India: Media Freedom Under Threat, Suppression of Critics

[Cheepek]

From this non-answer, I think we can both agree that:
1) You don't really have the competence to critique the RSF's methodologies,
2) You can't bring up any other unbiased list that paints India in a better light.

And I won't even go into your earlier bit about "shit against the country in one breath and cry wolf in the other" and all that cr@p.

Cheers.

Can't even answer a simple Y/N but have the audacity to give certificates of competence.
No, it's not a non-answer, since you've already gone through the methodology and found nothing wrong, it's imperative for me to dumb it down for you.
But it's fine with me otherwise too. Have a nice day.

 

[ayesha.a]

Can't even answer a simple Y/N but have the audacity to give certificates of competence.
No, it's not a non-answer, since you've already gone through the methodology and found nothing wrong, it's imperative for me to dumb it down for you.
But it's fine with me otherwise too. Have a nice day.

Oh, you really wanted an answer to that deflectionary question? Then here it is:

You are free (as an individual) to abuse whoever you want, and that shouldn't affect press freedom rankings. You can abuse her, me, yourself or your own mother. Go right ahead and do so, if it pleases you.

That is not what determines press freedom.

 

[Cheepek]

Oh, you really wanted an answer to that deflectionary question? Then here it is:

You are free (as an individual) to abuse whoever you want, and that shouldn't affect press freedom rankings. You can abuse her, me, yourself or your own mother. Go right ahead and do so, if it pleases you.

That is not what determines press freedom.

Good answer.

But as per RSF's press freedom index methodology, it affects the press freedom ranking.

Next, do you think legitimate complaints against journalists which goes through due process of law should affect our press freedom ranking? Y/N

 

[ayesha.a]

Good answer.

But as per RSF's press freedom index methodology, it affects the press freedom ranking.

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Next, do you think legitimate complaints against journalists which goes through due process of law should affect our press freedom ranking? Y/N

There is a difference between powerless and impotent individuals such as you abusing reporters, and a State or state sponsored organizations doing so. That is why I emphasized the "you as an individual" part in my response. Your abuses do not qualify as genuine threats to her person or life. You are a nobody.


You can find plenty of Americans abusing journalists all over social media. None of those are taken as credible threats. But the situation in India is different, because the govt or govt backed agencies or individuals harass and threaten journalists, judicially or extra judicially.


That is the difference.


Boy, you really do need a 9th grade civics lesson, don't you?

 

[Cheepek]

There is a difference between powerless and impotent individuals such as you abusing reporters, and a State or state sponsored organizations doing so. That is why I emphasized the "you as an individual" part in my response. Your abuses do not qualify as genuine threats to her person or life. You are a nobody.


You can find plenty of Americans abusing journalists all over social media. None of those are taken as credible threats. But the situation in India is different, because the govt or govt backed agencies or individuals harass and threaten journalists, judicially or extra judicially.


That is the difference.


Boy, you really do need a 9th grade civics lesson, don't you?

So, Americans abusing journalists is fine but how dare heathens abuse anglicised journalists?
I think we should end the discussion, you are a brown sepoy and I have no interest in schooling an ignoramus.

I know India cannot be America, wiping and censoring Hunter Biden story is yet to be practiced here.

 

[Faqirze]

There is no threat to media freedom. Our media is littered with negative news of the government (at centre) every day all throughout the year.
But journalists are definitely not above the law. Journalists were caught being OGWs for terrorists in Kashmir, should they be let free just because they possess some self proclaimed title of being a "journalist"?

You know as a neutral observer, it seems as if merely criticizing Modi and his policies or India as a whole is heavily frowned upon. Anyone who dares criticize or question such is instantly shut down and termed as "anti national, "Pakistani", or told to go to Pakistan. This is a society that heavily frowns upon and discourages critical and free thinking but they do a very clever job disguising it as a "Democracy". Do the citizens not have a right to criticize or call out faults in their country? criticizing your country or calling out flaws doesn't make you anti patriotic or a traitor, they do it out of legitimate concern and desire to make their country a better place. For a society to be so narrow minded as a collective is absolutely staggering to say the least, it seems like all the sane voices out there are indeed shut down by the establishment at large.

 

[Cheepek]

You know as a neutral observer, it seems as if merely criticizing Modi and his policies or India as a whole is heavily frowned upon. Anyone who dares criticize or question such is instantly shut down and termed as "anti national, "Pakistani", or told to go to Pakistan. This is a society that heavily frowns upon and discourages critical and free thinking but they do a very clever job disguising it as a "Democracy". Do the citizens not have a right to criticize or call out faults in their country? criticizing your country or calling out flaws doesn't make you anti patriotic or a traitor, they do it out of legitimate concern and desire to make their country a better place. For a society to be so narrow minded as a collective is absolutely staggering to say the least, it seems like all the sane voices out there are indeed shut down by the establishment at large.

