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Dear Reader,
The report of a fact-finding mission by the Editors Guild of India to investigate the role of the media in the conflict and violence in Manipur in the past months has been deemed to be “false, fabricated and sponsored” by the state’s police.
Analysing the case, MediaNama points out that, among a battery of charges, the Police have unfortunately chosen to invoke the provisions of Section 66A of the Information and Technology Act, 2000 - a now-defunct provision struck down by the Supreme Court in the Shreya Singhal judgement in 2015. MediaNama also notes that this “Zombie provision”, so comprehensively read down by the apex court, has been used an astonishing 1,307 times since its abrogation more than eight years ago
When it comes to media freedom, two other States - Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka do not cover themselves with glory. Article 14 reports that a circular was issued by the UP government on August 16th, directing officers to fact-check “negative news” that “tarnish the image of the government”. This latest curb on media freedom comes amid a recent history of what is largely seen as arbitrary arrests and filing of cases against journalists at the flimsiest of provocations.
Similarly, in Karnataka, the state government has mooted the setting-up of a ‘fact-checking unit’ to ostensibly “curb fake news”. The News Minute argues that this step is a bad idea as governments, of all hues, are by their very nature primed for “protecting their own interests” and to expect the state to sit impartially in judgment on news and information is a fallacy.
And, far away in Kerala’s Wayanad, houses built for tribal citizens are coming apart in just five years, when they were built to last a generation and more. Keraleeyam Masika journeys to the tribal colonies in the deep interiors of the district, where the mainstream media is coy to tread, and investigates the plight of the Adivasis and the apathy of the government in intervening.
For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.
Warmly,
Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF
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