Washington, 24 June, 2023 (GNP): A full-page advertisement in an American newspaper said, “India is the world’s largest democracy, yet it is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the media,” published at the time of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the capital of the United States this week.
The ad featured problems faced by Journalists in India and was co-sponsored by the world’s leading media and rights advocacy groups, together with the National Press Club, Washington, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, International Press Institute (IPI), International Women’s Media Foundation, James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, Reporters Committee, and WAN IFRA.
The purpose behind this ad was to remind the Biden administration and the official Indian visitors that “press freedom is under increasing threat with journalists facing physical violence, harassment, bogus lawsuits, and hate campaigns on social media,” in India.
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The newspaper also printed a news story that stated, Modi had done an unusual act of taking questions from journalists while giving a joint press conference with Biden at the White House on Thursday.
Furthermore, the news report highlighted that the news conference “was more limited than the kind that US presidents usually hold with foreign leaders.”
It further said, “But even that wasn’t easy to arrange with Modi. Indian officials agreed to the event only the day before.”
Moreover, IPI published an open letter to Modi last month, urging him to “take immediate and concrete action to protect freedom of expression and media freedom and to ensure that the Indian public can exercise their fundamental right to receive diverse, independent news and information.”
https://twitter.com/globalfreemedia/status/1671877909626363905
