India cancels ban for ‘fake news’

MUMBAI, India — The Indian government on Tuesday abruptly withdrew a plan to blacklist journalists for spreading “fake news,” after an outcry from reporters who said it would muzzle the press ahead of national elections next year.

The measure announced Monday night would have stripped any print or television journalist accused of having “created and/ or propagated” fake news of government accreditation, which confers access to official buildings and events.

Mainstream news organizations said the accreditation is necessary for reporters in the capital, New Delhi, to do their jobs — and the blacklist would effectively allow the government to control which journalists get access to news.

Critics said the policy, which did not define what news would be considered “fake,” could have been used to stifle coverage critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

Shekhar Gupta, a prominent print and TV journalist, called the measure “a breathtaking assault on mainstream media” that recalled efforts by a former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, to impose a draconian defamation bill in the 1980s. (Gandhi withdrew the bill.) Mamata Banerjee, leader of West Bengal state and a leading Modi rival, called it “a brazen attempt to curb press freedom.”

India’s information ministry withdrew the measure by lunchtime — but by then it had already renewed questions about freedom of the press in the world’s most populous democracy.

Under Modi’s powerful Hindu nationalist government, stories that challenge his allies and policies have been met with threats, lawsuits and cries of “fake news.”

Modi, who is expected to seek re-election next year, has actively avoided mainstream journalists and hasn’t held a news conference since becoming India’s leader.