Newspapers: Vishwaroopam and Kamal Haasan today, could be you tomorrow

This morning, we took a look at the editorial pages of the following major English newspapers published from Mumbai — The Times of India, Hindustan Times, DNA, Mid-Day, Asian Age, Economic Times, Business Standard, Mint and Financial Express.

Of these, only three, Mid-Day, Mint and DNA, carried editorials on the Kamal Haasan — Vishwaroopam fiasco.

It is DNA’s headline that is the reason for this piece — “Protect freedom of speech”, the headline says.

“One of India’s fundamental rights is the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression, allowing all shades of voices and opinions in our country. This freedom is the bedrock of any liberal democracy. But it is under severe threat in India,” the edit begins.

Mint spells out why it is under threat. “India is perhaps alone among democracies with a pluralistic flavour where artists, poets and scholars get regularly singed by the ire of the righteous. The latest to feel the burn is producer, director and actor Kamal Hassan, who has been having a hard time with his movie Vishwaroopam,”

While The Hindu has no editorial on the issue this morning, the paper did feature a strong and scathing column on 29 January. “The delay in overturning the unjustifiable ban on Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam is beginning to appear every bit as unjustifiable. It is difficult to fathom the rationale behind the Madras High Court deferring its decision on the film’s screening…In doing so, it (the Madras High Court) has risked the unfortunate perception that it is reluctant to take a hard and forthright decision based on law.

If the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression is “under threat” and “poets and scholars get regularly singed by the ire of the righteous”, why is it that newspapers do not see the developments regarding Vishwaroopam a serious threat to themselves?

The issue has to be seen beyond Vishwaroopam and Kamal Haasan and must be viewed as a dangerous trend, where the rule of law is flouted by the administration, and where a high court, for reasons that are unfathomable, cocks a snook at the Supreme Court, which has patently ruled in the Aarakshan case. “The Supreme Court on Friday set aside Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to suspend the screening of filmmaker Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan". The court said the UP government had no powers to suspend screening of the film on the ground that it may cause breach of peace. An apex court bench of Justice M Sharma and Justice Anil R Dave said the state government cannot seek deletion of certain potions of the film as this amounted to censorship,” said a Times of India report .

What stops individuals or groups from protesting against the editorial content in a newspaper, and a state government preventing publication based on a perceived fear of law and order being disturbed?

Vishwaroopam is a milestone — and the press, if they want to preserve their freedom of speech and expression, must see it as that. They must see it not as a development in the film industry but as a disturbing attack on fundamental rights. They need to put sustained pressure on both the central and state governments to ensure that the rule of law is respected and protected. For once, newspapers need to put aside their differences and forget that they are competitors and join hands to protest against the assault on their very reason for existence: the freedom of speech and expression.

Take that away and how do newspapers exist?