NDTV India: Intolerant Modi

When it comes to foreign policy issues, especially relations with Pakistan, barring a few honourable exceptions, the Indian media has always been toeing the official line, which could be one reason the Modi government has felt encouraged to order a 24-hour shutdown, on November 9, of a major TV channel, NDTV India, for its reporting on the Pathankot terror attack. Aside from NDTV India, the media fraternity has reacted angrily to the action likening it to prime minister Indira Gandhi's imposition of 1975-77 Emergency rule. The Editors Guild of India has issued a statement, saying the decision to take the channel off air for a day is "a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India, and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency".
On the face of it, the case is about the wider issue of what the media should or shouldn't report whilst a major security operation is under way. In its decree, a government panel accused NDTV India of revealing in its coverage of the terrorist attack "strategically sensitive" information about the weapons kept at the base, "which was likely to be used by the terrorists themselves or their handlers to cause massive harm." Indeed, there has to be a balance between security concerns and the people's right to know. The network, however, claims its coverage was no different from what other stations broadcast, and that it has been singled out for action. Not without significance in the context is the fact that NDTV, well-respected for its generally objective and liberal programming content, has had several run-ins with the present government. If it had a genuine case the government should have gone to the relevant arbitration authority. As the Editor's Guild averred "imposing a ban without resorting to judicial intervention or oversight violates the fundamental principles of freedom and justice".
It is worth noting that this year's World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders ranks India at 133rd place among 180 countries, which surely is not an enviable position for the world's largest democracy to be in. During the recent years, Indian society has moved away from its founding principle of secularism to embrace religious fundamentalism, with the result that intolerance is on the rise. It is easy for any government to use the cover of national security to punish and silence critics, all the more so in India given the prevailing atmosphere. The recent reaction of Hindu extremist groups to voices of dissent over the ban on Bollywood movies using Pakistani actors amply demonstrated that liberals and secularists can make their opinions known at considerable risk to their physical safety and economic interest. Patriotism, as the British author Samuel Johnson famously said, is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Patriotic fervour is particularly difficult to fight when mixed with religious ideology. Indian media confronts a trough challenge.