FREE PRESS AND LAW: A STUDY ON CHALLENGES FACED BY JOURNALISTS IN INDIA

AUTHOR – PUNNAGAI.K, STUDENT AT SAVEETHA SCHOOL OF LAW, SAVEETHA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL AND TECHNICAL SCIENCE (SIMATS), CHENNAI – 77

BEST CITATION – PUNNAGAI.K, FREE PRESS AND LAW: A STUDY ON CHALLENGES FACED BY JOURNALISTS IN INDIA, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 4 (2) OF 2024, PG. 740-748, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT

Personal liberty is a multidimensional spectacle that evades precise meaning. Broadly speaking it stands for freedom and exemption from superfluous control. It indicates the power of the will and one’s ability to follow one’s unrestricted choice. It is under this that all freedoms exist, the freedom of speech and expression being the foremost among them, second only to the freedom of life. In our country, liberty of thought, expression, belief , faith and worship is promised. The philosophy is given in the Preamble of the Indian constitution itself. This paper aims to analyze the validity of this freedom in today’s India and tries to grasp the role of the present government concerning the freedom of press. Major findings of the study are that the majority of the youngsters are aware of the issue and threats faced by the journalists in doing their work and many think the perpetrators and mobs and supporters of religious sects followed political parties.

The Indian constitution does not grant any specific leverage for journalists to protect their work. However, Article 19 of the Indian constitution grants freedom of speeches to all citizens with reasonable restrictions. So more stringent laws and provisions  should be made to protect the journalists and abolish the colonial era sedition laws which are widely used to silence dissent.

KEYWORDS : freedom of press, attacks, journalists, media, constitution