“It is unacceptable that the country portrayed as the world’s biggest democracy now lacks so many of the safeguards needed to sustain a free and diverse press,”Célia Mercier, head of RSF’s South Asia Desk said.
New Delhi: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has urged political parties in India to commit to press freedom and suggested concrete measures that aim to “defend the right to reliable news and information and protect journalists”.
“It is unacceptable that the country portrayed as the world’s biggest democracy now lacks so many of the safeguards needed to sustain a free and diverse press. It is unacceptable that Indian journalists and foreign reporters are subjected to so much obstruction in their day-to-day work,”Célia Mercier, head of RSF’s South Asia Desk said.
She added: “There is an urgent need for political parties to affirm their commitment to safeguarding the public’s right to reliable, diverse and independent information, and to adopting measures to end the continuous erosion of press freedom seen in India during the past decade. We offer them ten key measures to include in their programmes.”
The RSF has suggested the political parties who are in the electoral fray must commit to press freedom by adopting ten key recommendations.
First, the non-profit organisation has urged political parties to immediately free the nine arbitrarily detained journalists, including five from the northern Jammu and Kashmir region.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
