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Atanu Dey is an economist with Netcore Solutions in Mumbai, India. Prior to receiving his PhD in economics from UC Berkeley, he worked at Hewlett Packard in the Silicon Valley. His interests include rural development and the use of technology in education. He has a blog on India's development.

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Press Freedom at work in India

posted by Atanu Dey at 23h04 GMT on Sep 28
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The story is simple. A newspaper, Mid-Day, had published a series of articles critical of a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. Last week a ruling by the Delhi High Court sentenced four journalists associated with those articles to four months of imprisonment because it held that the reports amounted to contempt of the Supreme Court.

The Indian press protested that ruling and when the journalists approached the Supreme Court, it put the sentencing of the High Court on hold. [BBC story here.]

 

This incident illustrates quite nicely the the freedom of press enjoyed in democratic India and how journalists take that freedom seriously enough to investigate the highest figures in the land.

There is much in India which I regret. But I am really thankful that Indian enjoy freedom of the press. It would be wonderful if Indians also had absolute free expression and speech. There are unfortunate examples when the government muzzles free expression. One such instance was when the Indian government banned Salman Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses."

In any event, we should be grateful for small mercies. Democracy in India is not always what it is cracked up to be, but one of its main supports -- the freedom of the press -- is quite robust.

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