ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the questions in the context of the present reality of Indian media. Media freedom was an issue in the 1977 election, but only as one aspect of the issue of Emergency rule. Of the three mass media—newspapers, television, and radio—newspapers have the smallest audience, yet are confrontational with the government. In the years of colonial dependence, newspapers were either pro-British or nationalist. The nationalist press was by and large against authority, and this history has cast newspapers in their present role as an opposition force. The chapter explores the issue of press ownership, to understand how even in a free marketplace of ideas; the media are subject to political influence. Newspapers revel in political news, much of it statements from politicians or personality-oriented stories. Doordarshan's actions in the Indira Jaising case bear a resemblance to government attempts to curb access to official information and the expression of dissent in newspapers.
