Column

Like many other commemorative days, the main objective of World Press Freedom Day is to focus attention on one issue, in this case the freedom of the media to write and report freely and without hindrance. It is a serious and noble cause but is probably seen as one that is of interest and consequence to only those in the media business. Why should it matter to the general public?

It should, and for good reason. In India we tend to take the freedom of the press for granted; censorship is unheard of and it will be a brave government which would try to curb this freedom in any way. Indira Gandhi's government tried it during the Emergency and paid a price for it. In the end, after a year and a half of being fettered, the Indian press came out of it stronger and more determined to safeguard its freedom. Today, the thousands of newspapers, magazines and other periodicals and scores of television channels write and report with abandon and without worrying about being hauled up to the nearest police station. It is a freedom that is sometimes misused and lately the general public (and media professionals too) have begun to wonder if there should be tighter regulation on irresponsible reporting, but no one wants the government in the picture.

This freedom is a luxury that is not available to reporters in many countries. They face danger not only from the authorities but also from others, be they warlords or criminal gangs or shadowy figures close to the powers that be. Depressingly, the number of journalists dying in the cause of duty continues to rise all over the world.

Other challenges are also emerging. We, in India have already seen the effects, both good and bad, of television on journalism. Bringing news to the public has become faster, but the filters that ensured that the news was checked and double checked have either gone or have drastically reduced. The result is that Breaking News is either Faking News or not news at all. Sting operations have sometimes worked, often gone disastrously wrong. Newspapers are often under pressure to compete with the electronic media and are often accused by readers of peddling dumbed down news.

This frenzied news activity is going to get another rush from the New Media. The world over, newspaper circulations are declining as younger readers move to the Internet and the mobile phone as news sources. They decide what they want to read, when they want to read and most importantly, how they want to read. The hierarchy of news is changing too—the layout of a website or a mobile phone screen are different from that of a newspaper.

Readers are slowly taking control over content. Citizen journalism and blogging allow users to put out their version of "news"; if there is an earthquake somewhere, chances are the first eyewitness blog out of there will be read more than a newspaper report the next morning.

But is this journalism? And if it is, in its own way, what about the obligations and responsibilities that are imposed on traditional journalism? How free should such expressions be? Authoritarian governments — China is one but not the only example — monitor web content and usage and can harshly come down on anyone stepping out of line. Yahoo had to give the name of its Chinese users when the government demanded it; was that not a breach of freedom of speech?

These are not issues merely for journalists (of the old and the new media) to consider. All of us, in free societies and elsewhere will have to grapple with these problems in the coming years. The ability to constantly monitor web traffic will affect users in India too. Which is why World Press Freedom day is very important not merely to journalists, but to readers, viewers, web-users and society at large too. This is a day when we honour those who died for the cause and those who strive, day after day, to uphold this most valued of freedoms.