Journalism in Post-Independence India

Journalism in Post-Independence India

                  

Era of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

It is said that in the post-independence era, under the Prime minister-ship of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the freedom of the press was respected after a long hiatus of toil and turmoil under the British clamps. As the first Prime minister of this country, Jawaharlal Nehru never shied away from criticism. He strongly believed in the freedom of the press. 

M. Chalapathy Rau writes in his article, “The press after Nehru”, in the Economic Weekly, “It was a part of his liberal outlook and a part of his upbringing in Liberal England…To Jawaharlal Nehru, who was accustomed to self-inquisition and self-criticism, criticism was the breath of life and had to be tolerated. No other public man of his standing tolerated criticism as much as he did. It was the democratic way of life, and life itself. To him, journalism was neither history nor literature in a hurry; it was a part of action, political action, social action.” (Rau, 1964)

Nehru once said: “To my mind the freedom of the press is not just a slogan from the larger point of view, but it is an essential attribute of the democratic process. I have no doubt that even if the Government dislikes the liberties taken by the press and considers them dangerous, it is wrong to interfere with the freedom of the press. I would rather have a completely free press with all the dangers involved in the wrong use of that freedom than a suppressed or a regulated press” (Padhy and Sahu, 2005:110).

However, there was one occasion that Nehru did have to take a stand on Press freedom as it was fanning communal riots within the country and dividing India. In the year 1951, On October 23^rd, he passed the new Act called “The Press Objectionable Matters Act”. The only reason was to prevent papers that indulged in propagating communal division through pictures and words. The act was similar to the legislation passed by the Britishers in the early 20^th century. 

Objectionable matters included any words, signs, or visible representations which were likely to incite or encourage any person to resort to violence or sabotage for the purpose of overthrowing or undermine the Government, or to interfere with supply and distribution of food or other essential commodities or services (Ravindran, 1997:25, Shodhganga). However, the fact that Nehru was a liberal man couldn’t be contested.

Era of Indira Gandhi

It is said that during the Chinese Aggression, when an Emergency was declared in 1961, Nehru’s stance on curbing the press was minimal as compared to the clamp placed during the tenure of the prime ministership of his daughter, Indira Gandhi.

The First Press Commission estimated that the total circulation of the 300 or so daily newspapers being published in India in 1953 was 2.53 million. This worked out to 5.40 copies per 1000 in the population against the backdrop of an all India literacy level of 16.40 per cent. From such a low base, India’s daily newspaper circulation climbed slowly to 3.15 million in 1957 and 5.11 million in 1962. It would take the press three decades after the attainment of Independence to cross the 10 million mark and, in a manner of speaking, join the ranks of the ‘Mass media’. It would take thirty-two years of Independence for the total circulation of Hindi daily newspapers finally to overtake the total circulation of English language newspapers in India. (Ray)

It is to be noted here that the freedom of the press was totally subjugated under the leadership of late Indira Gandhi. The Emergency in 1971, due to the war with Pakistan was the worst ever period in the history of the Press after Freedom. Under her leadership, she sought to bring in a rule that limits publication to around 15,000 in quantity.

“On December 4th the Defence and Internal Security of India Act was signed into law. This Act prohibited the printing or publishing of any newspaper, book or other document detrimental to the defence and security of India; it provided for the demand of security from any newspaper or publisher or the forfeiture of security already given; it empowered the Government to confiscate copies of any printed matter which might be inflammatory and to close down the presses; and it empowered the state and local Governments to impose censorship” (Karkhanis, 1981:130).

Era of Morarji Desai

The press was in tatters. When Indira Gandhi lost her power and Morarji Desai was voted to power, freedom of the press was restored back again. He repealed the Prevention of Publication of the Objectionable Matter Act of 1976 with the due procedural approval of both the houses in the Parliament on the behest of his Minister for Information and Broadcasting, L.K. Advani, who was also a journalist by profession and had been imprisoned during the emergency.

However, by 1979, Morarji Desai lost power and Indira Gandhi returned. This time again, the press faced hostility but not as severe as it was during the emergency. However, many State governments too ignored the Press. After Indira Gandhi was killed in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi rose to power on a wave of sympathy by the people. Freedom of Press was restored again. 

Era of Rajiv Gandhi

But Rajiv Gandhi too became wary of the press towards 1988 and the negativity garnered about his government due to press reportage. So, just like his mother, he too brought in a ‘Defamation bill’ that intended to curb the freedom of the Press but was not able to do so as the bill was not approved at its initial stage. Rajiv Gandhi who was liberal could not handle the negativity from the press after a few years. 

Later years...

However, the press was seemingly free albeit the influence and the economical pressures that came in the long run. Development Journalism and Journalists of repertoire were popular.

Newspapers continue to provide information, entertainment, edutainment and a good dose of Yellow journalism too. Unlike the yester years, newspapers today include news with a lot of features for students for fashion, for style, for environment, etc. The papers run into pages catering to varied topics of news of the state, of the country, world news, business and sports. Today most of these are also available in their Online formats. 

The 21^st century however has seen to extreme monetisation and corporatisation of the Press at large, News is compromised at the alter of Advertisement to garner the much- needed revenue to run a newspaper. Most corporates run a newspaper and a news channel along with a website. Technology has jumped leaps and bounds.

While newspapers, still continue to provide information and there are many that continue to remain true to the roots of journalism, there are others who do not mind putting a spin on the news to suit their corporate owners and the political parties that fund them. Many deserving plights of the people are not brought to the forum due to fear of a backlash from particular political parties. 

Although newspapers do provide news, it is mostly news that has been retrieved from News sources and news service portals or news agencies. There are very few journalists on their foot. The news room in many television channels has become a war zone, often on the basis of who said what to whom and why, rather than raising issues. A few issues do get raised but these are overridden with other debates. Many newspapers and news channels toe-the-line of the Government and the Corporate businesses who have major shares in their firm.  However, in return many journalists have turned to Social networking forums to provide news snippets that are not doctored or at the mercy of the State and other Corporates.

Journalism is the fourth pillar of Democracy and has contributed massively to the development of the country. It continues to do so due to the many untarnished journalists available in the country at large. However, there is a need to protect the integrity of the journalists. 

On its part, the Press should be encouraged to play a restraint on sensitive topics that divide the country or issues of security. But should be asked to focus on journalism the leads to development of all its citizens rather than the table top journalism and the page three stuff (focus on Parties and dressing) that most news forums are catering too.