Importance of Press & Its' Freedom

The pillars of democracy refer to the fundamental principles and institutions that uphold a democratic system of government. These pillars typically include: Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and Media.

The Pillars of Democracy

The pillars of democracy refer to the fundamental principles and institutions that uphold a democratic system of government. These pillars typically include: Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and Media. These pillars work together to ensure that power is exercised responsibly, rights are protected, and the voices of citizens are heard in the governance process. Additionally, democracy thrives on freedoms such as speech, press, assembly, and religion, which enable citizens to express themselves and access information freely.

The pillars of democracy serve as a cornerstone, guiding the functioning of institutions and the conduct of government. Key among these pillars are the principles of free and fair elections, the rule of law, the separation of powers, and the protection of individual rights. An independent judiciary further reinforces democratic principles by ensuring fair application of the law.

In democratic systems, the four pillars of democracy serve as foundational principles that uphold the framework of governance, ensuring the rights and voices of citizens are protected. These pillars represent free and fair elections, the rule of law, separation of powers, and the protection of individual rights. They form the essence of democratic societies worldwide.

The four pillars of democracy, namely Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, and Media, form the bedrock of the system, providing a framework for governance that ensures the rights and voices of citizens are protected. They collectively sustain the democratic process, fostering transparency, accountability, and the equitable distribution of power within the government.

The Legislature is responsible for making laws. In India, there is a bicameral Legislature consisting of two Houses: the Lower House or the Lok Sabha (House of the People) and the Upper House or the Rajya Sabha (Council of States). Along with the Parliament, the Legislature also consists of the members of the State Legislative Assemblies. The Legislature makes new laws and amends the existing ones. It represents the will of the people.

The Executive is responsible for the implementation and enforcement of the laws. It comprises the President who is the Head of the State and the Prime Minister who is the Head of the Government. This pillar ensures the effective implementation of the laws created by the Legislature. It ensures the development and progress of the country. The Executive is accountable to the Legislature.

The Judiciary is responsible for the interpretation of the laws and the Constitution. In India, the Judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, which is the apex court, and the High Courts and District Courts. It is the independent arm and keeps a check on the Legislature and the Executive. It protects the fundamental rights of the citizens and ensures the prevalence of law.

The Media is responsible for disseminating information to the public. It is also known as the Fourth Estate. It consists of print, electronic and digital media. It acts as a watchdog and holds the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary accountable. It upholds the freedom of speech and expression of the citizens and acts as the voice of the people.

The four pillars of democracy are interrelated to each other. The Legislature is held accountable by the people who elect the members of the Parliament as their representatives. The Executive is held accountable by the Legislature and is answerable to it. The Judiciary keeps a check on both the Legislature and the Executive. The Media holds all three pillars- the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary accountable.

This interconnectedness leads to a system of checks and balances and ensures smooth functioning of a democracy. In this way the rights of the citizens are protected and democracy is upheld.

The four pillars of democracy are crucial for the functioning and sustainability of a democratic society. They serve several key purposes such as Ensuring Representation, Free and fair elections are essential for citizens to choose their representatives and participate in the decision-making process, ensuring that the government is accountable to the people.

Upholding the Rule of Law: The rule of law ensures that laws are applied consistently and fairly, preventing arbitrary actions by the government and protecting the rights of individuals.

The separation of powers prevents any one branch of government from becoming too powerful, thus reducing the risk of tyranny and ensuring that checks and balances are in place.

The protection of individual rights guarantees that citizens can freely express themselves, assemble peacefully, practice their religion, and enjoy other freedoms without interference from the government.

Overall, these pillars of democracy work together to create a system of government that is accountable, transparent, and responsive to the needs and wishes of the people, thereby ensuring the stability and legitimacy of the democratic process.

The four pillars of democracy: Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and Media, have a positive impact on the society. They are essential for the functioning of a democratic society. These pillars endorse the principles of accountability, transparency, and equality, ensuring that the government remains responsive to the needs and wishes of the people. By upholding these pillars, democratic societies can maintain stability, protect fundamental rights, and foster an environment where citizens can freely participate in the governance of their country. They uplift the citizens and ensure the smooth functioning of the democracy.

A free press can inform citizens of their leaders’ successes or failures, convey the people’s needs and desires to government bodies, and provide a platform for the open exchange of information and ideas. When media freedom is restricted, these vital functions break down, leading to poor decision-making and harmful outcomes for leaders and citizens alike.

