The Hindu Business Line : `Statute changes needed to avoid curbs on press'

MR N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, in his welcome address at the 125th anniversary celebrations of the newspaper here today, said statute changes had become necessary to eliminate the problem of how at least two of the "reasonable restrictions" on freedom of speech and expression provided for in Article 19 of the Constitution had been used against the press.

These restrictions had become unreasonable and illiberal in practice, he said referring to the way in which criminal defamation and criminal contempt of court laws had been used against the press - to create what might be called a "chilling effect".

The Indian press enjoyed a freedom that was enviable by the standards of the developing world. This freedom flowed from Article 19 and had been put on a pedestal by judicial interpretation. "We feel that to safeguard Article 19 freedoms, defamation must be de-criminalised and the civil remedies made more effective, and the sky-high powers assumed by the higher courts to act as `judges in their own case' must be taken away by Parliament and the people."

Mr Ram said one theme that ran through the 125-year history of The Hindu was the interplay of continuity and change. Another was the tension, which could be converted by good leadership into something creative, between tradition and modernity. A third was the technological change, which had a profound impact on editorial development and performance, and the evolution of professional norms and practice.

In the contemporary age, there could be no walls separating editorial functions within a newspaper. Nor could there be walls between the editorial and marketing functions of a newspaper in the sense of ruling out exchange of information and experience, consultation, and co-operation, he said.

But what must cause concern was the combination of pressures on the core values of journalism, pressures generated by intensifying competition, by business success, and sometimes by political ambition. A new kind of demand was made for manipulating news, analysis and opinion to suit the owners' financial and political interests. Price wars and other aggressive practices tremendously strengthened these pressures. There was also creeping corruption in Indian journalism, he said.

Mr Ram said The Hindu had worked out a set of five principles to guide its future. These were: truth telling; freedom and independence; justice; humaneness; and contributing to the social good. The Hindu, he said, was determined to make these principles work.

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