Every year on 16th November, National Press Day is celebrated in India. This day commemorates the establishment of the Press Council of India (PCI) in 1966.
The World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) is an annual ranking of countries that is compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) since 2002. It is based upon the non-governmental organization's own assessment of the countries' press freedom records in the previous year. This report indicates the freedom that journalists, news organizations, and netizens have in each country and the efforts made by authorities to respect this freedom.
WPFI only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism in the countries it assesses. It does not look at human rights violations in general as well.
What is RSF?
Reporters Without Borders is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization. It is headquartered in Paris. It focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. Its advocacy is described as the belief that everyone requires access to the news and information, in line with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that recognizes the right to receive and share information regardless of frontiers.
RSF has status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and the International Organization of the Francophonie.
RSF report:
According to Reporters without borders (RSF), India has been ranked 159 – two ranks above last year – in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index. It had ranked 161 in 2023.
According to the CNN report, RSF stated, “With violence against journalists, highly concentrated media ownership, and political alignment, press freedom is in crisis in “the world’s largest democracy”, ruled since 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and embodiment of the Hindu nationalist right.”
Across the world, RSF stated, “A growing number of governments and political authorities are not fulfilling their role as guarantors of the best possible environment for journalism and for the public’s right to reliable, independent, and diverse news and information.”
As per The Wire, Somdeep Sen, a political scientist at Roskilde University in Denmark said, “Much of Adani's wealth has been a direct result of this problematic relationship. So, it's only expected that an Adani-owned channel would work to keep up the Modi-Adani ties.”