Indian Constitutionalism and Press Freedom in India Since Independence

Press freedom plays a very crucial role in any democratic structure. It not only bridges the gap between the ordinary people and the government rather it also exposes the corrupt practices of the executives before the public. It is the biggest source of information any citizen can avail. This paper would try to locate the idea of press freedom in India under the framework of Indian constitutionalism. It would map the journey of press freedom in India and how over the period of time press freedom gone through several changes. In the light of various judicial pronouncement and different political regimes press freedom, press freedom in India became more resilient. With the introduction of social media which brought revolution in terms of information exchange, new kind of problems start arising such as the issue of fake and hate news. All these above-mentioned factors have impacted the very idea of press freedom and demand a comprehensive analysis of the subject matter. This paper has tried to include a few recent developments in order to catch the reality of the contemporary time. What this paper does not do or intend to do is any set of strict regulation as what should be done to overcome the obstacles coming in the way of ensuring press freedom in India. I firmly believe that this can only be done by calling all the stockholders on a common platform where the can deliberate upon the issue in length.

Keywords:
Press Freedom, Constitutionalism, Social Media, Indian Judiciary