India is fast sliding in the press freedom index. From rank of 136 in 2015, it stands at 159 in 2024. In 2004, when Congress and Left-led coalition United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power it was 104. In two decades, therefore, the drop is huge – 55 positions.

Despite the colossal fall in press freedom, it is difficult to defend the position at 104 during the regime of Congress-Left Front. It underscores that press freedom was not a priority in India – neither during UPA rule (2004-2014), nor when BJP is in power.

The Indian press has always been nurtured and developed by people with money, with exceptions. All major papers have – or already had – an unusual amount of property, amassed from existing family businesses. The owners of big papers were and are so rich that it is difficult for them to run independent media while annoying the ruling dispensation, a fact that was succinctly narrated in 1986 political thriller on a mainstream Indian newspaper, New Delhi Times, starring Sashi Kapoor and Om Puri.

Therefore, Indian press should not be confused with the papers in the United States (since pundits often compare the two), where the media houses are often run by an independent consortium or protected from the cross-business interests of the owner. Moreover, in the US, the press is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution which as yet is unthinkable in India.

Any freedom has a process to it. Press freedom also may not fall from the heavens, an environment has to be created through legislation, political will and people or consumer’s intent. In India – like in South Asia – historically, politically and socially people do not believe in individual rights or freedom in order to survive. They believe in a patron-client relationship for survival and the society has taken shape acknowledging this feudal relationship. In this context, it is not possible to have a ‘free’ press which will affect the patron's interest – the client/consumer or the reader, viewer or listener of news would not accept, in the first place.

So, essentially it is not the problem of the Congress or the BJP, readers are keen to read what they believe.

In its time, Congress was not too keen to guarantee freedom of expression to people in Kashmir, left-wing armed insurgency driven central and parts of India or the north eastern states. The approach is similar to that of Pakistan in Balochistan or Bangladesh in Chittagong Hill Tracts. In India, BJP has just done to India what Congress had done to Kashmir or partially Maoist dominated Chattisgarh.

BJP has taken the control to another level. Not just the top bosses – from the owners to the editors – are under outstanding pressure, they even micro-manage the insignificant rural reporters. Not that the Left in Kerala or Bengal or Congress did not do it in the past, yet ongoing maneuverings are at different levels.  

At one level, massive industrial behemoths now control nearly the entire mainstream media. It is impossible for them to apply for mining rights in the forest areas and publish against the impact of mining on the environment.

Secondly, BJP – unlike the political parties in the past – have managed to put in place an alternative news ecosystem providing facts and figures according to their political interests. Other political parties are learning. Indeed, they have borrowed ideas from alternative fact developers like Alexander Nix of now defunct Cambridge Analytica or Steve Bannon to name a few who shaped Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Thirdly, the digital has almost killed the traditional source-based news gathering which is why small or medium sized independent media houses are struggling to fund news gathering. They wait for a few grants and fellowships to chase stories related to massive human rights violations.

Fourthly, in India, journalists’ security has never been the priority of the media houses which is also responsible for the continuous slide in press freedom. In fact – forget security – often the district level correspondents are not paid and asked to collect their salary by displaying their press cards in rural India.

Undeniably, voice of the people cannot be suppressed indefinitely and thus citizen journalism – aided by technology – will grow. Small groups of civil society mobilisers, close friends, independent journalists, veteran scribes with insatiable appetite to challenge the establishment have pulled resources – perhaps across the world – to produce quality content using the digital platforms. That indeed is a silver lining. However, it would be challenged across South Asia soon as the regimes are overworking to restrict digital newsgathering. That – in India – would be the next road block to journalism.

Press freedom thus would be subjected to more severe tests in the future. A journalist’s usual cynicism tells me that it is better not to expect much light at the end of the tunnel, if the tunnel ends, that is.

Suvojit Bagchi is a professional journalist since 1995 and worked with Ananda Bazar Patrika in Kolkata, BBC World Service in Delhi and the Hindu in central India and Kolkata. Presently he writes for a range of publications and works as the East India Correspondent of Bangladesh.