In 2023, five journalists were killed and 226 were targeted by State agencies, non-State political actors, anti-social elements and criminals, according to the India Press Freedom Annual Report compiled by the NGO India Freedom of Expression Initiative. The report,
‘Arrest, Wrongful Detention and Intimidation of Media Personnel' authored by Gurbir Singh, member of Press Council of India (PCI), is adopted during a meeting of PCI last month. The report urges the Union government to introduce a national law for the security and protection of journalists. The report also has a dissent note by PCI chairperson Ranjana Prakash Desai.
According to the report, while state actors targeted 148 journalists, 78 journalists were targeted by non-State actors, including political leaders, activists and criminals.
The PCI report largely relies on cases and complaints that have come before or been examined by the press body. It includes the Newsclick case, where a special cell of the Delhi police on 3 October 2023 raided the homes of 86 persons, of whom 61 were journalists. Two of those detained were formally arrested. The Delhi police also seized 306 communication gadgets, including cell phones and laptops, and impounded the passports of four journalists.
The report also highlights that many state actors, panicking during the breakdown of law and order, unfairly target the messenger of news. In this regard, the Tripura government, unable to handle communal riots in November 2021, arrested journalists under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), as well as lawyers who were on a fact-finding mission.
Similarly, during the February 2020 communal riots in Delhi, during which over 50 persons were killed, many journalists covering the conflict were arrested or detained and charged with instigating 'communal tension', the report says.
In an unprecedented inclusion in the report, PCI chairperson Ranjana Prakash Desai has recorded a 'note' of dissent. In the 'note', she has contested the veracity of the World Freedom Index report of the French union 'Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) and the data on arrest and detentions of journalists gleaned by the NGO India Freedom of Expression. The Initiative. The chairperson has also taken umbrage that in some of the cases, the view of the law enforcement authorities has not been cited.
The report also observes that journalists are often labelled as not 'genuine' as they pursue other professions like running a shop or a side business. "To this it must be pointed out that except for the big metros that offer a regular stable job to journalists, in the case of small district or rural news media outlets, journalistic news gathering is entrusted to part-timers as the emoluments offered are small and cannot sustain a normal family. This has worsened over time as advertising sources have dried up, while print publications have been folding up because of poor revenue. In these circumstances, a large section of journalists are employed as part-timers or on short term contracts. This does not make them 'fake' or 'not genuine' journalists."
Here are the recommendations made by PCI to the Union government:
1. The need to promulgate a national law for the security and protection of journalists.
2. Giving more teeth to the Press Council of India Act, 1978 so that attacks on journalists can be speedily brought to book.
3. Sensitising police personnel and codifying norms of behaviour for law enforcement agencies towards the fourth estate. For instance, before detaining or arresting a journalist the normal standard operating procedure (SOP) for a law enforcement agent is to verify with the editor or publisher whether the concerned journalist is on assignment.
