The Editors Guild of India has expressed concern over what it described as the government’s growing intolerance towards media questioning, following recent stand-offs between Indian officials and journalists in Norway and the Netherlands during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the two countries.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Editors Guild said the confrontations with European journalists were “embarrassing” and raised concerns about press freedom and accountability in India.

The controversy followed comments made by Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng on X regarding the Prime Minister not taking questions from the media during his Norway visit.

According to the Guild, the face-off was triggered after Modi declined to answer questions from local journalists following a press briefing.

The Editors Guild noted that Norway and the Netherlands rank first and second respectively in the World Press Freedom Index, while India ranks 157 out of 180 countries.

The statement referred to remarks made by a ministry of external affairs secretary, who had pointed to “manifest cultural differences” with the Western world while responding to the Norwegian journalist’s question.

“It may well be that Western journalists are insufficiently aware of India’s past. Or even of the significant role that Indian media played in building awareness about the values underpinning India’s freedom movement,” the Guild said.

“However, they were right about the need for journalists to ask questions in a democracy.”

The Guild further called it “regrettable” that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not addressed a single open news conference during his more than a decade in office.

“The same intolerance to being questioned is increasingly being manifested at all levels of government, both at the Central and State levels,” the statement said.

“Media restrictions hurt our economy and our society.”

While acknowledging that opinions may differ on the methodology or possible bias in international press freedom rankings, the Guild said India’s “abysmal position” in such indices was “a matter of grave concern”.

It added that the rankings reflected an “increasingly constrained space” for the media to effectively perform its democratic role.

The Editors Guild also called on the government to refrain from treating the media as an adversary for carrying out its responsibility of holding those in power accountable.

The statement was signed by president Sanjay Kapoor, general secretary Raghavan Srinivasan and treasurer Teresa Rehman.