Press freedom in Jammu and Kashmir has faced challenges and restrictions. Journalists and media organizations have encountered legal and political pressures, impacting their ability to report freely and independently. Instances of censorship and intimidation have been reported. A study in the Pakistan Journal of History and Culture found that newspapers of both countries (India and Pakistan) were "setting the agenda on Kashmir issue positively in the light of foreign policy of their respective country". A
Reuters Institute Fellowship paper titled "Media Propaganda and the Kashmir Dispute: A Case Study of the Kashmir
Floods" based on an analysis of the New Delhi-based media's coverage of the 2014 floods in Kashmir, the study concludes that "its reporting was biased and subjective". Almost all the coverage focused on the rescue efforts of the
Indian armed forces, while the contribution made by local volunteers in providing relief was ignored. The paper established that
The Times of India devoted 57% of its coverage "specifically to the army's relief efforts" while
NDTV focused 97% of its content "on the army and government's role in the crisis".
Attacks on journalists in the Kashmir conflict Since 1990, the total number of journalists who have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir is 19. The first major killing in Jammu and Kashmir by militants was of Lassa Kaul, the Director of Srinagar Doordarshan in February 1990, outside his house in
Bemina. This was followed by the killing of P.N. Handoo of the State Information Department. Militant and terrorist groups also "imposed a ban on the distribution of national newspapers and Kashmir Times and
Daily Excelsior, both published in English from Jammu". Ghulam Muhammad Lone and his eight year old son were killed in 1994 by gunmen. On 10 August 2000, a grenade killed seven journalists including Pradeep Bhatia, a journalist from
Hindustan Times. Asiya Jeelani, a print reporter, died after a van in a landmine blast in Kupwara. The most recent killing of a journalist,
Shujaat Bukhari, happened in June 2018. To counter the Pakistani misinformation campaign the Indian central government allocated Rs 430 crore for upgrading and improving
Doordarshan and
All India Radio for Jammu and Kashmir in 2004.
Media censorship In 2016, newspaper publications were banned for three days in Kashmir. On 24 August 2017, the
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology sent a letter to Twitter under Section 69A of the IT Act to censor content. Following this Twitter users received official legal complaints from Twitter. A
Press Council of India report in 2017 titled "Media and Media Scenario of J&K" in 2017 states that “journalists in Kashmir have to manage the reality of walking on the tightrope amidst the threats of gun and political arm-twisting”. Laxmi Murthy and Geeta Seshu of Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), in their 2019 report titled, 'News behind the barbed wire", based on field observation after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which provided special status to the erstwhile state of J&K, expressed that, "in the absence of reportage from the ground, the government's influence of the narrative of normalcy is near total. Its official proclamations of the creation of a 'Naya Kashmir' have become vociferous. In contrast, there is a deafening silence and invisibilisation of voices from Kashmir expressing alienation, anger and disillusionment at perceived breach of trust. The government's control of communication processes is intrinsically undemocratic and harmful, as it privileges the voices of authority and weakens those who speak truth to power." The Media Policy 2020 of the Jammu and Kashmir has also been criticised for allegedly "monopolising the flow of information by the state". Press Council of India was particularly alarmed by the provisions of 'fake news' in the media policy, which it said, while taking suo-moto cognisance of the matter, "interferes with the free functioning of the press." On 20 August 2023, the independent news outlet ''The Kashmir Walla's'' website,
facebook and
X account were blocked without serving notice. as well as the editorial team being evicted from their offices as a result of the ban. In November 2024, the Jammu and Kashmir government issued legal threats to
The Chenab Times following its report on the detention of an environmental activist under the Public Safety Act. The authorities claimed that the publication of such content had the potential to disturb law and order. The government's move was met with criticism from the
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and
DIGIPUB News India Foundation, both of which called on the administration to uphold press freedom. On 9 January 2025,
X (formerly Twitter) suspended the Kashmiri-language news account of The Chenab Times, shortly after its launch as part of its Multilingual News Initiative (MNI). The suspension, described as "unjust" by the platform's founder Anzer Ayoob, occurred after only three posts, with X citing the account as "inauthentic" but providing no detailed explanation. On 13 January 2025, Chenab Times Foundation filed a formal grievance with X India, emphasizing the account's role in preserving regional languages and urging its reinstatement.
