World Press Freedom Day 2018
Some journalists say media freedoms are now under threat due to the election next year!
1. Sagarika Ghose, a columnist with the Times of India newspaper said, she is viciously trolled for any criticism against the administration. “The minute I write something, I get droves of hate mail,” Ghose said. “I have had death threats and gang rape threats on social media and also through letters sent to my home. They know where I live.”
2. Ravish Kumar, a news anchor who has been scathing about the government in his program for NDTV’s Hindi-language channel, said he has been constantly harassed and threatened by pro-government activists. “This is very organized,” he told Reuters. “They follow me. When I go out to report, a crowd gathers in 10 minutes.”
3. Gauri Lankesh, was a vocal advocate of secularism and critic of right-wing political ideology. A member of a hard-line Hindu group has been arrested for the murder of Lankesh, who was gunned down outside her home. Police has not made any significant breakthrough in the case and the killers are still at large.
4. Bobby Ghosh, the editor of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s premier broadsheets, quit last September. At least two senior journalists familiar with the situation said they were told that the government was unhappy with Ghosh’s editorial policies. Ghosh fell out of favour after he launched a webpage called the “Hate Tracker”, a database of violent crimes based on religion, race ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. He was most likely forced out of the organisation due to political pressure.
If the government and administration use every resource in its command to pressurise, manipulate, misguide media or any other voice which seeks to be independent of the government, then it will be a sad day for freedom of press in the world’s largest democracy.
