Censorship: how and where - Free Speech in India 2014

IN Media Freedom | 12/04/2014
Attacks on the media, threats, cyber media censorship, curbs on film, theatre performances, defamation notices and surveillance are amongst the categories of censorship for the first Quarter of 2014.
A FREE SPEECH HUB LIST

Free Speech in India 2014: The categories of censorship for First Quarter of 2014

 

From the Free Speech Hub of The Hoot

 
 
 Attacks - 6

1. Journalists beaten up by police outside Bengal secretariat

2. Protesters attack Odia daily offices

3. Dwarkashankaracharya slaps reporter over query on Modi

4. Magazine attacked by party workers for publishing Aseemanand interview

5. Havildar suspended for beating up journalist in Manipur

6. VIBGYOR film festival activists attacked

Threats - 5

1. IJU condemns NSA summoning of editor for questioning

2. Gunshots fired in front of IFP scribe’s gate

3. Journalist harassed after exposing tribal women’s exploitation

4. Shinde 'crushing' media: meant social media, not electronic!

5. CRPF use journalists as 'human shield' during Kashmir clashes

Curbs on print media - 4

1. Manipur Students' Federation lifts ban on Times of India

2. Ban on media reporting of intern’s charges

3. Newspapers resume after four-day news blackout in Arunachal

Curbs on broadcast media – 2

1. Under pressure, UP government lifts ban on Times Now

2. LokSabha passes Telangana Bill amid TV blackout

Censorship in cyber media- 5

1.Bar Association suspends Kerala woman lawyer for FB comment on male lawyers' 'silly behaviour'

2.Mouthshut site blocked 

3.Whistle blower website Savukku banned by Madras High Court

4.1 booked for posting anti-BJP messages

5. India asked us to block access to websites: Verizon disclosure

Film – 8

1. Mumbai theatre Globus refuses to screen 'The Gujarat Promise' for fear of BJP backlash

2. Ban on Punjabi movie Kaun De Heere; Film producers knock the doors of Revision Committee

3. RSS workers stop screening of 'Ocean of Tears' at film festival

4. CBFC refuses to certify film on Sri Lankan war

5. Get fresh nod for film on Khairlanji massacre: HC

6. 'Gulab Gang' stay order removed, to release tomorrow

7. Hindu group demands ban on Ragini MMS 2, deportation of Sunny Leone

8. Santosh Sivan’s ‘Inam’ pulled from cinemas after Tamil groups protest

Literature - 7

1. Sahara gets stay on book and sues Mint for defamation

2. Bloomsbury withdraws 'The Descent of Air India', blames Praful Patel

3. Row over curb on book at fair

4. Penguin to withdraw Wendy Doniger’s controversial book, The Hindus

5. Pudumaipithan’s 2 short stories removed from Madras University curriculum

6. Shiv Nadar biography shelved before publication

7. Another book on Hinduism by Wendy Doniger under attack;

After Penguin, Aleph recalls Wendy Doniger's book

Culture: Music, Art, Theatre - 4

1. Dalit musician banned at Guruvayoor temple

2. Shiv Sena Tries to Block Pakistani Band press meet

3. Kalaghoda axes play after Hindu groups call it 'anti-national'; producers move it to YouTube

4. Hindu groups protest: Police advise organisers not to stage play in Chennai

Dissenting voices – 1

1. Mumbai univ suspends professor for addressing media, suspension revoked after student protests

Hate Speech - 2

1. Aamir Khan complains about hate campaign

2. Congress candidate Imran Masood who threatened to kill NarendraModi arrested

Sedition – 2

1. Sedition case against Kejriwal withdrawn

2. Sedition charges for students who cheered Pakistan; dropped after protest

Defamation – 4

1. Sahara gets stay on book and sues Mint for defamation

2. Swatanter Kumar files defamation case against media, intern

3. Google Takes Defamation Case to India's Supreme Court

4. Dhoni files defamation case against Zee, News Nation

Govt. action on Privacy, Surveillance     – 3

1. Indian agency in RSF 'enemies of Internet' list

2. Centre issues new guidelines for phone interception

3. Terror threat: Restrictions imposed on cyber cafes

Judicial Action - 3

1. SC on hate speeches; directive to Law Commission to formulate guidelines

2. SC orders UIDAI not to share Aadhaar details with any agency 

For details on this listing, please check the Free Speech Tracker

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The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.                   

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.                 

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