The Hindu : Front Page : Indians prefer stability to press freedom

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 10, 2007
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Indians prefer stability to press freedom

Hasan Suroor

BBC World Service poll in 14 countries finds 48 per cent of Indians put stability first

Indians have an almost touching faith in their press
More people in India trust private news organisations

LONDON: It might come as news to India’s fiercely independent media that a majority of Indians prefer social stability to press freedom, and would support “controls” to ensure “peace and stability.”

This is the finding of a BBC World Service poll on people’s attitudes towards press freedom in 14 countries across the world.

India is among the three countries, after Russia and Singapore, where more people believe that stability is of far greater importance than press freedom.

Forty-eight per cent of Indians put stability first while only 41 per cent regard press freedom as more important. A further 11 per cent declined to answer the question.

Worldwide, the figure for those who plumped for stability as against a free press was 40 per cent.

“In most countries, press freedom is considered more important than stability. The exceptions are India, Singapore and Russia where around 48 percent support controls to ensure peace and stability and around 40 percent feel press freedom supersedes stability,” the poll says.

Good news

The good news, however, is that Indians have an almost touching faith in their press. More Indians than people in any of the other countries, covered by the survey, believe that their press is free and reports news “accurately and without bias.”

Interestingly, Indians are more “positive” about the accuracy and honesty of government or publicly-funded news reporting than their counterparts in other countries covered by the poll. Fifty-seven per cent India gave thumbs-up to government/public-funded news organisations as against 39 per cent globally.

But within India, more people (64 per cent) trust private news organisations than those who favour the “sarkari” media. At the same time, a majority of Indians (57 per cent) see the growing consolidation of private media ownership as a major issue “because you often see owners’ political views emerge in the news” Only 30 per cent agree with the opposing view that “media owners do not interfere with the news content”. There is an overwhelming desire among Indians to have a say in news content.

“Although Indians are not strong advocates of media freedom and are generally satisfied with the accuracy of news reporting in their country, they are in favour of having a say in news reporting decisions,” the poll says.

Fifty-five per cent think it is important that “people like me have a say in what gets reported in the news” while 33 per cent think “decisions as to which stories get reported in the news are best left to news organisations”.

The poll, which took place between October 1 and November 21 to mark the BBC World Service’s 75th anniversary, covered 11,344 people in India, Brazil, Egypt, Germany, Britain, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Venezuela.

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