Reporters Without Orders Ep 275: Government denying information, three years of #JusticeForSSR

This week, host Tanishka Sodhi is joined by Newslaundry’s Shwet Pandey and independent journalist Saurav Das. 

Saurav this week reported on how the government “blocks” requests for information and how a case filed by satirist Tanul Thakur might change this. “If the judgement is in favour of Tanul Thakur, then it could change censorship practices in India,” he says.

Shwet, who wrote on the three-year anniversary of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, explains the media frenzy surrounding the case. The assembly election was held in Rajput’s home state of Bihar soon after his death, and Shwet says, “Five percent of the political vote bank is the Rajput community. So it was a very effective ploy to politicise his death for their own agenda.”

The panel discusses nepotism, mental health awareness, self-censorship among journalists, and a lot more. Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:28 - Government censorship

00:09:36 - SSR’s three-year death anniversary 

00:40:52 - Law Commission's sedition report

00:45:10 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Saurav

The Indian Conservative: A History of Indian Right-wing Thought

Shwet

Kai Po Che!

Sonchiriya

PK

Tanishka

Surviving a media trial: The story of Disha Salian’s family

Produced by Tehreem Roshan and Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar, and edited by Umrav Singh.