I suspect that politicians have reached this same conclusion. They're using this welcome revelation to brazenly silence their detractors.To me it appears that the public at large does not care enough for quality content or real news.Had they cared, they would not have compromised.
Lately, several journalists who were reporting unflatteringly on the political state of affairs landed themselves a calling card from courts. [I know attacks on press freedom are nothing new; but a spate of emails in my inbox suggest that the frequency has increased] To name some:
Bharat Desai (Times of India's Resident Editor), Prashant Dayal (Correspondent) and photographer. Charged with sedition and conspiracy against the state. They had written a series of articles (first article here) on the alleged links of new Ahmedabad police chief O P Mathur with a mafia don and his ability to guarantee security in the city.
Ajay T.G (film maker). Charged with sedition. He supported Dr Binayak Sen (who brought attention to unlawul "encounter" killings in Chattisgarh) through his documentary Anjam. Just before his arrest he was planning a documentary on displacement.
Kumar Ketkar (editor, Loksatta). Residence attacked by a mob from the Shiv Sangram Sanghatana. He had written a satirical piece on plans to instal Shivaji Maharaj's statue in the Arabian Sea.
Prashant Rahi (former correspondent, The Statesman). Arrested under charges of sedition, conspiracy and attempt of waging war against the State. He had been personally involved in movements such as the agitation against Tehri Dam. [His daughter's campaign here]
Rahi's arrest, says a Tehelka story, is closely related in motivation with the arrests of Prafull Jha (former bureau chief, Dainik Bhaskar), Govindam Kutty (editor, People's March), Pittala Srisailam, Lachit Bordoloi. All are journalists who sympathize with and cover the grassroots.
These are just a handful episodes in a an increasing tide of attacks against the media. To my mind, the trend is alarming.
History shows freedom isn't a gift; it is something to fight for.
Yet, I find that just a pitiful 55 people have signed up for their cause; a signing up that requires nothing more than an armchair signature and no further action.
Today the Wall Street Journal reported that India's press is only "partly free"; Freedom House 2008 rankings put it at number 77 among the 195 nations surveyed.
No surprise.
Update: The Chattisgarh police failed to file the chargesheet against Ajay TG within the mandatory 90 day period. So finally, he was granted statutory bail and released from prison on 5 Aug, 2008. However, the police have not yet closed the case. In other words, there are severe restrictions on his freedom to travel and he had furnish a personal bond for bail.
9 comments:
The attacks on the freedom of the press and more generally the lack of freedom of expression in India is indeed a matter of grave concern and a topic I visit frequently in my blog (e.g. here and here)
Regarding the online petition, I hate to sound like an armchair critic, but do you really think these things achieve anything? I mean, even if several thousand people had signed the petition it would probably have made no difference whatsoever.
I am not denying the power of peaceful protests, merely the power of this particular mode of protest. E-petitions, as this article points out, is a form of slacktivism and its effectiveness is virtually nil. A single phone call or a written letter, I think, is a much more effective way to make a particular point. Or a peaceful march, with a few media personnel to highlight it. Just offering my two cents.
And nice blog, by the way!
Hmmm, do I think e-petitions achieve anything?
Not on their own, they don't. A signature campaign has little chance of changing government policies or bringing justice to a victim, the sort of result they are generally clamoring for.
However - they do bring together voices which can do things other than signature campaigns. Avaaz.org
,for instance, doubles up its role when it allocates donation funds to canvas pet causes.
You are right in the suggestion that it is at the bottom rung of the list of things one can do to bring change - but it does belong to the list.
Finally, in my opinion, signature campaigns serve as a barometer of public concern. And that's why I lamented in my blog...
Anuja-
I agree with most of your points. The danger of taking these online petitions seriously, however, is that when a person thinks that it might actually achieve something, he or she may not expend energy in other modes of protest that are more effective. Most people do not have the time/energy to make a point in various manners. So it is important for people to be aware about what works and what does not.
Regarding the point that it serves as a barometer of public concern, I think that a lot of people, myself included, may simply not bother about the e-petition because they might regard it as ineffective. Many others are simply not aware of the existence of the petition, especially as there so many such e-petitions floatig in the web. Thus, I have some reservations about regarding it as an effective barometer.
Nonetheless, I agree that such campaigns do belong to the list of things one can do to bring about change, especially when they are combined with other forces, as you point out.
Cheers,
Abhishek.
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