The Modi Government has stopped giving advertisements to at least three mainstream newspapers in recent times. No reasons have been assigned for this ad freeze but editors of these newspapers are well aware why this has happened. The Hindu has been carrying a series of stories on the controversial Rafale deal. In fact, the Attorney General of India had alluded to the papers relating to the Rafale contract having been stolen from official files after the series of stories written by N Ram, Chairman of the Hindu Publishing group. The same story was also used by activists to bolster their claims that the Rafale contract was ridden with loopholes designed to benefit an Indian businessman who it is claimed has no expertise in defence aircrafts.
The Editor’s Guild of India which normally takes a stand on issues relating to press freedom has not yet taken a stand on this issue. It appears that the Guild feels that suspension of advertisements by the Government does not necessarily imply a cap on press freedom. Many critics have however averred that freedom of the press has been under attack since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014. Journalists have themselves complained of intimidation for writing critical stories.
The big newspaper groups, which have a combined monthly readership of more than 26 million claim they are starved of government ads worth millions of rupees that began even before Modi was elected to power in the month of May this year.
It is a known fact that most newspapers and television channels survive on advertisements of which a large chunk come from Government. For instance the Times group’s say that 15% of their advertising comes from the government which are mostly related to government tenders for contracts as well as publicising government schemes. In small towns and distant regions where advertisements from the private sector are negligible the freeze on Government advertisements could result in the closure of the newspapers.
BJP spokespersons however defend the Government saying that the media has been bitterly critical of the Modi Government and that in itself translates to freedom of speech and expression. But India is now ranked 140th out of 180 in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index, lower than countries like Afghanistan, Myanmar and the Philippines. It ranked 80th out of 139 countries surveyed when the index was started in 2002. This should set the media thinking and fighting to claim its constitutional rights. Already sections of the media are toeing the Government line or self regulating. Is this what Indian democracy now implies?