AIJPA assesses the challenges for media and online freedom in across many annual and special reports. We support efforts to defend freedom of expression and to promote the emergence of alternative media in countries where traditional media is restricted. And we assist embattled journalists, including those who investigate and abuses of power.

Freedom of the press or Freedom of the Media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely. Such freedom implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state; its preservation may be sought through a constitution or other legal protection and security. It is in opposition to paid press, where communities, police organizations, and governments are paid for their copyrights.

Without respect to governmental information, any government may distinguish which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public. State materials are protected due to either one of two reasons: the classification of information as sensitive, classified, or secret, or the relevance of the information to protecting the national interest. Many governments are also subject to “sunshine laws” or freedom of information legislation that define the ambit of national interest and enable citizens to request access to government-held information.

The United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.”

This philosophy is usually accompanied by legislation ensuring various degrees of freedom of scientific research (known as scientific freedom), publishing, and the press. The depth to which these laws are entrenched in a country’s legal system can go as far down as its constitution. The concept of freedom of speech is often covered by the same laws as freedom of the press, thereby giving equal treatment to spoken and published expression.

Freedom of the press was formally established in Great Britain with the lapse of the Licensing Act in 1695. Sweden was the first country in the world to adopt freedom of the press into its constitution with the Freedom of the Press Act of 1766.

Status of Press Freedom Worldwide

The fundamental right to seek and disseminate information through an independent press is under attack, and part of the assault has come from an unexpected source. Elected leaders in many democracies, who should be press freedom’s staunchest defenders, have made explicit attempts to silence critical media voices and strengthen outlets that serve up favorable coverage. The trend is linked to a global decline in democracy itself: The erosion of press freedom is both a symptom of and a contributor to the breakdown of other democratic institutions and principles, a fact that makes it especially alarming.

Media freedom has been deteriorating around the world over the past decade, with new forms of repression taking hold in open societies and authoritarian states alike. The trend is most acute in Europe, previously a bastion of well-established freedoms, and in Eurasia and the Middle East, where many of the world’s worst dictatorships are concentrated. If democratic powers cease to support media independence at home and impose no consequences for its restriction abroad, the free press corps could be in danger of virtual extinction.

Experience has shown, however, that press freedom can rebound from even lengthy stints of repression when given the opportunity. The basic desire for democratic liberties, including access to honest and fact-based journalism, can never be extinguished, and it is never too late to renew the demand that these rights be granted in full.

In some of the most influential democracies in the world, large segments of the population are no longer receiving unbiased news and information. This is not because journalists are being thrown in jail, as might occur in authoritarian settings. Instead, the media have fallen prey to more nuanced efforts to throttle their independence. Common methods include government-backed ownership changes, regulatory and financial pressure, and public denunciations of honest journalists. Governments have also offered proactive support to friendly outlets through measures such as lucrative state contracts, favorable regulatory decisions, and preferential access to state information. The goal is to make the press serve those in power rather than the public.

The problem has arisen in tandem with right-wing populism, which has undermined basic freedoms in many democratic countries. Populist leaders present themselves as the defenders of an aggrieved majority against liberal elites and ethnic minorities whose loyalties they question, and argue that the interests of the nation—as they define it—should override democratic principles like press freedom, transparency, and open debate.

The breakdown of global press freedom is closely related to the broader decline of democracy that Freedom House has tracked for the past 13 years. Although the press is not always the first institution to be attacked when a country’s leadership takes an antidemocratic turn, repression of free media is a strong indication that other political rights and civil liberties are in danger. Assaults on media independence are frequently associated with power grabs by new or incumbent leaders, or with entrenched regimes’ attempts to crush perceived threats to their control.

Over the past five years, countries that were already designated as Not Free in Freedom House’s Freedom in the World report were also those most likely to suffer a decline in their press freedom scores, with 28 percent of Not Free countries experiencing such a drop. Partly Free countries were almost equally likely to experience a gain as a decline in press freedom, reflecting the volatility of these middle performers and the complex forces influencing their trajectory. The worsening records of Not Free states, combined with the negative trend among Free countries, have driven the overall decline in global press freedom.

The World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) since 2002 based upon the organization’s own assessment of the countries’ press freedom records in the previous year. It intends to reflect the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations, and netizens have in each country, and the efforts made by authorities to respect this freedom. Reporters Without Borders is careful to note that the WPFI only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism in the countries it assesses, nor does it look at human rights violations in general

THE PRESS IN INDIA

India has a long history of the freedom struggle that included various challenges.

