Can Democracy Exist Without Free Speech and Free Media
Live at: Vidyaranya High School
The Talk
Many members of the Constituent Assembly argued that without the guarantee of freedom of speech and expression — eventually Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution — democracy in India would be rendered lifeless. The extraordinary meaning of that guarantee, interpreted by the courts to include the freedom of the press, has surfaced time and again in the country’s history.
The book ‘Framing the Media: Government Policies, Law and Freedom of the Press in India’ views this guarantee through the prism of the media: print, radio, television, and digital. What emerges is the determination of those in power to limit, suppress, and even end this pledge. All this in their drive to control the public narrative, counter dissent, and influence how citizens think. How do we, as citizens, learn to counter these efforts and evolve ways to protect our precious right to speech?
Pamela Philipose
Pamela Philipose is presently the ombudsperson of the New Delhi-based news portal The Wire. She has also served as Editor-in-Chief of Women’s Feature Service and earlier as Senior Associate Editor at The Indian Express.
A recipient of prestigious awards for her journalism, she has served as Adviser to the Media Task Force of the Government of India’s High-Level Status of Women Committee Report. She is the author of “Media’s Shifting Terrain: Five Years That Transformed the Way India Communicates” (Orient BlackSwan, 2019) and “A Boundless Fear Gripped Me: How the Other Half Lived in the Pandemic’s Shadow” (Yoda Press, 2023). Her latest book is “Framing the Media: Government Policies, Law and Freedom of the Press in India” (Orient BlackSwan, 2025).
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