policies are reported:

· The social practice of Instant Triple Talaq in Muslim community, which is banned in most Islamic countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt has been the bane of many Muslim women in India till today

· Hence, BJP’s bill to make it punishable should ideally be welcomed as a step in the right direction

· Shockingly, the Editorial in “The Hindu” plays it down and calls it counter-productive

· It only starts making sense when one realises –

· BJP government doing something favourable for Muslim community goes against Congress’s narrative of “Modi is anti-Muslim”

· By downplaying BJP’s move, Malini Parthasarathy, Chairperson of “The Hindu” group is supporting her close “friend” Sonia Gandhi of Congress

Source: Twitter

3. Reporting political appointments with “Caste” accusations:

· A mature society should recognise people by their merit. A responsible media should contribute in eliminating caste system from Indian society. But these journalists deliberately bring up “caste” of the office bearers in every appointment by BJP

· When someone from the so called “upper” caste is appointed, they slam BJP for ignoring the lower castes

· When someone from the so called “lower” caste is appointed, they slam BJP for caste appeasement

· Nothing that the government does can be deemed right, if the journalists follow “heads I win, tails you lose”

Source: Twitter

4. Issues related to religion:

· Spreading cheer when Muslim citizens are fasting is normal, but why spread negativity about fasting on Hindu festivals and call it “regressive”

· Rajput community getting offended by a movie is mocked, but Muslim community getting offended by a cartoon is vociferously justified

· Whether “feelings getting hurt” by a movie or cartoon is justifiable or not is decided by the religion involved.

Source: Twitter

5. Reporting communal incidents:

· When victim happens to be a Hindu, they tone it down and represent the voice of logic, sanity and reason

· When victim happens to be a Muslim, they indulge in loud exaggerations and almost inciting riots

· All loss of lives are deplorable, but selective outrage depending on the religion of victim creates an environment of fear in minorities against the regime

Source: Twitter

Post-2014 Era:

· In 2014, BJP formed the government in centre, for only the second time in history. They were faced with the mountainous task of countering this huge media machinery that was spewing only Congress’s narrative against BJP. They decided to beat Congress at their own game

· Zee group’s owner Subhash Chandra was nominated to Rajya Sabha with BJP’s support. Republic TV was funded by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a BJP MP in Rajya Sabha

· Ideally, the media should be free from any bias, but the real world is not ideal

· The fourth pillar of “world’s largest democracy” is highly biased. Republic and Zee are believed to serve the interest of Right Wing. Every other media house is biased in favour of the Leftists and Congress

· Biased media is an unfortunate reality across the globe – as per Pew’s research, media in Australia and US is perceived to be even less fair than India’s

· In such a situation, it is rational to not blindly trust everything that you see, hear or read. The responsibility to explore facts and ascertain truth comes down to the individuals like us.

METHEDOLOGY:

Being a citizen of such a large democracy, everyone of us having certain rights and freedoms, we should have the liberty to know, listen to, speak about everything freely. The Indian media is suppose to help us know about the happenings of our country and that information shall not be be forged. For the betterment o this country, the politicising of the new and also its censorship from the people should be checked and taken care of. This study will help the public know how the media companies work in our country and what changes are to be done for the betterment of India.

This study would involve the use of both primary and secondary techniques of data collection. Primary data will be incorporated by the use of an online survey through a questionnaire. This questionnaire will be distributed to 208 respondents whose responses will be recorded and analysed with the help of statical tools like correlation and IBM SPSS. The target audience will be people of age 18 above, probably people between the ages of 18-55. This target audience involves majorly the youth of the nation and responses from well-informed and knowledgeable adults will also be incorporated. The questionnaire was also be distributed to some experts in the field as their opinions will be of high importance. The target area will involve the Bangalore and areas nearby.

Another method that is used to attain the primary data is by group discussions. Group Discussion includes people with common interest or issues. They come out with their ideas and opinions over a particular topic. Each group consisted of 5-6 members. There were 7 such groups each having one session of discussion. The analysis of the answers are highly qualitative. Each question focuses on a few repetitive ideas, those will be recorded. Identification of the idea that is being repeated again and again is noted. A series of critical thinking and analysis is done over the recurring ideas to identify the theme. Then the ‘findings’ are written as a narrative describing the ideas and their themes. The participants were very enthusiastic to share their opinions. They had a lot to speak over the Indian media and its working.

The next method includes personal interviews. In an interview, participants are asked certain questions related to the topic and are asked to answer only if they are comfortable. They had the option not to answer a question. However, none of the questions remains unanswered by any of the participants. The interviews are performed over people within different range of ages. Interviews of some special experts regarding the research topic shall be recorded. A renowned expert who has been interviewed is the the former CBI Director Mr. Anil Kumar Sinha who updated us with how and why is there censorship of media and its requirement in today’s scenario. The target number shall be around 10-15 interviews, including the experts.

