## Colophon tags:: url:: https://article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63 %% title:: Backlash, Bailiffs, Bankruptcy: The Unmaking Of Independent, Public-Spirited Journalism In India type:: [[clipped-note]] author:: [[@article-14.com]] %% ## Notes > The department cancelled The File’s approvals for tax exemptions under sections 12 A (in relation to the income of a trust) and tax-deductible donations under 80G (relating to reducing a donor’s taxable income by the amount of the donation) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. “They called us a commercial site, an entertainment site,” said Mahantesh. “That is completely untrue.” — [view in context](https://hyp.is/Nk0qJPA4Ee-QVbdAnxHcsQ/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) > The File is a digital news magazine in Kannada, focusing its work on accountability in governance, government and public policy, using documents accessed often through the Right to Information Act, 2005. Funded only through donations and grants, The File hosted no advertising—not even Google Ads, a simple monetising tool for websites that host pay-per-click advertisements—nor any commercial content. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/NlciaPA4Ee-hNYMaBUiLIQ/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) > Mahantesh said he filed an appeal with the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, but  did not know when a hearing would be granted. In the interim, he would be unable to pay contributors or editors. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/Wz9e9vA4Ee-PAiP761tvsQ/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) ⬆️ [[inverted republic]] can do what it wants with no consequences for being wrong. > The File is one of at least three not-for-profit Indian newsrooms effectively smothered since the second half of 2024 through tax authorities’ revocation of their preliminary non-profit status. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/dlng0PA4Ee-RBu-YV_xO5w/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) > Unable to receive tax-free grants or donations, with no revenue model sound enough to pay staff, overheads, web-hosting costs, etc, and with the prospect of being asked to pay income tax and goods and services tax (GST) on contributions received until now, possibly with retrospective effect, all three face legal and financial uncertainty, and other constraints in continuing to work. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/g4oETPA4Ee-A3NNJFNq6GA/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) ⬆️ Insane. > Criminal cases have included charges of sedition, among other grave allegations (see here, here and here). A coercion to self-censor has led to top editors resigning over differences with owners (see here, here and here). The series of arrests and  incarceration (see here, here and here), as well as income tax raids (see here, here, here, here and here), including a tax raid on the Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation (IPSMF) that supports independent journalism across India, have continued relentlessly. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/BXZsrPA5Ee-iIDt29IuuuA/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) ⬆️ The number of 'see here, here's.. in this paragraph is terrifying. > All these actions sidestep the global outcry induced by arrests and tenuous cases against widely respected journalists, while still effectively slowing down or suspending the organisations’ reportage and investigations.  Targeted tax scrutiny, raids, regulatory or compliances-related action or other accusations regarding finances have been the basis for action against several Indian news organisations. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/i_Q6PvA5Ee-RCBvb3NNpXA/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) > Only on 16 February, Tamil media group Vikatan said its website had been blocked after it carried in its digital magazine Vikatan Plus a cartoon of prime minister Modi with his wrists and ankles in shackles while seated across US President Donald Trump. The cartoon was an allusion to the mistreatment of Indians deported from the USA. In a social media post, the group said it was still to receive information on why the site was blocked. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/FggO7vA6Ee-EULdFsCoyiw/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) > In 2020, the Supreme Court dismissed an income-tax case against NDTV that accused the company of round-tripping finances through a foreign subsidiary. By December 2022, the Roys sold most of their shareholding in NDTV to  the Adani Group. In October 2024, the CBI told a Delhi court they had “insufficient legally admissible evidence” against the Roys in the case pertaining to the foreclosure of a loan from a private bank. Earlier, in 2023, the Delhi High Court ruled that the couple did not pose a flight risk and could travel abroad. