On the 5th of April, the Congress party released its manifesto for the coming Lok Sabha elections. In its manifesto ‘Nyay Patra’, the Congress party has listed out steps it would take to ‘fix’ the media and make it ‘re-discover’ the freedom it enjoys under the constitution. Congress has promised to amend the Press Council of India Act 1978 if voted to power.
The party asserts that this move will ‘empower’ the Council to ‘deal’ with the fake and paid news.
Congress has said that it will ‘protect’ journalists from coercive action by the State in its bid to ‘defend’ journalistic freedom. “This includes restricting the powers of the government for surveillance of journalists, seizure of their devices and exposure of their sources,” the manifesto reads.
Upon hearing the Congress pledge to “restrict the powers of the government for surveillance of journalists” and “seizures of their devices,” one must quickly consider what the Congress actually intends to do. In the event that the Congress party is voted into power, these promises cast doubt on the party’s strategies of making sure that cases against media outlets, such as the one against the Chinese-funded propaganda source NewsClick fall flat.
It may be recalled that when the enforcement agencies had in November last year conducted raids on journalists associated with Chinese-funded propaganda outlet NewsClick, they had seized around 250 electronic devices, including phones, hard disks, laptops and even passports, of over 90 journalists.
Leftist media outlets like Scroll and The Wire had been railing against the lack of rules against device seizures at the time. The Scroll article mentioned the NewsClick raid to lament how controversial it is to seize electronic devices as evidence in cases that are perceived as ‘politically motivated in India’, and that there have been claims that the police frequently abuse their authority when conducting searches and seizures.
The Congress-friendly media had also suggested that the police frequently plant documents used as evidence on the devices during the seizure in order to frame the accused.
Moreover, after the raids, the Congress party had come out in support of the portal under scrutiny for alleged links with China. Presenting the developments as an assault on the free speech of dissenters, the grand old party accused PM Modi of harassing opposition leaders and journalists who “speak the truth”.
Similarly, in the case of ‘journalist’ Siddique Kappan, who was detained in October 2020 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), we saw how Rahul Gandhi had extended his help to him.
Rahul Gandhi had said that the Congress party observed the “illegal detention” of PFI member masquerading as journalist Siddique Kappan as a serious matter and promised his party delegation that he would look into the issue of Kappan’s arrest.
Now that Congress has pledged to “protect” journalists from coercive action by the State and limit government authority over journalist monitoring and device seizure, one can be certain that anti-national media outlets like Newsclick and self-proclaimed media professionals like Siddique Kappan are going to be let go easily simply because their ideologies align with that of the grand old party.
What is even more ironic is that the Congress party itself has a history of violating press freedom and taking coercive action against media outlets and journalists, like in the case of Zee News journalist Rohit Ranjan, where Chhattisgarh police arrested the journalist for a mistake in airing news related to Rahul Gandhi or that of Raipur based journalist Nilesh Sharma, who was arrested for his political satire after Congress accused him of spreading ‘fake news’.
Further, the grand old party has also promised to curb monopoly in the media industry, cross-ownership of multiple segments as well as control of media by business organisations by bringing a law.
Congress while talking about curbing monopoly and control of media, however, forgot that the party itself owns and runs a media publication rather—National Herald, the financial operations of which are being investigated by the central probe agencies.
“Congress will pass a law to curb monopolies in the media, cross-ownership of different segments of the media, and control of the media by business organisations. Congress will refer cases of suspected monopolies to the Competition Commission of India,” the party said.
The grand old party has also promised to make media houses disclose their ownership structures, and cross holdings in addition to revenue streams on their website.
“All media houses, irrespective of the size, will be required to disclose their ownership structures (direct and indirect), cross holdings, revenue streams, etc. through their websites,” Congress said.
The Congress party also promised to bring a law to “preserve the freedom of the Internet and to prevent arbitrary and frequent shutdowns of the Internet.”
Asserting that the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill 2023 among others brought by the Modi government give “unbridled powers” of censorship to the government, Congress said it will “withdraw” the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill 2023.
Moreover, Congress will “amend or delete” what it calls ‘restrictive’ provisions of two other acts—Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023; Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023 in its bid to end backdoor censorship.
“Many new laws (e.g. the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023; Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023; Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023, etc.) give unbridled powers of censorship to the government. The first named Bill will be withdrawn. The restrictive provisions of the two Acts will be amended or deleted to eliminate backdoor censorship,” the party manifesto reads.
Furthermore, the party promised to amend the Cinematograph Act, 1952 saying that it will ensure that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) would grant graded certificates based on “transparent and reasonable criteria”.
“Congress will amend the Cinematograph Act, 1952 to provide that the Central Board of Film Certification grants graded certificates to according to transparent and reasonable criteria,” Congress’s manifesto reads.
