Surya Prakash
The Paris-based NGO, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), has come out with its latest Press Freedom Index to judge the degree of freedom available to journalists in different countries of the world. This index places India, the world’s largest, the most vibrant and liberal democracy and arguably the most plural society, down below at number 142 among 180 countries assessed for this evaluation. This is two notches below 140, the position occupied by India a year ago.
Why, according to RSF, does India perform so poorly vis-à-vis other nations, when it comes to press freedom? This calls for some serious analysis of the RSF’s understanding of democracy and the methodology that it employs.
The RSF website says the degree of freedom available to journalists is determined by pooling responses of experts to an elaborate questionnaire devised by it. The quantitative data is combined with qualitative analysis on abuses and acts of violence against journalists during the period evaluated. The criteria evaluated in the questionnaire, which has 87 questions, are pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information. This on-line questionnaire is sent by RSF to 18 NGOs across the world and a network of 150 correspondents and to researchers, jurists, human rights activists chosen by these correspondents. About ten per cent of the respondents are foreign correspondents working in the country being evaluated.
But, here is the catch. The sample size for the survey for a country like India, which has 1330 million citizens, is too small and little is known of the respondents chosen. We shall deal with this a little later.
First of all, one would presume that a good democratic environment is sine qua non for a free press, but, strangely, there is little or no weightage in this index for fundamentals of democracy like a republican government; an inviolable commitment to freedom of speech and expression in a country’s constitution; an unambiguous constitutional commitment to pursuit of secular values; separation of religion and State; the fundamental right to equality before law and the equal protection of the laws; gender equality; and the fundamental right to life and personal liberty. It appears as if RSF does not see the need for any of this while judging whether there is press freedom in a country, and this is its biggest flaw.
This becomes obvious when one sees the ranking of certain nations, which cannot even qualify as democracies, way ahead of India. Here are some samples:
While the RSF Index places India at 142, Burkina Faso is over a hundred points ahead at number 36. This is the country which was identified by the State Department of the U.S sometime ago in its Trafficking in Persons Report saying that slavery continued to exist in Burkina Faso and that Burkinabè children were often the victims. It said slavery is an entrenched institution with a long history that dates back to the Arab slave trade. In 2018, an estimated 82,000 people in the country were living under “modern slavery” according to the Global Slavery Index.
The Republic of Maldives is placed at number 79 in the CSF Index. Its constitution states that Islam is the religion of the State of Maldives and “no law contrary to the tenets of Islam shall be enacted in the Maldives”. Article 9 (d) of the Constitution declares that “a non-Muslim may not become a citizen of the Maldives”.
The Sultanate of Oman, which is at 135 in the Index, is an Arab, Islamic nation. Article 2 of the constitution of Oman says the religion of the State is Islam and Islamic Sharia is the basis for legislation. The system of governance is Sultani, hereditary in the male descendants of SayyidTurki bin Said bin Sultan, provided that whomever is to be chosen from amongst them as successor “shall be a Muslim, mature, rational and the legitimate son of Omani Muslim parents”.
In other words, it is neither a secular state nor a republic and there is no gender equality because the constitution ordains that the head of state shall be a Muslim male.
The Index places Comoros at number 75. The constitution says the Comorian people solemnly affirm their will “to draw from Islam, the religion of the state, the permanent inspiration of the principles and rules that govern the union ……..”.
Now, let us look at some nations where the State is unabashedly wedded to Christianity. Argentina is at number 64. Its Constitution declares that the federal government supports the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion.
The Constitution of Malta, which is at number 81 in the RSF Index declares that “the religion of Malta is the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion”. It says the authorities of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church “have the duty and the right to teach which principles are right and which are wrong” and that religious teaching of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith shall be provided in all State schools as part of compulsory education.
The Kingdom of Norway tops the RSF list and is declared the nation with the maximum press freedom. Its constitution describes its form of government as a limited and hereditary monarchy and says “Our values will remain our Christian and humanistic heritage”. Laying down the eligibility criteria to be head of State in Norway, it says “The King shall at all times profess the Evangelical-Lutheran religion”. It also grants immunity to the head of state – “the King’s person is sacred; he cannot be censured or accused”. In other words, it is not a secular state; it is not republican; and one of the basic fundamentals of democracy – equality before the law and the equal application of the laws (Art 14 in the Indian Constitution) – has no place in Norway.
The constitution of Denmark, which is number 3 in the CSF list declares that the Evangelical Lutheran Church shall be the established Church of Denmark, “and as such will be supported by the State”. This means that “it is based on the Holy Bible, various ecclesiastical symbolic books, and the teachings of the German theologian Martin Luther……..”. Today, the State has a duty to support the Church of Denmark financially and in other ways”.
Greece is at number 65 in this Index. Article 3 of its constitution declares that “the prevailing religion in Greece is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ. The orthodox Church of Greece, acknowledging our Lord Jesus Christ as its head, is inseparably united in doctrine with the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople and with every other Church of Christ of the same doctrine”.
Is not separation of church and State and religion and State central to democracy? This is one of the problematic issues with the RSF Index, but there are many more.
(To be Continued)
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