Supreme Court judge, Justice S Ravindra Bhat recently flagged the perils of fake news and unregulated private interests dictating what makes news..The sitting Supreme Court judge expressed concerns on this issue while speaking at the Harvard India conference last month.."In today's age and day, which is characterised by easy and rapid proliferation of media via the Internet, a retreating State and an overwhelming level of privatization, the freedom of speech and expression faces far more insidious and indirect challenges. The absence of more stringent regulation or a framework of laws that regulate control and ownership of media houses has unfortunately meant that private interests are having a chilling effect and beginning to dictate what is reported on in the news in a newsroom," Justice Bhat said..He argued that the ease of disseminating information in today's age has been a double-edged sword, even if it has democratised opinion and access. "It has also made the spread of fake news and false narratives and hate speech that much more easier," he added.He commented further that it is imperative for all to promote the democratisation of opinion and access while directing concerted efforts to tackle fake news, by enacting a law or in the absence of such law, judicial intervention. .Justice Bhat also spoke of the role of the arts in dissent and democratic expression. "The power of art, whether it is theater or films or songs or cartoons or even satire to disseminate ideas is compelling. If these ideas are not acceptable to the influential and the powerful, they attempt even in democracies to muffle them," he said. .He admitted that there were threats to the independence of institutions and privacy, given the lack of a comprehensive legislation to tackle practices enabled by technological advancements.Any tendency towards homogenisation needs to be firmly resisted, he added. He also emphasised that the country's climate change response should not further disadvantage already marginalised communities..He concluded his address by stressing on the role of citizens in a democracy."It is the people who are to keep democracy in the wheels of governance through the Constitution ticking. So long as they do, democracy will flourish and we may witness an India at 2047 as a society which proved all its prophets of doom wrong, a strong land of freedom without narrow domestic walls and whose people hold their head high. This is the kind of India I hope all of you wish for," he said.
Supreme Court judge, Justice S Ravindra Bhat recently flagged the perils of fake news and unregulated private interests dictating what makes news..The sitting Supreme Court judge expressed concerns on this issue while speaking at the Harvard India conference last month.."In today's age and day, which is characterised by easy and rapid proliferation of media via the Internet, a retreating State and an overwhelming level of privatization, the freedom of speech and expression faces far more insidious and indirect challenges. The absence of more stringent regulation or a framework of laws that regulate control and ownership of media houses has unfortunately meant that private interests are having a chilling effect and beginning to dictate what is reported on in the news in a newsroom," Justice Bhat said..He argued that the ease of disseminating information in today's age has been a double-edged sword, even if it has democratised opinion and access. "It has also made the spread of fake news and false narratives and hate speech that much more easier," he added.He commented further that it is imperative for all to promote the democratisation of opinion and access while directing concerted efforts to tackle fake news, by enacting a law or in the absence of such law, judicial intervention. .Justice Bhat also spoke of the role of the arts in dissent and democratic expression. "The power of art, whether it is theater or films or songs or cartoons or even satire to disseminate ideas is compelling. If these ideas are not acceptable to the influential and the powerful, they attempt even in democracies to muffle them," he said. .He admitted that there were threats to the independence of institutions and privacy, given the lack of a comprehensive legislation to tackle practices enabled by technological advancements.Any tendency towards homogenisation needs to be firmly resisted, he added. He also emphasised that the country's climate change response should not further disadvantage already marginalised communities..He concluded his address by stressing on the role of citizens in a democracy."It is the people who are to keep democracy in the wheels of governance through the Constitution ticking. So long as they do, democracy will flourish and we may witness an India at 2047 as a society which proved all its prophets of doom wrong, a strong land of freedom without narrow domestic walls and whose people hold their head high. This is the kind of India I hope all of you wish for," he said.
