Just how free and independent are the media in India? Until some years ago, the answer to this question would have been pretty straightforward: quite free, and indeed vibrant. Pakistani journalists visiting India during the benighted era of Ziaul Haq could appreciate the freedom defining the journalists’ work there. In stark contrast with its neighbours, India has had a robust media environment for decades; it currently boasts a dynamic media market with thousands of newspapers, several hundred news channels and myriads of news websites. While newspapers may be dying elsewhere in the world, it’s not so in India. This phenomenal growth should have meant greater freedom and strengthening of democracy. It hasn’t. For those keeping a sharp eye on how politics is evolving in India, this is not a surprise.

Hyper nationalism, corporatisation and the new-found fascination among politicians for owning media entities now pose an almost existential threat to independent-minded journalists. A majoritarian public opinion presents another challenge. Some scholars argue that vigilantism of Hindutva ideologues seriously impedes independent journalism in India. There is also the problem of the business model of the Indian media. Compare and despair, for one may find parallels with Pakistani media scene: Indian state, too, has successfully set up an advertising revenue trap for courageous editors and publishers. All of this has ramifications for the future of democracy in India.

Watch Indian news channels these days and you would mostly hear some 15 anchors dominating the airwaves and engaged in a shouting match with their peers. Their voices are shriller than their Pakistani counterparts. They help fan the flames of hyper patriotism largely set off by Mr Modi and his ideological cohorts since BJP’s victory in the 2014 elections. Journalism is now a hazardous vocation in India. Reporters Without Borders, an international media watchdog, has ranked India as the 140th among 180 nations in its 2019 World Press Freedom index. This surely represents an embarrassing climb-down for a country that had justifiably taken pride in fostering an information echo system guaranteeing a fair degree of freedom of expression, especially in the preceding decades.

Modi’s success in first igniting and then controlling an authoritarian/nationalist narrative has facilitated his politics of hubris and intolerance. Riding on a wave of a steamroller nationalism, he has encouraged the scapegoating and hounding of independent voices across media. The RSS, the militant wing of the ruling BJP, is particularly vicious in pursuing contrarian and independent journalists. Historically, judges in India have provided protection to journalists in their contestation of the politicians’ dictatorial instincts. During Indira Gandhi’s infamous proclamation of emergency in India, judges came to the rescue of the journalists who challenged and defied censorship laws. Courts these days have been weaponised by the Modi government against dissenting journalists. Court hearings, for instance, are held far away (at least in one specific case 1,500 kilometres away) to exact a huge toll on those who are perceived to have offended the BJP or its allies. Alongside defamation cases, criminal charges are commonplace. The targeted journalists are stretched to a breaking point.

Reporters Without Borders, an international media watchdog, has ranked India as the 140th among 180 nations in its 2019 World Press Freedom index.

“It’s not just me. Several journalists in India are facing this,” independent journalist Neha Dixit recently told an international panel of media experts and scholars. “The new pattern in this regime is that, apart from the defamation case, they also file a criminal case along with it, against journalists.” This, according to her, opens the space for manipulation. Authorities are clearly seeking to give the impression that the offending journalists might be involved in criminal activity. India is borrowing from the playbook of the world’s dictators. To some Pakistani journalists this reeks of the treatment meted out to hacks on our side of the border. During Musharraf regime, and some claim until recently, pesky journalists chasing a story in areas under security operation would be forcibly dragged to a remote wilderness and left to fend for themselves and reach back to civilisation after a crippling trek.

Since courts in India are rather slow to adjudicate cases of defamation and criminality, journalists remain stuck in a limbo. This sucks the enterprising spirit out of journalists who aim to challenge the prevailing narrative. In clear terms, this transgression represents the single most daunting challenge for journalists. When authorities rob journalists of the time and energy to pursue their work, most give in and compromise, or wait for a tolerant political dispensation.

Media in India are now perceived as having abandoned their role of telling the truth to those who wield power. The assumption is that during much of Modi’s first term in office, the media bought into the government line of restructuring economy via a massive recall of the country’s currency. Crucially, the media failed to raise questions in the face of what was bizarrely dubbed “phony economics”. Not just that, there is another example where the media swallowed the government security narrative. In 2019, Indian warplanes crossed the international border and dropped bombs on what India claimed was the site of a terrorist camp at Balakot. Indian media was swamped with hyper nationalist sentiments. Both print and broadcast media reported large casualties among Jaish-i-Mohammad warriors. International media had a different story to tell: that satellite imagery revealed little to no damage to what India claimed was terrorist infrastructure. India’s mainstream media especially the nation’s sprawling TV channels bent before the government line and grievously compromised their autonomy. The damage has been multilayered. The news blackout in Kashmir and the resultant incarceration of independent journalists there have emboldened India’s rulers to stifle a free press across India.

So what are prospects for India to regain its media glory of yesteryears? There are no easy answers. The media landscape might cede to democratic sentiments with the political change at the top. Trends acquired in the last five/six years would need time and patience to dissipate. Meanwhile, to the chagrin of enlightened Indians, Indian media would continue to be clubbed with the likes of some banana republics.

The writer teaches Media Writing & Communication at Lahore University of    Management Sciences (LUMS)