From April 19 until June 1, the world’s biggest democracy will hold the world’s biggest election, which the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been in power since 2014, is expected to win.
CPJ spoke to reporters and editors across India about their plans for covering these historic parliamentary elections in a difficult environment for the media, which has seen critical websites censored, prominent editors quit and independent outlets bought by politically-connected conglomerates, while divisive content has grown in popularity.
Chief among journalists’ concerns is election violence. Many journalists fear that they will not receive adequate protection or support from their newsrooms on dangerous assignments. More than a dozen journalists were harassed or injured during the 2020 Delhi riots, the capital’s worst communal violence in decades, in which more than 50 people died.
Read CPJ’s safety guide for journalists covering the India election
Read more of CPJ’s India coverage
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined scores of reporters and news leaders who gathered at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy in a moment of silence and solidarity with journalists in Gaza. Festival attendees stood on the steps outside the Palazzo dei Priori for the April 19 ceremony.
CPJ has documented that at least 97 journalists and media workers were among more than 34,000 killed since the war began on October 7, and numerous other journalists have been injured, arrested and attacked.
More on the war:
–CPJ calls for probes into Israeli attacks on journalists at refugee camp, hospital
–CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg’s New York Times essay on why the Israeli censorship regime must stop
We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.
Jam Saghir Ahmed Lar
Daily Khabrain, Pakistan
Zayd Abu Zayed
Quran Radio, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Myat Thu Tan
Western News, Myanmar
Mardonio Mejía
Sonora Estéreo, Colombia
Mardonio Mejía
Sonora Estéreo radio station, Colombia
Hamza Al Dahdouh
Al-Jazeera, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory