The fourth pillar of democracy is on shaky ground. The World Press Freedom Index 2017, a report that measures the level of pluralism, media independence, and respect for the safety and autonomy of journalists in 180 countries, shows that violations of the freedom to inform are more commonplace than ever before. Another survey by a human rights organization, Freedom House, confirms that global press freedom has hit a 13-year low. Consequently, journalists remain vulnerable the world over. The Committee to Protect Journalists has highlighted the rise in crime against scribes. Governments, a study shows, are discovering newer, and more covert, means to restrict the free flow of information. The internet, supposed to make censorship obsolete, has instead opened up new ways to manipulate what reaches the public. Social media now allow politicians and radical groups to speak directly to the people, thus bypassing the media's less one-sided representation. The manipulation of news and the killing of dissent follow upon the fact that the lines between the ideas of democracy and of authoritarianism are starting to blur. Single-leader democracies, Turkey for example, are leading the assault on the media. But attacks on journalists are not that new either. Barack Obama used the Espionage Act to prosecute more whistleblowers than all previous administrations combined.

India has slipped three notches on the WPFI to rank 136th. The report attributes this to the rising fervour of 'nationalism'. The frequent use of the law against sedition demonstrates the rhetoric used for silencing. Internet and newspaper bans, a regular occurrence in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, are used to gag both independent opinion and dissenting voices. Neither are the media innocent. In the post-truth era, the media need be complicit even if they are just to survive. Neutrality, balance, independence are not easily achieved; recently, they have gone out of fashion.