"Losing The Voice of Democracy"
Reporters Without Borders, or Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), released its report on "The World Press Freedom Index 2023" on May 2nd. India was ranked 161 out of 180 countries. If you observe the progress of the Indian press, it has consistently deteriorated since 2016 when it was ranked 131. It was positioned at 150 last year just for stating that India is one of the largest democratic countries in the world, but the number of Indian press in the World Press Freedom Index is quite shameful. Since the media is considered the fourth pillar of democracy and one of the best institutions to maintain checks and balances in the political system, it is marked as the voice of the common people. So, we can definitely say that the press and media are the safeguards of democracy. We are residents of one of the greatest democracies, but we got 108 ranks in the world democracy index, which is unpredictable.
Talking about the happiness report, the number is a little more relaxing than in 2022. Crossing 10 numbers ahead, we got 126 out of 150 plus countries. If we compare it with neighboring countries, it would be regretful to find that they have better rankings than India.
Starting with Pakistan, a country facing financial crises and bearing a civil war-like situation has ranked 150 and 103 in the ranking of press freedom and happiness indices, respectively. Whereas Sri Lanka has a ranking of 135 in press freedom, much better than India. It is the country that was declared bankrupt last year, bearing a debt of $7 billion, whose foreign reserve fell to U.S$ 2.36 billion but is still happier than India ranking at 112 in the Happiness Report. And you would be surprised to know that the 4th pillar is in much better condition in a totalitarian authority like Afghanistan. Their press is enjoying more freedom, being at number 152.
it is extremely sorrowful to compare with countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan, but we can't deny the facts.
According to some sources, we are tending to be a Vishvaguru, but a dumb Vishvaguru is worthless. "A Vishvaguru without a voice is a book without impressions."
Reason Behind the Downfall:
The reason behind this downfall is rooted in the actions of Indian mainstream media and the government authority. While releasing its report, RSF asserted the following reasons:
(1) Acquisition of Media outlets by Oligarchy: If this is one of the reasons, then its outcomes would be the most dangerous. Since state-controlled media is one of the features of dictatorship. In the order of learning from history, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, etc all share a few things in common-they were prominent orators and had controlled press.
(2) Increased violence against journalists and politically biased media: This statement gives some relaxation from perplexion. It is pointing out that people are gaining over their ignorance. While at the same time, it is imposing a blot on Indian-biased media.
(3) Many journalists in India are forced to censor themselves due to extreme pressure: This can be easily dentified in India. Anchors and channel are busy praising the ruling authority. A major section is doing so to gain political support and wealth, while the rest are doing it to save their livelihood and themselves too. Some selected individuals chose to leave their workplace in place of negotiation with their ethics and morality.
Despite our bad reputation in the world media, there are still some heroes who are single-handedly pulling the load of democracy through their critiques. On the one hand, we are being disgraced for the malfunctioning of the mainstream media. On the other hand, a journalist like Ravish Kumar made us proud as he got honored with the "Honorary Title for Freedom of Expression" by Brussels University and its partners.
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