Free Press Must Serve People, Not Govt: Justice Madan Lokur
Justice Madan Lokur at IPI-India Awards 2024 (Image credit The Week)
Erosion of Press Freedom May Endanger Democracy: Justice Lokur
Former Judge of Supreme Court of India Justice Madan Lokur said that freedom of press is incumbent for the good health of democracy. Task of free press is not to serve the government but the people, said Justice (Retired) Lokur while speaking on Friday, February 28, at the IPI-India Awards 2024 at the Constitution Club of India. His speech at the function is as follows:
“Let me mention a few instances from the immediate past where journalistic freedom has been under fire. A few days ago, the tax authorities revoked the not-for-profit status of The Reporters Collective and the news site The File. Full details are not yet in the public domain and perhaps there may have been good reason to withdraw the not-for-profit status, but it is disconcerting to be told that journalism does not serve any public purpose and therefore cannot be carried out as a non-profit activity.
As far as I am concerned, journalism only serves a public purpose, that is dissemination of news and views – some comfortable and some uncomfortable. The purpose of a free press is to ensure that all of us are beneficiaries of good governance and if the Press is put under stress, all of us suffer. Those of us who lived through the Emergency years will recall the havoc played by censorship and governance.
Other coercive methods have also been recently employed of curtailing the basic rights of journalists. While arrests and detentions continue, freezing bank accounts of news organizations and confiscating the laptops and mobile phones of their employees has been added to the repertoire of harassment. At least one popular news outlet has been the victim of such continued highhandedness by the State.
Recently, an FIR relating to the sexual assault of a student was uploaded by the Tamil Nadu police on its website. This found its way on social media and was also downloaded by some journalists. Rather than investigating the police for putting the FIR on the website, they began investigating the so-called leak and began harassing the journalists about the whereabouts of their family and friends and how much money they received and from whom, for downloading the FIR.
Their harassment was brought to the notice of the Madras High Court, which gave protection to the journalists and also prompted the Editors Guild of India to issue a statement calling for the return of their devices and conduct investigations in a manner that does not compromise press freedom.
These are only some instances which show that journalists need courage to do their job. I could go on and on about this and the trials and tribulations of journalists, but it is not necessary do so. As the world’s largest democracy, India should ideally be a beacon of media freedom.
We need to accept that our Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression. We also need to accept that our laws do not protect hate speech or fake news or disinformation campaigns or double-speak. Unfortunately, in reality we find various legal, political and economic challenges that threaten independent journalism.
We have seen laws relating to security, financial crime and information technology being misused to control the media. Journalists have been arrested under anti-terror laws, and the internet has been shut down in certain regions to thwart dissemination of news. When voices are silenced and dissent is punishable, democracy crumbles.
What remains is a hollow structure—one where power is unchecked, corruption thrives, and citizens are reduced to passive spectators rather than active participants in governance.
In this background, it is heartening to note that THE WEEK magazine arranged for a gutsy and intrepid photojournalist to report from the warfront in Ukraine. He risked his life and produced an extraordinary story on the war and the life of Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline. The Jury congratulates Bhanu Prakash Chandra for his courageous reporting, and THE WEEK for devoting almost an entire issue of the magazine to his cover story.
Wars are costly and inhuman. They cause death and destruction on a massive scale, whether it is Ukraine or Gaza, and they cause untold human suffering. These are the dogs of war. Wars also inflict grievous wounds on media freedom.
So do conflicts within the territorial jurisdiction of the nation-state. Our country has been witnessing several of them, be they from across the border in Jammu & Kashmir or in Manipur, which has been the latest such conflict zone, where violence has virtually become a way of life for more than a year.
Restrictions on journalists reach a peak during conflicts, and disinformation campaigns become most lethal. Yet, journalists are not deterred by conflicts and strife perhaps because they are battling their own wars every day to protect and preserve press freedom.
They risk their lives in their perilous pursuit of truth wilfully hidden by malevolent forces. It is their conviction that press freedom is fundamental to the health of democracy. It is a shield against oppression, and it acts as a voice of the voiceless.
We must remember that our country, with its long tradition of fearless journalism, must not silence the Press through censorship, intimidation or political interference. Instead, we must defend and strengthen the Press, ensuring that truth remains a right, not a privilege.
Democracy is about the constant exchange of ideas, the ability to question authority and the right to be heard — no matter how big or small one’s voice may be. A democracy flourishes when its citizens are informed, engaged and empowered to make decisions based on diverse perspectives. When people are exposed to different viewpoints — political, economic and social — they can challenge their own biases and arrive at more balanced, independent conclusions.
I will end by submitting that the task before a free press is not to serve the government; it is to serve the people. It has to provide citizens with the information they need to make informed decisions, from voting in elections to advocating for change. If we allow people’s voices to be silenced, if we accept the erosion of press freedom, we are not just losing journalism — we are losing democracy itself.
Let us stand together in defence of the free press. Let us ensure plurality of voices in our media. Let us fight for a world where truth is not dictated by the powerful but uncovered by the brave. Let us also applaud the spirit and courage of the IPI-India Award winners of this year.”
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