Secondary data is incorporated through books, journals, online articles, newspapers and majorly by the use of case studies that already exist. One such case that will be studied is the 24-hour ban on NDTV by Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The reaction of the citizens will also be taken in account over such cases.

The reason for having an online survey is that now a days people use their phone all through out their day. An online survey is a method of circulating a questionnaire online. The target audience can easily answer it over the internet within minutes, according to their own free time. It is easy for them to take out a couple of minutes to answer the questions in the survey and their answer can easily get recorded and analysed with the help of google forms. This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to record responses. Having young people included in the target audience, they are the ones who would prefer to have an online survey answered than any other form.

Despite, the easy method, some questions need more depth and some greater insights within the answers for which Personal Interviews seem to be the best form to record responses. Also, to have various opinions and vast ideas about the same topic, a group discussion shall help in getting answers. A group discussion can let participants think in a broader way.

DATA COLLECTION:

The data collected is primary data collected from online surveys and personal interviews from a total of 208 respondents. The data collected is as follows: During the personal interviews and group discussions, most participants brought out similar beliefs regarding the working of media houses and the journalists. A few themes that were highlighted were national security, empowerment, secularism, freedom of speech, right to choose and right to correct information. Participants thought that censorship of media is necessary but only to a certain extent. They felt that the Press of India does not seem to be free as they usually bring us their own version of news and they seem to constantly be under political dominance, control and influence. They either get paid to do so or they are forced to do so out of the fear of losing their jobs or lives. When asked upto what extent should the media censor itself, the participants had different answers. But the ones that contain most validity were information related to defence operations and informations of India, extreme sexual content, controversial language usage such that taunting a particular community of people.

The participants thought that the information regarding the government, crimes, scandals, protests and so on should come out as it is without being opinionated by the reporters. They should just tell us what has happened and what is the real scenario. A few participants also believed that some reporters write news with religious bias against political parties. Not just that, journalists have judged and shamed several people on talk shows on the name of freedom of speech or due to the support of their media company and influence of political parties. For example, in an interview a political journalist Bhupendra Chaubey from CNN IBN invited Sunny Leone for an interview. Thinking that she would be questioned about her professional life and her upcoming movies, she went ahead for the interview.

However, the journalist started slut shaming her already for her past profession and her personal life. She was highly embarrassed with the kind of questions being asked. Later, several famous personalities tweeted in support of Sunny. In such cases, media too should have some sort of filtration in their questions. The media should totally have the right to provide us with appropriate information. But they should not take advantage of the power they have by shaming or insulting people they call for interviews or panel discussions. When asked about how the journalist’s lives are in danger if and when they work outside the norms set by powerful people, one participant said, “It is really sad that our journalists have no voice really. They have to alter every news they receive before providing it to the public.

The political parties, for their own benefits or to hide their infamous deeds scare the journalists to not publish the stories. They put forward a barricade in their work and leave them helpless. When some journalist who are highly committed to their work type and are willing to bring out the reality in front of the world, in several cases, they are killed in most mysterious ways possible. This needs to change. The journalists should have their own voice without being afraid.” Participants strongly believe that the government should take steps not only to empower out women but also all journalists by letting them have their basic right to work with utmost loyalty and commitment and bring out the real stories. Some participants focused on censoring only extreme sexual content such as pornographic images and videos from television and some other participants believed that If it portrays some kind of art or is used for educational purpose to spread awareness about sex education then, given in these instances, that too should be allowed. But most people believe that the news that is to be censored shall only be when it is regarding national security or any operation taken up by the defence ministry of India for safety purposes. Such confidentiality can be maintained as it is necessary. But the media should not try and hide “Powerful” people’s crimes, scams and other offensive actions breaking the laws. This is only unjust to the citizens of the country and is a disgrace to our own constitution.

DATA ANALYSIS:

The data collected from the survey was put into charts to get a better understanding of the data. The explanation is as under:

Chart 4.1: showing the sources of news

In the above chart the sources of news of our 208 respondents has been shown to get a better understand and a good comparison to make it easier to interpret. The table shows that for a majority of our respondents, the news source is Newspapers, TV and Radio and the second preferred option is News Apps and Podcasts. Which makes news from Facebook post and pages like ScoopWhoop the least preferred option followed by informational messages on WhatsApp.

According to the survey, 55.3% of our respondents prefer newspaper that is 115 respondents and only 40 respondents prefer News Apps and Comments.

