Press freedoms in India are severely eroded. In 2020, India’s press freedom rank dropped to 142 out of 180 countries in Press Freedom Index. There are increasing instances of hate and threats directed at journalists, police and the law being used to punish journalists reporting stories that challenge the powerful. Police often detain, book or arrest journalists who give voice to the dissent in the country. There are increasing instances of hate and threats directed at journalists, extended incarceration without bail, assaults by police or supporters of political agendas or criminals. Journalists reporting on corruption have been murdered.
The map below provides an interactive visual of some of the ways in which journalists or news organizations were prevented from being free. Broadly, the deterring consequences range from the common filing of FIRs and arrests to threats, assaults and murders.
Download this dataset.
[mapsmarker map=”11″]This list and map is my no means comprehensive and I intend to keep updating this document. If you find names of journalists or news organizations that have been targeted for their work, please email vidyut@aamjanata so that they may be added here.
Information for this map and list has been compiled from multiple sources on the internet. However, noteworthy resources were lists maintained by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Rights & Risks Analysis Group (RRAG), NewsLaundry, The Wire and Indian Express.