Editors Guild of India criticises government over ‘intolerance’ to press questions

The Editors Guild of India (EGI) has issued a sharp rebuke to the Indian government, expressing deep concern over ‘embarrassing stand-offs’ between Indian officials and European journalists during PM Narendra Modi’s recent visits to the Netherlands and Norway. In a statement, EGI criticised the PM Modi’s ongoing refusal to address open press conferences and warned that growing official intolerance towards journalistic scrutiny is severely constraining democratic spaces across both central and state levels.

The full statement issued by the Editors Guild of India is published below:

Statement on the Government’s Intolerance Towards Media Questions

The Editors Guild of India is concerned by the embarrassing stand-offs between Indian government officials and journalists of the Netherlands and Norway during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the two countries. The face-off with the European media was triggered by the Prime Minister’s refusal to take questions from local journalists after a press briefing.

Norway and the Netherlands are number 1 and 2 in the World Press Freedom Index, respectively. India, on the other hand, despite the manifest cultural differences with the Western world as pointed out by an angry Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, in response to the Norwegian journalist’s question, is at an abysmal 157 out of 180 countries.

It may well be that Western journalists are insufficiently aware of India’s past. Or even of the significant role that Indian media played in building awareness about the values underpinning India’s freedom movement. However, they were right about the need for journalists to ask questions in a democracy. It is a regrettable fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not addressed a single open press conference during his more than a decade in power.

The same intolerance to being questioned is increasingly being manifested at all levels of government, both at the Central and State levels. Media restrictions hurt our economy and our society.

One may differ about methodology or implicit bias in such rankings, but India’s abysmal position in various press freedom rankings is a matter of grave concern and reflective of an increasingly constrained space for the media to effectively discharge its role in a democracy.

The EGI calls on the government to refrain from treating the media as an adversary merely for doing what it is supposed to do – hold those in power accountable.