Chart 4.2: showing views of the people on whether the news is censored

The above chart shows people’s perception on whether the news we receive is censored, politicised or biased. A huge number of our respondents believe it is true, our news is actually censored, politicised and biased. Some of the people are not sure about it whereas a very low number says that it is not censored and that what we receive is the actual and the only truth.

Where 54% of the people believe that the above statement is true, a very less number of 8.7% people believe that what we receive is the unbiased and un-politicised truth.

Chart 4.3: showing the respondent’s views on if they get influenced by the way the news is being reported

The above chart shows whether our respondents form their opinions or get influenced by the way the news is being reported by the reporter or by the way they portray the news. A good number of our respondents do not get influenced by the way the news is being reported and have the capabilities to analyse the information and form their own opinions and views. The number of people who do not get influenced are the 44% of our total respondents where as the people who do get influenced are a close of 28%. The rest of the people do not know yet if they do or do not get influenced.

Chart 4.4: showing that the reporters are threatened by political/anti-political sources

A very large number of people believe that yes, news reporters are actually threatened by powerful people who tend to politicize the news that is being delivered to us. Whereas a very less number of people believe that they are not threatened.

Going by these analysis, we see that a huge majority of people believe that the news we receive is censored and also that the reporters do live under the threat of powerful parties and people. Which brings it to mind that maybe our news is corrupted and censored because our reporters don’t have full freedom to express their views, they have to keep it censored under the threat of these parties.

A total of 60.1% people believe that the reporters do get threatened to dot let the news reach out to the public of the nation.

Chart 4.5: showing if threats to reporters lead to censorship in our news

The above chart shows the if our respondents think the threats from powerful people/parties lead to lack of freedom of speech or censorship in the news delivered to us. We can see on the chart that a lot of people do believe that the statement in question is indeed true compared to a very low number of people believing that it is false. Statistics show that 61.5% of the people believe that the statement in question is true and have responded with a Yes. And a few people i.e. 16.3% of the people believe that the statement in question is false.

Chart 4.6; showing how reliable do people think the news sources are

The above table shows the reliability of the news we get from the sources mentioned above. People believe that their news sources are mostly reliable showing a hint of hesitation. Because they are not sure if it is actually reliable. 54% people believe that their news sources are pretty much reliable which is also what they are guessing. And the least number of people believe that it is completely or highly reliable as seen in the table above.

Analysing the data collected from the personal interviews and group discussions we see that a lot of people believe that the news we receive is politicised, biased and censored where they also believe that censorship is required to a certain extent as in case of 26/11 Mumbai attacks where news reporters were covering the live segment and broadcasting the locations of our soldiers and police officer which turned out to be a great help for the terrorists as they could escape because of the news telecast. But the news we receive is highly politicised because of the fear of powerful people is also a strong view that a lot of people in the group discussions and personal interviews held.

CONCLUSION:

Our country is known as the largest democracy. Yet we see there is a lot of violations being made to several rights and freedoms of citizens. With the help of the data collected we see that the people themselves are mostly aware of the reality of India- the media, their rights and the violations being made. It is not a secret anymore that the media houses work under the political dominance. They in fact are bring out the news as if they are their own versions. They write or post in favour of the political parties or entities that are influencing them. They show them in the good light even after how much ever they have been wrong. We have seen that even after BJP was a clear winner post election, mainstream newspapers like the Hindustan Time and Business Standard wrote it in such a way that they do not defame their persuaded party, The Congress. This is just one example of how the media is being censored or politicised. There have been several times when other journalists have wanted to come out with real stories and they have been injured, threatened or murdered. This completely violates the freedom of speech and expression with accordance to fear. Scenario today of the Indian Press is not great. However, having a smart bunch of youth there shall be slow yet a steady change in the future.

To start with bringing in the change in the fair circulation of news, we need to first have the journalist some sense of power and freedom of speech. If it is the fear that catches them to not bring out the real story, there can be an online portal for the same where the journalist posts their articles in the truest forms anonymously. The Press of India should take incharge of this portal and all journalists working for it, should have an internal and secretive team for the checking of credibility of news before posting it. This shall not only help the journalists to stay away from threats but it shall also give the people a fair idea of the real news.

The censorship of news shall be done by the Press of India too. The news should be censored only if it is the case of national security where the information is related to the defence operations and other major conspiracies for the protection of our country or if some content is highly sexual or has the usage of vulgar language. The news however shall remain the same without it being touched. The people have the right to know about their leaders, the government, the schemes, the policies, the other news related to any crime or entertainment. But it should all be true and not biased. Only then can the people of our country have proper rights to form their own opinions. This shall also help in having fairer elections and better leaders leading to a greater country.

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Received on 09.08.2020 Modified on 17.08.2020

Int. J. Ad. Social Sciences. 2020; 8(3):78-86.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2679.2020.00007.9