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/Q3bHRPBEEe-gAKOlk20C_w/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) ⬆️ On cases crumbling under scrutiny. > Backlash, Bailiffs, Bankruptcy: The Unmaking Of Independent, Public-Spirited Journalism In India — [view in context](https://hyp.is/C0XShvA4Ee-x8gcKYq9ztw/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) ⬆️ date:: [[2025-02-21]] > Newslaundry received fresh notices from the I-T department as recently as 7 February 2025. CEO Abhinandan Sekhri posted on X (formerly Twitter), “I think we’re somewhere near 70 IT notices cos I stopped counting at 50.” — [view in context](https://hyp.is/dn4ZnvBEEe-7KT-eLiaClA/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) ⬆️ How did I miss this? > In May 2023, marking World Press Freedom Day at a United Nations event in New York, then administrator of the US Agency for International Aid (USAID) that now faces imminent closure, Samantha Powers, launched ‘Reporters’ Shield’, a scheme to assist journalists facing legal threats anywhere in the world. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/cnOravBFEe-Iom-WephXfQ/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) > She called these repressive measures “lawfare”, requiring media organisations or journalists to spend on legal fees, lawyers, etc. Her speech is no longer available on the USAID website, but a post by the agency on social publishing platform Medium cited her as saying journalists shouldn’t have to deal with “bankruptcy, bailiffs or bullets”. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/d1CIVvBFEe-IAv-N4ism2w/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) > Freedom House said that over the previous 17 years, the number of countries and territories that received a score of 0 on its media freedom indicator had ballooned from 14 to 33. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/UCKEXvBGEe-Y0g-6_gyckg/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) > It said populist leaders in even the “most influential democracies in the world” had worked to throttle the free press. Instead of being thrown in jail, it said, “…the media have fallen prey to more nuanced efforts to throttle their independence. Common methods include government-backed ownership changes, regulatory and financial pressure, and public denunciations of honest journalists.” — [view in context](https://hyp.is/XyLWNPBGEe-N9vu3qQRm7w/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) > On the idea of journalism as a public good—that requires public investment, like other public goods—Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz suggested in a 2021 paper titled ‘The Media: Information As Public Good’ that, among other things, such public support could include a dismantling of monopolies or oligopolies in the media. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/NhtG0PBHEe-EIA_Nu-sVVw/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) > India has 922 private satellite TV channels registered with the ministry of information and broadcasting as of March 2024, as many as 333 broadcasters, and 388 private FM radio channels. Registered print publications numbered 146,045 in March 2022, including 20,821 newspapers.  Yet, the Media Ownership Monitor, a global research and advocacy initiative, found in 2019 that a large number of media outlets does not necessarily translate into a pluralistic media landscape. Their data, collected for India in partnership with Delhi-based digital media and technology company DataLEADS in 2018-19,  suggested the opposite—“a significant trend towards concentration and, ultimately, control of content and public opinion”. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/ZBaGEvBHEe-iOafaOh6zEw/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) ⬆️ A large number of media orgs does not translate into a plural / diverse media ecosystem. > Reliance’s major strides in the media industry began less than two decades ago. Five years after its 2012 agreement with Network18, at the Reliance group’s 42nd annual general body meeting in 2019, Mukesh Ambani said the company owned 72 television channels reaching 800 million Indians, representing more than 95% of TV-viewing Indians — [view in context](https://hyp.is/zhTiwPBHEe-zN__al-z8gg/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) ⬆️ hmm.. do these numbers hold up? > A 2022 UNESCO report ‘Journalism Is a Public Good: World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media  Development’ explored how to create a viable environment for journalism to function as a public good including through increasing official state assistance without political interference. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/QaW1cPBIEe-2Ps_XEg7viQ/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63) > Stiglitz’s closing lines from his 2021 paper on media could be a corollary: “Creating an effective media is one of the most important challenges of the time,” he wrote. “The failure to do so will have large consequences for our democracies, our economies, and our societies.” — [view in context](https://hyp.is/tPx5bvBIEe-EI1NWjYqE2w/article-14.com/post/backlash-bailiffs-bankruptcy-the-unmaking-of-independent-public-spirited-journalism-in-india--67b2ad2229e63)