Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday greeted the journalistic community and praised their relentless efforts to ensure press freedom on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day.
Taking to social media to convey his greetings and appreciation, the PM posted three tweets from his official Twitter handle in which he underlined the importance of free press, applauded those who work to ensure its freedom, and appreciate the proactive role of social media in safeguarding the independence.
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“A free press makes a stronger democracy! Today on #WorldPressFreedomDay, let us reaffirm our commitment towards steadfastly supporting a free press,” the PM urged.
“It is the multiplicity of ideas and human expression that makes us more vibrant as a society,” he pointed out.
“I applaud all those who have been working tirelessly to uphold freedom of press. It is due to these countless women and men that the spirit of a free press is significantly enhanced,” wrote the PM.
He ended his message with a note of appreciation for social media users, “I would once again like to appreciate the proactive role of everyone on social media for their commendable work towards safeguarding the freedom of press and expression.”
Each of his tweets ended with the hashtag #WorldPressFreedomDay.
It is important to note that India’s rank on the World Press Freedom Index 2018 is just one place above Pakistan’s.
According to Index, released annually by Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders), India ranks 138 out of 180 countries. Norway was on top and Sweden came second. North Korea secured the last spot at 180.
India’s rank slipped two places in 2018 bringing it one spot below Myanmar. China stands at 176, just one place above war-torn Syria.
The World Press Freedom Day is celebrated every year. In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) had chosen 3 May as the day to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in Windhoek in 1991.
An individual, organisation or institution is honoured each year with the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world. The prize is named after Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist assassinated on 17 December 1986 by Colombia’s cartels for writing against them.