It's a free world, people will abuse, call out names etcetera. It doesn't matter.
What matters- are you free to criticise the government of the day in the press?
If you are, then you have press freedom. If you can't, then you don't have press freedom.
If people don't like your reports and abuse you, it's their goddamn right to do it!

 

[ayesha.a]

So, Americans abusing journalists is fine but how dare heathens abuse anglicised journalists?
I think we should end the discussion, you are a brown sepoy and I have no interest in schooling an ignoramus.

I know India cannot be America, wiping and censoring Hunter Biden story is yet to be practiced here.

American individuals abusing journalists is fine, Indian individuals abusing journalists is fine. It's when the state machinery harasses them, that it becomes problematic. This is reflected in the rankings as well. If you don't understand the difference, I am more than happy to end the discussion.

 

[Faqirze]

It's a free world, people will abuse, call out names etcetera. It doesn't matter.
What matters- are you free to criticise the government of the day in the press?
If you are, then you have press freedom. If you can't, then you don't have press freedom.
If people don't like your reports and abuse you, it's their goddamn right to do it!

The problem is that they have dedicated IT cell workers that harass journalists and send them vile death threats just for merely criticizing government policy, now that's not very democratic. It seems as if the establishment themselves have more or less muzzled sane voices, the common citizens are willing to go any means to defend their blind nationalist delusions and harass anyone who dares criticize the country as a result of brainwashing by media channels and politicians.

 

[Cheepek]

The problem is that they have dedicated IT cell workers that harass journalists and send them vile death threats just for merely criticizing government policy, now that's not very democratic. It seems as if the establishment themselves have more or less muzzled sane voices, the common citizens are willing to go any means to defend their blind nationalist delusions and harass anyone who dares criticize the country as a result of brainwashing by media channels and politicians.

Ok, the imaginary all encompassing all powerful IT Cell is the problem.
Probably block feature can help in that. For vile threats- can opt for legal action. Or if the kitchen is too hot, just go offline. Criticise without having a social media profile. Not too hard.
It still has nothing to do with press freedom.

 

[StraightEdge]

Indian a**holes in full glory out in the thread.

 

[Paitoo]

@Faqirze

It is a bit naive to expect that absolute press freedom will ever be possible in the 3rd world. It is tempting to blame the government for everything, but the fact is that people themselves are not very responsible when it comes to being trigger happy as far as forwarded content is concerned. We as a society are dramatic and like to believe scripted nonsense, which we will as easily share. Combine this with deep fakes, and truth becomes a casualty.

It is also tempting to blame everything on IT cell, but not everyone defending the government is part of the so called IT Cell. You have people in Pakistan, and on this very forum who absolutely despise people they call 'liberals'. Such people exist in India too, perhaps in greater proportion because historically we have been a more liberal society and therefore we have a larger number of liberal haters. Libtards, Liberandus, Sickular etc are not creation of the so called IT Cell, even though they may be minting it.

Does the government abuse its position? Yes and no. Daily criticism of the government is commonplace in India. No one will trouble you for it. It gets tricky when criticism intersects with protests such as CAA and Farm Laws. Current government is quite thin skinned when it comes to protests. Its own cadre does not make it easy by making inflammatory speeches during these tense situations. Riots follow and government, looking to err on the side of caution goes after people who are seen to be 'flaming the fires', which unfortunately has come to mean government critics.

The threshold of what constitutes as offensive to the Hindus has also been lowered. As a non practicing Hindu I don't want to lecture Hindus on what this threshold should be. After all Muslims themselves are not very tolerant of criticism of Islam and have zero tolerance for criticism of their own prophet. You will now find more Hindus and Hindu organizations or political groups filing cases against what they believe amounts to 'hurting religious sentiments'. This too can lead to arrest and incarceration.

 

[Faqirze]

Ok, the imaginary all encompassing all powerful IT Cell is the problem.
Probably block feature can help in that. For vile threats- can opt for legal action. Or if the kitchen is too hot, just go offline. Criticise without having a social media profile. Not too hard.
It still has nothing to do with press freedom.

Yeah just block them bro, if only it were that easy to block brigades of thousands upon thousands of vile trolls and bot farms threatening to kill and rape your family just because you dared go against the narrative of the establishment. And those same people are protected by all echelons of the establishment, you think trying to take legal action and reporting it to the cops will do jack?

 

[Cheepek]

Indian a**holes in full glory out in the thread.

Why? Being a Chinese ho hurts so much?

 

[Maula Jatt]

Well Press is annoying anyways