May 3, every year since 1993, has been celebrated as World Press Freedom Day. The theme for this year’s World Press Freedom Day is “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation”. It is especially relevant in India. With the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, attacking those who question him as “Opposition-funded”, and giving interviews to only a slew of “pliable” news-anchors, Press Freedom Day appears to be a rude joke in this country.
A reflection of that can be easily seen in the Press Freedom Index prepared by Reporters Without Borders — India has seen a continuous decline in its index. In 2019, India slipped two places to the rank of 140 among 180 countries, from 138 in 2018 and 136 in 2017. In these trying times for the fourth pillar of the democracy, perhaps, the news-runners need to remember what this profession stands for. Here are ten quotes that may help with that:
- “I don’t think a tough question is disrespectful.”
― Helen Thomas, American journalist
- “I believe it’s the writer’s job to tell society what it pretends it doesn’t know.”
― Mona Eltahawy, Egyptian-American journalist
- “No honest journalist should be willing to describe himself or herself as ’embedded.’ To say, ‘I’m an embedded journalist’ is to say, ‘I’m a government Propagandist.”
― Noam Chomsky, American linguist and thinker
- “Journalism is what we need to make democracy work.”
— Walter Cronkite, American journalist
- “Many journalists now are no more than channelers and echoers of what George Orwell called the ‘official truth’. They simply cypher and transmit lies. It really grieves me that so many of my fellow journalists can be so manipulated that they become really what the French describe as ‘functionaires’, functionaries, not journalists.”
Also read: World Press Freedom Index 2019: India’s Ranking Falls From 138 to 140
― John Pilger, Australian journalist and filmmaker
- “A free press doesn’t mean it’s not a tame press.”
― Andrew Vachss, American author
- “The act of speaking out makes you alone.”
― Ravish Kumar, Indian journalist
- “Democracies succeed or fail based on their journalism.”
— Scott Pelley, American journalist
- “Our mission is to speak truth to power.”
— Marie Colvin, American journalist
- “Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticise and oppose.”
― George Orwell, British author