India stands at 120 rank in Press Freedom Index
Bilal Hussain
Srinagar, Aug 28: At a time when the world talks about freedom of press, people in Kashmir have been restricted to go through the dailies or watch news and current affairs programme on local channels. Due to curfew, local newspapers have not hit the stands and TV channels have stopped airing their programmes since Monday morning. It's days now since the international media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, called upon Government of India to lift the restrictions on media in Kashmir. The state government on Thursday came up with a statement denying that any restriction has been placed. Reacting to this, a spokesperson of Reporters without Borders told Greater Kashmir said, "Of course, the areas affected by press freedom violations are Kashmir and North East states. He informed that in 2007, India was at the 120 rank on 169 countries in press freedom index by RSF. The index measures the state of press freedom in the world. It reflects the degree of freedom that journalists and news organizations enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom. According to the report by RSF Israel (Israeli territory) was at 44, Kosovo was at 60 rank and Iceland stood at the top rank. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers. "We are being restrained from serving our people with the correct and updated news," said reporter, Umar Manzor with Wadi news channel. "I had to go through 15 check points before reaching office. The manner CRPF personnel treated me was cruel," said Gowhar Ahmad, a reporter with a newspaper. The Indian Constitution, while not mentioning the word "press", provides for "the right to freedom of speech and expression" (Article 19(1) a). The government claimed that reports broadcast by certain stations violated the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 1995.
Bilal Hussain
Srinagar, Aug 28: At a time when the world talks about freedom of press, people in Kashmir have been restricted to go through the dailies or watch news and current affairs programme on local channels. Due to curfew, local newspapers have not hit the stands and TV channels have stopped airing their programmes since Monday morning. It's days now since the international media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, called upon Government of India to lift the restrictions on media in Kashmir. The state government on Thursday came up with a statement denying that any restriction has been placed. Reacting to this, a spokesperson of Reporters without Borders told Greater Kashmir said, "Of course, the areas affected by press freedom violations are Kashmir and North East states. He informed that in 2007, India was at the 120 rank on 169 countries in press freedom index by RSF. The index measures the state of press freedom in the world. It reflects the degree of freedom that journalists and news organizations enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom. According to the report by RSF Israel (Israeli territory) was at 44, Kosovo was at 60 rank and Iceland stood at the top rank. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers. "We are being restrained from serving our people with the correct and updated news," said reporter, Umar Manzor with Wadi news channel. "I had to go through 15 check points before reaching office. The manner CRPF personnel treated me was cruel," said Gowhar Ahmad, a reporter with a newspaper. The Indian Constitution, while not mentioning the word "press", provides for "the right to freedom of speech and expression" (Article 19(1) a). The government claimed that reports broadcast by certain stations violated the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 1995.
The media persons wounded included Bilal Bhat, the Sahara Samay TV station’s bureau chief in Srinagar, who had several ribs broken, and his cameraman, Muzaffar. Ajaz Ahmad of News X, Jehangir Aziz of ETV’s Urdu service and Amin War of The Tribune newspaper were also injured.
Many journalists in the Press Enclave say that government had trampled over this right. Journalists on Monday staged demonstration here. "Give us freedom of work, let the press be free," they said.
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