South students shine a light on print media and censorship

The contest was open to college and university students from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Consulate had also organised a special panel discussion at the American Center featuring a few winners of the contest, Karrthik R, Daphnie Parimala Rajavel, and Karthik R and senior editorial staff from DT Next. The panel engaged a diverse set of attendees, some of them who had even joined in virtually, like a few contestants and a group of students from the Dr GRD College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore. 

US Consulate General Spokesperson Alexis Wolff moderated the panel discussion and probed the attendees on press freedom in today’s media. Salient points emerged on topics like censorship, advertising, social media and citizen journalism. 

On the essays, Wolff said, “The US values freedom of the press as a key component of democratic governance. I was inspired and impressed to read such insightful essays from students about both how they characterise and how they help protect a free press.” Consul General Robert Burgess and Ninan Thariyan, CEO of DT Next, gave away the prizes and certificates to the winners. Burgess commended the winners for contextualising press freedom and their own experiences. 

Seerat Gupta, a 3rd year journalism student from Christ College in Bengaluru, won the first place, while Maitreyi Menon, a 3rd year Economics and Public Policy student from Kochi, came in second. 

Third place went to Karrthik R, also a 3rd year Journalism student from Christ College, Bengaluru. Daphnie Parimala Rajavel, a 2nd year English Literature student from Women’s Christian College, Chennai, and Karthik R, a first year MBA student from College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, received honourable mentions for their essays.

Essays penned by the top three winners of the competition conducted by the US Consulate General, Chennai and DT Next on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2018 are presented here in entirety

 From the cavemen who drew markings on caves to the millennials who drawing makings on electronic rocks, the world as a family has developed over the years as a result of interaction. We collectively search for the ‘truth’ and yearn to know more as individuals. The ‘press’ is the embodiment of this search for truth. Press Freedom, to me, is an absolute need for the growth of mankind and the ultimate weapon for the betterment of society. The pillars on which the structure of our society rests, rely on the press to ensure their survival. The role of press therefore is providing the people of a country with the truth they need to hear. A free press led to the abolition of discriminatory practices, independence from oppressive rule, raised discussions on inequality and continues to make a difference in our day to day lives. A world where the people themselves decide who makes rules for them, it is essential that they are able to differentiate the change makers from pretenders. If the freedom of press is curbed, it ceases to be what it is.  The culture of sensationalism and monetization of press is gradually causing this press freedom to turn against itself. Free press cannot be confused with an unaccountable press. Press freedom is and will always be a weapon in the hands of journalists who pursue the truth for the society’s reformation for the betterment of all. It is these journalists who have brought change and are the unsung heroes who will continue to use the weapon of truth to show us the truth.  

Last winter, when the civil unrest in Bhima Koregaon happened, two writers from our magazine team went down to some hamlets in Pune to understand their take on the conflict. However, upon reaching the date of publishing, members of the university management respectfully asked us to take it down from the website. A couple of weeks later, an interview with an asexual student on campus was also taken down in a similar manner, and this was justified by saying that the content was ‘inappropriate’. As the Editor-in-Chief of a very young magazine, I was always aware of the challenges a media body faces – lack of funding, collective writer’s blocks and many more. However, as a student of a liberal arts university, the last thing I expected was for our magazine to be censored. In our classrooms, Foucault and Voltaire are invoked often and heated intellectual debates about freedom and free will are omnipresent, as it is in college classrooms around the world. However, today, in India, young people are often shut down when want to say something, and later asked to write about something ‘pleasant’. However, the world today is not pleasant. Therefore, what press freedom means to me is the right to report ‘unpleasant’ stories and ‘inappropriate’ facts even when it hurts the status quo. This freedom is, in turn imperative for the healthy functioning of a democracy as well as a society. 

For me, democracy and press freedom are inseparable as the basic underlying principle of democracy itself being people-centred as Amartya Sen rightly points out in one of his essays Democracy as a public reasoning. Press freedom acts as an inevitable mechanism in ensuring other forms of freedom as well as rights of every citizen belonging to a country. It voices out the concerns of the suppressed and allows voices of dissent to be heard. I see it as a truly an empowering mechanism. As press is bestowed with the responsibility of mediating between the government and common man what people get to know about the happenings around them is entirely based on what the press conveys to them and in a country where press is not allowed to function freely there is a wide scope for people to get misguided with wrong and partial information with an intention to preserve the vested interests of few. Press freedom helps in creating well-informed and socially aware citizens. To a certain extent, it makes government accountable to the people and makes people feel that their role is not merely limited to casting their ballots once in every five years. The government has various means to reach out to the people other than the press but the press is the only means through which people can reach out to the government. While freedom of the press has numerous advantages, it is equally dangerous when it's being misused or exploited.