The Cost Of Truth- Investigative Journalism And The Raphael Satter Case
- IJLLR Journal
- Apr 9
- 2 min read
Madhumathi AR, IFIM Law School
ABSTRACT
The practice of investigative journalism comes at a great sacrifice to a journalist’s physical, mental and emotional health. This is because they have to dive deeper while uncovering different challenging issues such as legal threats and violence. The focus of this review is on Raphael Satter’s case where he revealed a cyber espionage case in India. He was subsequently punished in an extreme manner whereby he lost his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status. This loss serves as a warning – there is an escalation in the utilization of bureaucratic restrictions and punitive actions by the state to silence journalists.
This article aims to examined the extremely high level of impunity in India wherein investigative journalists become victims of sedition, defamation, harassment, legal intimidation, and other forms of abuse. It examines the impact that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Information Technology Acts have upon journalists’ freedom. The study also demonstrates coverage that involves the radical deterioration of the situation of internationally known reporters, Julian Assange and Jamal Khashoggi, to draw attention to the issue of lack of freedom for investigative journalists. What’s most astonishing is that journalists continue to defend press freedom through advocating for legal changes, the global community’s support, and protection of independent media. The proposed argument in this paper is that there is a need for strong institutional and societal support against the lashing of reporting journalism from press freedom by the governments and global intervention for such hostile regimes. Journalists continue working in unfriendly environments, and that makes it more essential to protect democracy, for journalists form the last bastion against authoritarian rule and disinformation.
Keywords: Press Freedom, Media Suppression, Whistleblower Protection, Government Crackdown on Media, Sedition, Media Ethics & Truth, Government Censorship, Authoritarian Control on Media.
