New Delhi: Reporters Without Borders placed two Indian entities on its latest Press Freedom Predators list. The list highlights those who threaten journalists through censorship, intimidation or propaganda. It includes the Adani Group and the website OpIndia. India ranks 151 out of 180 in the RSF Press Freedom Index.
RSF cited legal actions taken by the Gautam Adani led conglomerate against reporters and independent news outlets. It said the group filed around ten cases since 2017 targeting more than fifteen journalists and organisations. These include civil and criminal defamation suits. RSF said the suits aim to silence critical reporting. It noted two recent gag suits in which a court granted an ex parte injunction that allowed Adani to decide which content was defamatory. Takedown orders then went to multiple news platforms and to journalist Ravish Kumar.
RSF identified gag suits as Adani’s main tool to pressure the media. It described this approach as part of a systematic effort to restrict reporting that examines the group’s work or its ties with political leaders.
RSF also listed OpIndia for spreading conspiracy theories to discredit critical journalists. It said the website uses networks of online supporters to push narratives that label independent reporters as part of an anti India lobby. RSF recorded ninety six OpIndia items this year that targeted journalists. It also noted a two hundred page publication that accused several reporters of running a narrative war against the government.
RSF said attacks intensified after it announced an award nomination for Dhanya Rajendran of The News Minute. She faced defamatory posts on OpIndia soon after the announcement.
