Any initiatives aimed at strengthening media freedom around the world should be focused on deepening the democratic traditions and steer clear of being agenda driven, senior media representatives from India said here on Thursday.
A three-member Indian media delegation, including Prasar Bharati Chairman Dr A Surya Prakash, Rajya Sabha MP and journalist Swapan Dasgupta, and journalist and political analyst Kanchan Gupta, are in the UK to attend the first Global Conference for Media Freedom co-hosted by the UK and Canadian governments.
"All initiatives for strengthening media freedom are welcome across the world but the only aim should be deepening democratic traditions," Prakash told PTI on the sidelines of the conference.
"India is not only the world's largest but also the most vibrant democracy. Such a democratic environment provides a natural vent for all opinions and views," he said.
Making a specific reference to a 2019 World Press Freedom Index which had placed India at 140th position out of around 180 countries, the Prasar Bharati chief questioned the analysis behind such an index.
He said: "Some of the countries placed ahead of India are not even democracies; there are some non-democracies or quasi democracies on that list.
"To put such nations way ahead of India smacks of some kind of an agenda in the preparation of the list itself. We are not furthering the cause of democracy by running India down this way. Being the world's biggest democracy, press and media freedom is a direct by-product as a result in India."
"Looking at it, I suspect there is an underlying agenda which is that a particular version of democracy and the media is sought to be, very subtly, made the dominant narrative."