Supreme Court judge, Justice S Ravindra Bhat, while expressing concern over private interests influencing articles in a newsroom or media house, has advocated formulation of a law or a set of guidelines to regulate the information being reported through various media.
The Apex Court judge said the freedom of speech and expression in today’s world faced more insidious and indirect challenges due to easy and rapid proliferation of media via the Internet, a retreating state and an overwhelming level of privatisation.
He said the absence of a stringent guideline or a law to regulate the content of media houses had unfortunately meant that private interests were having a chilling effect on news articles.
The judge at the top court of the country said that the ease of disseminating information in the current times has been a double-edged sword, as it made the spread of fake news and false narratives and hate speech much easier, even if it had democratised opinion and access.
He stressed on the need for concerted efforts to tackle fake news by enacting a law or in the absence of such law, judicial intervention.
Regarding the role of arts in dissent and democratic expression, Justice Bhat said the power of arts, whether in the form of theatre, films, songs, cartoons or even a satire to disseminate ideas was compelling. If these ideas were not acceptable by the influential and powerful people, they attempted, even in democracies, to muffle them.
Accepting the threat to independence of institutions and privacy, in the absence of a comprehensive legislation to tackle practices enabled by technological advancements, the Apex Court judge said any tendency towards homogenisation needed to be firmly resisted.
Talking about the country’s climate change response, he said it should not further disadvantage the already marginalised communities.
Justice Bhat said democracy would flourish in India till the time people of the country ensured to keep the democracy ticking in the wheels of governance through the Constitution. If people continue to do so, India in 2047 may become a society which proved all its prophets of doom wrong, a strong land of freedom without narrow domestic walls and whose people held their head high. He added that this was the kind of India he hoped the citizens of the country wished for.