MEDIA/FREEDOM OF PRESS - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

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Jaipur: Is “freedom of expression” a muddled notion? Is there a need to define more clearly wherefreedom of expression ends and deliberate incitement begins? Does freedom of expression allowsomething that has the potential to incite violence and discrimination? During a session titled “Freedom ofspeech and expression” at the Jaipur Literature Festival, journalist and managing editor of TehelkaShoma Chaudhury said Article 19(2) of the Constitution, which imposes reasonable restrictions onfundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, needed to be debated. The discussion featuredMs. Chaudhury, writers John Burnside, Orlando Figes and Bashrat Peer in conversation with journalistTimoth Garton Ash. While she was a “freedom absolutist” on matters of cultural production like art andcinema, Ms. Chaudhury said freedom of expression could not be taken as an absolute concept when itcame to public discourse, which included public speeches. To the latter part, poet and film lyricist JavedAkhtar, who was part of the audience, asked how one could define the limits of freedom and expression,and if one were to justify restrictions on speeches that incited violence did it not bring the discourse backto square one? Ms. Chaudhury replied that censorship should apply to modes of expression that werefactually incorrect and incited violence and these could be easily identified. She cited the example of therecent exodus of Assamese and other north-eastern students from several cities in India, which was theresult of incorrect information circulated across the Internet and other means of communication. Therewas a need for society to “assert its right to offend others,” something that should not be silenced in thename of public sentiment and political correctness as these were just smokescreens, Ms. Chaudhurynoted. British historian noted for study of Russia Orlando Figes said freedom of speech could only beeffective when it translated into street protests and mass movements and had no meaning whenpreached by armchair intellectuals. Citing a 2010 poll, Mr. Figes said most Russians were not only awarethat their television programmes were controlled and manipulated by authorities; they were verycomfortable with it since they believed it helped maintain social order. Kashmiri journalist and authorBasharat Peer talked about censorship of the press by the government. “The story of surveillance andcensorship go together,” said Mr. Peer, citing an example of an undercover policeman in Kashmirreporting back to the government on the activities of the Press. “Especially in the case of smallnewspapers published from the States, like in Kashmir and Bihar restrictions are implemented bystopping government ads,” he said about press censorship working through economic restrictions.Moderator Timothy Garton Ash said journalists working for smaller publications — including bloggers,freelancers and independent journalists working in remote centres — faced the greatest risk of beingsilenced. (The Hindu 26/1/13)Journalist molested by BSF jawans at Kolkata crossing (1)KOLKATA: A woman journalist was allegedly molested by three BSF jawans in uniform at the crowdedShyambazar crossing on Monday evening. Passersby nabbed and beat up one of the suspects, while theother two escaped. Locals staged a half-hour road blockade accusing the police of shielding the jawansand helping them get away. The police lathicharged the protesters, triggering chaos at the busy trafficcrossing. The girl, who works with a news channel, had gone to a restaurant with a friend. They hadbarely stepped out, around 7.30pm, when three BSF jawans made lewd comments at her, says thecomplaint. One of them was brazen enough to touch her and "tried to sexually assault her", she says. "Iwas shocked. The jawans were in uniform yet completely drunk. One of them lunged at me. I could notimagine that such a thing could happen in a place like Shyambazar crossing, where there were hundredsof people,"she said. The journalist screamed for help and a crowd quickly gathered. People waiting at anearby bus stop rushed out and surrounded the men in uniform. The trio tried to flee but the girl chasedone of them down. "I ran after him and grabbed him near a police kiosk. Locals helped me overpower himand we handed him to the police," she said. (Times of India 29/1/13)Rs 5 lakh relief to kin of scribe killed in police firing (1)
Guwahati: The Manipur government has announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the family of freelanceTV cameraman Thangjam Dwijamani, who was killed in police firing while covering a demonstration inImphal on December 23 against alleged molestation of an actress by a self-styled Lt Colonel of theNSCN(IM) two days earlier. The Cabinet, on Saturday, also decided to provide a teacher's job toDwijamani's wife. The government had earlier placed under suspension 11 security personnel. It had lastweek announced a Rs 5 lakh cash award for information leading to the arrest of the NSCN(IM) cadre.(<strong>Indian</strong> Express 1/2/13)Stand up for freedom (1)The growing intolerance of a minuscule section of society to the arts is a blot on the way of life in thecountry. Hardly has the din died down on the inability of Salman Rushdie to visit Kolkata for a literaturefestival than we hear that an all-girl band in the Kashmir Valley is being threatened and abused on socialmedia networks. There could not have been a more touching story than four schoolgirls getting togetherto form a band and play popular music in front of an appreciative audience. It is as well that J&K chiefminister Omar Abdullah has hit back at the critics. He makes the very pertinent point in his tweet that it’sridiculous that people demand freedom of speech in social media and yet abuse the same media in tryingto muzzle innocent performers. There will be conservative sections of society who may not appreciate thenew-found freedoms that the young enjoy as we evolve in the modern era. The more ground that is lost tothem by way of governments not acting to rein them in the more we are going to see of lumpen elementsbeing incited to violent action. The time to act is now and it is up to authority to show that it is capable oftaking a stand against people whose only pleasure is to deny others their freedom. (Asian Age 3/2/13)MPs fail to log on to social media sites (1)New Delhi: The UPA government may have decided to ask ministers to embrace social media, but MPsacross political parties remain unconnected to India’s young population through new media toolsincreasingly popular among the youth. Only 40 out of 542 MPs elected to the current Lok Sabha haveTwitter accounts, including 7 MPs who no longer have active accounts, an HT analysis shows. Incontrast, 12 out of 30 state chief ministers are on the web-based platform. India has over 10 millionTwitter accounts and despite just 10% internet penetration already ranks 7 among nations with mostusers of the social networking platform. Twitter has repeatedly pointed to India as one of its fastestgrowing markets – unsurprising since the country has over 500 million citizens under 25. And faced with apublic relations embarrassment over the government’s failure to address social media driven protestsover the recent Delhi gang rape, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) recently proposed getting ministers touse Twitter and Facebook to reach out to young voters. But the statistics point to a failure to use socialmedia cutting across party lines. All 100 US senators are on Twitter, even though that country is agingwhile India continues to ride a youth wave. But of the 204 Congress Lok Sabha MPs, only 13 have activeaccounts, while two others – external affairs minister Salman Khurshid and human resource developmentminister MM Pallam Raju – who started accounts no longer use them. Only 4 out of 78 central ministers –Ajay Maken, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Milind Deora – are active on Twitter, though a fewministries including the PMO have official accounts. The BJP -- widely considered a technologicallymore savvy party than the Congress -- fares little better. Only 9 out of its 115 MPs in the lower househave active accounts that they use to send out political messages. Yashwant Sinha has an account but isno longer active, and Maneka Gandhi’s account spreads awareness about her NGO, which works to saveanimals from cruelty. Nor are urban MPs more connected through Twitter to their voters than urbancounterparts. Only Milind Deora, Priya Dutt, Sanjay Nirupam (all Mumbai) and Ajay Maken (Delhi) out ofthe 13 MPs representing the country’s two most populous cities are on Twitter. Only BJP leader AnanthKumar, out of four Lok Sabha MPs from Bangalore, has an active twitter account. Bangalore, Mumbai,Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune all figure among the top 100 cities in terms of number of Twitterusers. In the days following the horrific gang rape and eventual death of a 23-year-old physiotherapy
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MEDIA/FREEDOM OF PRESS - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

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