Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Freedom of Press – Absolutely Necessary' that was published in Newsband

Freedom of Press – Absolutely Necessary

Mohammed Adel Fahmy, Baher Mohammed and Peter Greste who were journalists working with Al Jazeera television channel, were sentenced to imprisonment by the Egyptian judiciary on charges of siding with the Muslim Brotherhood — soon after it was designated a terrorist group — and of reporting ‘false news’. The team was covering the events in Egypt after the army’s removal of Mohammed Morsi as President.

The court’s verdict is an egregious blow against media freedom, and clearly a move to intimidate journalists covering the turmoil in Egypt. Now, jailing even one journalist on trumped up charges is an attack on media freedom everywhere. In every decent country, the Executive, Legislature, Judiciary, the Press and the Public act as checks & balances against each other. 'Freedom of Press' is absolutely necessary. Press badly needs the unfettered freedom. We have seen in countries which respect ‘Freedom of Press’ instances where the Press has done monumental work to expose the culprits.

Who is to define when a country is facing a grave situation so as to warrant gagging of the press? Powerful military men like Yahya Khan, Parvez Musharraf and Augusto Pinochet? The likes of Indira and Sanjay Gandhi as they did in 1975-77? Religious leaders like Khomeini or the mullahs of Saudi Arabia?

In India, Sanjay Gandhi and his middle class supporters, during the Emergency of 1975-77, believed that gagging the press was needed to ensure stability. Well, with the watchful eye of the press not there, people vanished, there were extra-judicial killings, abuse of power by the executive, forced sterilisations, often of the poor and many other human rights violations. Indeed, every dictator markets himself as the sole person who stands between stability and anarchy - just take a look at the uniformed dictators who unleashed terror in Pakistan, Burma, Chile, Egypt etc. Whether these countries became more stable is highly debatable.

Dictators curb press’ freedoms citing the need for stability. What follows is not stability - but unrest, repression and abuse of power. The press needs to flourish as a vital check on the executive - that is what sets say an India apart from say a Pakistan or Egypt. Throughout history, rulers & strongmen - especially when their powers have been unchecked - have been more responsible for violence and instability than the press per se.

Is press freedom a Constitutional right afforded to citizens or something subject to the whims and fancies of whoever is in power?

Every journalist just does his job and that includes exposing the truth no matter what. Journalists have been the target for being too straightforward with their questions towards politicians. But aren’t they asking the questions for which everybody wants an answer? If you make them do whatever you want to, then freedom of speech is definitely being hindered.

Freedom of media is nothing but freedom of speech. A society with no freedom is evil. A free society is a good society.

Freedom of media is important because it is the first freedom that is curbed in a society gearing towards oppression. Imprisonment to media persons is a brutal attack on the right of freedom of the people of any country. If media won't work without any fear, the common men won't be able to get the correct picture of anything. The issue must be raised in the UN to get the solution.