"Modi has tightened the screws on information." This statement from Bangalore-based journalist Subir Ghosh underscores a common challenge repeated by several of India's journalists, who say the space for criticism is shrinking under Narendra Modi's rule.
Excerpt of a 20 April 2015 CPJ blog post by Sumit Galhotra/CPJ Asia Research Associate.
“Modi has tightened the screws on information.” This statement from Bangalore-based journalist Subir Ghosh underscores a common challenge repeated to me by several of India’s journalists, who say the space for criticism is shrinking under Narendra Modi’s rule. Since a landslide victory made him leader of the world’s largest democracy nearly one year ago, the prime minister has worked to distance his government from independent reporters, they said.
While I was in India on behalf of the Committee to Protect Journalists last month, the country made international headlines over its heavy handed response to the BBC documentary “India’s Daughter,” about a gang rape. And earlier, a Greenpeace activist who had been due to testify in London about the impact of a coal-mining project, was barred from leaving the country in a move seen by many journalists I met with as a sign of tougher conditions for critical voices.
