11/19/2014

The Times of India

Title : Soft Censorship of Media
Author : Rachna Burman
Location :
Article Date : 11/19/2014
The media today faces twin threats to its freedoms and its very existence
Over the last week, news reports of gender segregation in Aligarh Muslim University have
snowballed into a national issue following indiscreet statements by its vice chancellor that appeared to
justify denial of access to undergraduate girl students to the university's main library. In the resultant
furore, courts and the Union HRD minister have weighed in. But the brunt has been borne by the
media
specifically this newspaper, which first reported the VC's statement.
The reporter was threatened and advised to leave Aligarh, while the VC verbally endorsed some
students' demand for a ban on the newspaper from the university campus. There has been a
countrywide outcry against these crude attempts at muzzling our free press. The Editors' Guild, the
Indian Newspaper Society , senior editors, as well as writers, intellectuals, activists, educationists and
scholars have all criticised the AMU administration.
Banning newspapers, however, is only the most visible form of attacks on press freedom. The truth is,
Indian media today is subjected to all kinds of pressures from authorities, institutions, governments
and corporates. Reporters are denied access to information or simply banned from entering certain
offices even as media managements are threatened with legal notices and other forms of bullying the
moment there is an uncomfortable report.
Governments deny media advertisements and misuse taxpayers' money to pressure or influence media
entities which are critical of them. Some private sector companies also try to influence news coverage
by using similar intimidatory tactics and by withdrawing advertising.
Simultaneously, regulators, systems and processes are misused by introducing rules and laws that
have the potential of further squeezing media freedoms which are already abridged, and enfeeble
media companies, using the pretext of content regulation or quality of service. This is nothing but
soft censorship. And the practice is rampant in India. In its most overt form, soft censorship is the
practice of influencing news coverage through allocation or withholding of
spendingadvertisements.Covertly , it promotes or diminishes the economic viability of sections of the
media, or of all of it.
Soft censorship by governments, corporates and regulators was highlighted in a recent report by the
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, which had described the practice as a very
serious threat to media independence and the very viability of media companies. WAN, which is the
umbrella organisation of newspapers representing more than 18,000 publications and 15,000 online
sites in 120 countries, has urgently called for rapid action to stop this blatant repression of media and
press freedom, pointing out that soft censorship is less noticed than direct attacks on press freedom
like assaults on journal ists, but is much more widespread.
The report pointed out that the abusive allocation of government advertising to reward positive
coverage and punish critical coverage is doubly pernicious, as taxpayer money and public wealth is
used and abused to promote partisan or personal interests. In the Indian context, apart from ad bans,
governments try to keep the industry constantly on tenterhooks either by threatening to bring new
content regulators or by outlining new media laws on top of the several layers that already exist, or
by dusting out settled industry issues and reopening them.
Hardly any of these initiatives aim at growing the industry
basically, theyare excuses for greater
controls over themedia. Governments have also beenseeking to weaken the media by gettinginto nuts
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and bolts of the media businessin all sorts of ways.

Till now the media has held back hop ing that better sense will prevail, andgovernments as well as
corporates willdesist from chipping away at this key pil lar of democracy . However, it is now im
portant for the media to come togetherand name and shame those who indulgein soft censorship. The
social media toocan play an activist role in identifyingthese ills and individuals responsible.
This is not all. All those who cherishour democracy and believe that mediaplays a crucial role in it,
must press forlaws with strict criminal and financialpenalties to act as a deterrent againstthese antimedia freedom practices.
Think of it
would you vote for a govern ment or buy the productsshares of comChad Crowe panies
which indulge in these practices?
A robust intervention is today neces sary to guarantee media freedom as wellas to ensure viability of
the industry.
The Indian media industry can still be come the next big sectoral story withgreat potential for
employment, techno logical edge and growth, as well as pushIndia as a soft power across the globe.
But this potential can be realised on ly in an enabling environment
and notwhen reporters are
threatened, newspa pers banned, corporates and govern ments deny advertising for inconve nient
coverage, or when policies aredesigned to emasculate media entities orwhen there is a subterranean
waragainst the media to prevent it from be coming strong, independent and free.
The practice of using financial lever age and regulatory powers against themedia whenever coverage
is adversehas to stop, otherwise it will all-too quietly strangle free media
especiallywhen people are
unaware of these insid ious tactics and their pernicious impacton our democracy. Soft censorship is
per vasive in India today, and needs to befought to ensure media independenceand basic press
freedoms.

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