The freedom of the Press in India has also endured a saga of fights against draconian authorities which attempted to suppress information.

Pre-Independence:

The first newspaper in India is credited to James Augustus Hickey, who launched The Bengal Gazette, also the Calcutta General Advertiser, in 1780. The paper lasted just two years before being seized by the British administration in 1782 for its outspoken criticism of the Raj.

Several other newspapers followed such as The Bengal Journal, Calcutta Chronicle, Madras Courier, and Bombay Herald. All of them, however, were curtailed by censorship measures imposed by the British East India Company.

Throughout 1799, 1818 and 1823, the colonial administration enacted several Acts to regulate the press in the country. The legislative outlier during this period was the Press Act of 1835, better known as the Metcalfe Act, which introduced a more liberal press policy.

This lasted till the revolt of 1857, after which, a perturbed foreign administration, shaken by the mutiny, introduced the Licensing Act in 1857. It gave the colonial administration the powers to stop publication and circulation of any printed material.

In 1867, the administration enacted the Registration Act, which required every book or newspaper to bear the name of the printer, the publisher and the place of publication. Additionally, all books were to be submitted to the local government within a month of their publication.

One of the most stringent regulations on the freedom of the press in India was the Vernacular Press Act of 1878. Introduced by then Viceroy, Lord Lytton, this act provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press. It was an attempt to prevent the vernacular press from criticising British policies. The measure was an answer to the shortcomings of the ‘Gagging Act’, which the press was impervious to.

With reference to the Vernacular Press Act, a special mention of Bengal’s Amrita Bazar Patrika gives a glimpse into the spirit of the Indian press at the time. After the Vernacular Press Act was imposed, Amrita Bazar Patrika began publishing in English too, as the Act was not imposed on English newspapers.

Four new measures were enacted between 1908 and 1912 — the Newspapers (Incitement to Offences) Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1908, the Press Act of 1910 and the Prevention of Seditious Meetings Act of 1911.

The Press Act of 1910 particularly hit Indian papers hard. It empowered the local government to demand a security fee for any ‘offensive content’ against the government. Nearly 1,000 papers were prosecuted under the Act.

Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha widely used the Press to rally the masses against the British. This further heightened the tension between the Press and the government. With Gandhi’s arrest in 1930, the government enacted The Press (Emergency Powers) Act of 1931. It gave the provincial governments censorship powers.

The outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 brought further restrictions. The government demanded stiffer censorship, in spite of the Press Emergency Act of 1931. It controlled and filtered international news that was coming in.

Amidst such acts of censorship, the All-India Newspapers Editors’ Conference was conceived. It was aimed to be a protector of press rights in the country. It fought with the British government to lift the restrictions and advocated for better relations with the government.

Post-Independence:

The Press Enquiry Committee was set up in 1947 with the aim of examining press laws in the light of fundamental rights formulated by the Constituent Assembly.

In 1951, the Press (Objectionable Matters) Act was passed along with an amendment to Article 19 (2), which empowered the government to demand and forfeit security for publication of “objectionable matter”. It remained in force till 1956.

A Press Commission was set up under Justice Rajadhyaksha in 1954. A major recommendation of the committee was the establishment of the All India Press Council. It was formally established on 4 July, 1966, as an autonomous, statutory, quasi-judicial body, with Justice J.R. Mudholkar, then a judge of the Supreme Court, as chairman.

Other Acts passed include Delivering of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act, 1954; Working Journalists (Conditions of Services) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955; Newspaper (Price and Page) Act, 1956; and Parliamentary Proceedings (Protection of Publications) Act, 1960.

Today, there is no formal body that exclusively deals with the freedom of Press in the country. All matters concerning the freedom of the Press falls under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, which states that “All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression…” . These freedoms are restricted under Article 19(2) that prevents absolute power under 19(1).

Other self-regulatory organisations such as News Broadcasters Association (NBA) and Broadcast Editors Association (BEA) were established that self- regulates the news content aired on television.

The electronic media complies with the guidelines of Central News Media Accreditation Guidelines, 1999, which falls under the Central Press Accreditation Committee that grants accreditation to the representatives of media organisations.

As on 31^st March 2023, a total of 1,48,363 periodicals were registered with the RNI.