New Media Censorship through frequent Internet bans Internet shutdowns are quite frequent in Jammu and Kashmir. The conflict-ridden region of Jammu and Kashmir in India saw five internet shutdowns until February 2021. In 2020, this number was 115. Since 2012, the region has been subject to 300 internet shutdowns, highest in the country. In 2019,
Internet was also suspended all across Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the revocation of Article 370. While the
ban on
internet wasn't
lifted in the Kashmir valley,
internet was completely restored in Ladakh. In Jammu the broadband was restored while the high-speed mobile
internet services continued to remain suspended. With the Centre refusing to lift the gag on internet services journalists in Kashmir valley had no option but to wait their turn at the media facilitation centre set up especially for them. Even then, Winter's first snowfall in Srinagar cost journalists in Kashmir one of their most essential means of connecting with the rest of the world as the internet stopped working due to a fibre cut in the lease line at the media facilitation centre in Kashmir Valley. The Jammu and Kashmir government finally restored 4G mobile Internet services in entire J&K after one and a half year in February, 2021.
Arrest of journalists Kamran Yousuf, a freelance
Kashmiri photojournalist, was arrested by the
National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 5 September 2017 and was released on bail on 14 March 2018. During this time, he was lodged in the
Tihar Jail, New Delhi. The bail petition was opposed by the NIA. In an earlier case,
Dawn reported that on 19 August 2011, Showkat Shafi, a freelance photojournalist was "beaten by government forces" and then taken to the nearest police station. After his release, he had to be hospitalised. On 27 August 2018,
Asif Sultan, assistant editor and reporter with the magazine Kashmir Narrator, was detained during a nocturnal raid from his home in
Batamaloo. He was accused of 'harboring militants', murder, attempt to murder and other crimes. and subsequently booked under
UAPA and later
PSA. The long incarcerated Asif Sultan, on 27 August 2023 completed five years in jail. He is currently lodged at Uttar Pradesh jail. He was questioned about his article on the deployment of new Indian troops in the region. Shibli was detained under the PSA. On 9 August he was transferred to
Bareilly District Prison in Uttar Pradesh. On 13 April 2020, he was released from prison. On 31 July 2020, he was transferred to
Shergarh Police Station. On 3 August 2020, he was transferred to Srinagar Central Prison. He was booked under 107 CRPC. After eighteen days, on 17 August, he was released. On January 5, 2022, authorities detained sajad Ahmad Dar alias Sajad Gul, a trainee reporter at The Kashmir Walla, from his home in the northern
Bandipora district, in relation to a video he posted on
X (formerly
twitter), which was removed, shows women protesting the killing of a local militant commander. His family asserted that Gul was arrested by the
Indian army. However, in January, Emron Musavi, an army spokesperson, told
CPJ that Gul was arrested by the
Jammu and Kashmir police. The court Order was made public on November 18, 2023, thus Sajad languished in detention for about 660 days On 20 March 2023, Irfan Mehraj, founding editor of
Wande Magazine, human rights activist and journalist, was arrested in Srinagar by the
NIA under several charges including
UAPA. NIA accused him of working at the
Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), a human rights organization known for documenting
human rights violations committed by authorities in Kashmir. He is lodged in Delhi jail. On 26 May 2020 Umer Rashid, a Journalist from District Shopian and his colleague was beaten by police near Newa area of South Kashmir's Pulwama when they were returning from their Srinagar Office the move was widely condemned by journalists and civil society members
Books Writers produce books "documenting everything (in Jammu and Kashmir) from folklore to political happenings, to the sufferings of people". A number of young writers are seen.
Yayavar is annual Literary Festival of
Jammu Division. Gulshan Books is the only bookshop-library on a lake in Jammu and Kashmir. Famous dogri writers are Ghulam Nabi Khayal, Late Akhtar Mohiudin,
Jitendra Udhampuri and
Champa Sharma while Kashmiri writers are
Mahjoor,
Amin Kamil,
Ghulam Nabi Gowhar,
Shahnaz Bashir, and
Ghulam Nabi Firaq.
Notable Journalists Jammu and Kashmir has produced several prominent journalists and media personalities. These individuals have made significant contributions to journalism and reporting from the region, often working under challenging conditions.
List of notable Journalists •
Shujaat Bukhari •
Sajjad Haider, journalist and editor of Kashmir Observer •
Yusuf Jameel, veteran Kashmiri journalist known for his coverage of Kashmir conflict. •
Altaf Qadri, photojournalist working with the Associated Press. •
Nidhi Razdan, newscaster == References ==