Press Censorship under the Emergency

Press Censorship under the Emergency

Press Censorship under Emergency

During the British regime, Indian news papers were not allowed to publish any material considered, “seditions”. Yet few printing presses where confiscated and fewer journalists arrested. Complete censorship was imposed only on rare occasions as when Gandhiji arrest led to countrywide disturbances and the detention of over 60,000 persons. 

Though some papers like the benglali weekly. Jugantatr, or the daily Sandhya (also Bengali) were banned in the thirties they were published secretly. Restrictions were imposed on the Press during the Quit India Movement of 1942. Yet major papers could publish the arrest of national leaders and reports of demonstrations and protests. Moreover, pre-censorship was never enforced and that explains why article critical of the British Government were carried freely.

In 1975, however, an internal emergency was clamped on the nation, and pre- censorship  imposed in a draconian manner. The Government  supPressed transmission of news by imposing censorship on newspapers, journals, radio, TV, telex, telegrams , news agencies and on foreign correspondents. Even teleprinter services were subjected to pre- censorship. The censorship was total and unparalleled. News agencies had to get all their material censored in Delhi prior to transmission. Further, newspapers had to submit already censored news for re-censorship in their respective headquarters. What is more, even advertisements, cartoons, and comic-strips were subjected to pre-censorship. Foreign papers and journals were confiscated if they carried criticism of the emergency; some issues of Times and Newsweek were banned outright.       

The underground Press was, however, active. More than 34, Printing Presses were seized and over 7,000 people arrested in connection with the publication and circulation of underground literature. Small publications such as A.D. Gorwala’s Opinion, A.B. Shah’s Quest (now New Quest) ,were forced to close down. Underground literature flourished in Gujarat, Tamilandu, Bihar and Maharashtra. Letters from Jauyaprakash Narayan and George Fernandes were published regularly and distributed discreetly around the country. From Bihar alone more than 2,000 titles were circulated.

The RSS distributed under underground literature in the form of newssheets which contained only news and quotations. They were published in English and the major Indian languages. Indians abroad published anti emergency literature C.G., Swarajya (England), Satyavani , Indian Opinion (USA).

Among the few overground publications that opposed the emergency despite stringent censorship regulations were: Sadhana (Gujarati), himmat  (edited by Raj Mohan Gandhi, freedom first) (owned by M.R. Masani) The Statesman. The Indian express, Daily Morosoli (Tamil),  Tughiak (Tamil) and Radical Humanist. Most  Other major national dailies like The Times of India, The Freedom  Press, The Hindustan Standard, and The National Herald “crawled when they were only asked to bend”?

The Post-Emergency period too  was witness to attempts by the Congress Party to control the Press. In 1984, Bihar’s Chief Minister, Dr Jagannath Mishara , Mooted the Bihar Press Bill, but protested by journalists forced him to withdraw it. Three years later, an Anti Defamation Bill (1987), initiated by Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi,  also met the same fate. More recently, veteran Congressman V.N. Gadgil introduced the Right to Reply Bill (1994), but this too had to be withdrawn.

See Also :

Print Media and Communication	Freedom of Press - The right to Publish and Privacy
Communication and Print media	Council Guides to Journalistic Ethics
Introduction to Print Media	Censorship in the Press and Media
Developments in Print Media	Media Laws
Contribution of News Papers	Press Ownership and Monopoly
Contribution of Magazines	Media Organisations and News Agencies
Press Commissions and Councils	The Mass Media
The Power of Press	Functions of Mass Media
History of Indian Journalism	Theories of the Press or Media
Press Censorship under the Emergency	Code of Ethics for Journalists
News Values in Journalism	Readership and Popularity of Magazine
Magazine genres-Types of Magazine