-Press Note by Foundation for Media Professionals (FMP), dated 28 May, 2018 Mr Narendra Modi is perhaps the first Prime Minister of India to have not held a single press conference, four years at a stretch. This could not however have been unrelated to a series of events that raise fresh concerns about media freedom. The concerted online hate campaign against journalist Ms Rana Ayyub, and the circulation of a fake pornographic...

-IANS New Delhi: Press freedom in India has deteriorated in 2018 and three journalists have been killed in the first four months, media watchdog The Hoot said, stating that "journalists continue to be vulnerable". The number of killings documented by the Hoot report for the first four months was the same as in the whole of 2017. "They were killed in connection with their reporting, judging by what initial investigations show," it said. India...

  There is some bad news for the world’s largest democracy. Thanks to the vitiated atmosphere induced by troll attacks on scribes on social media, among other things, the country's World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) ranking has fallen two places to 138th position.   Among 180 countries, India ranked 136th last year with a score of 42.94. However, in 2018 it attained 138th position with a score of 43.24 according to the...

-PTI The Reporters Without Borders cites the case of the killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, and warns that hatecrime is another issue plaguing India. London: India’s ranking in the Press Freedom Index has fallen two places to 138, a watchdog said on Wednesday in an annual report, blaming “physical violence” against journalists like Gauri Lankesh as the key reason behind the country’s low ranking. Norway topped the list of having the world’s...

-Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) The Law Commission Report no. 267 of March 2017 on Hate Speech states that “Hate Speech” has not been defined in any law in India. However, legal provisions in certain legislations prohibit select forms of speech as an exception to Freedom of Speech. The term “Hate Speech” has been used invariably to mean expression which is abusive, insulting, intimidating, harassing or...