Archana R Singh

January 29th is a significant date in Indian history, as it marks the birth of the Bengal Gazette in 1780 by James Augustus Hicky. This momentous occasion, celebrated as Indian Newspaper Day, saw the launch of India’s first newspaper. The Bengal Gazette's motto, “Open to all parties but influenced by none,” boldly championed free speech. Despite Hicky’s deportation due to his outspoken critiques of colonial authorities, his paper, filled with local gossip, advertisements, and editorials, laid the groundwork for the modern newspaper....

Indian Newspaper Day: Celebrating a Legacy, Embracing Challenges January 29th is a significant date in Indian history, as it marks the birth of the Bengal Gazette in 1780 by James Augustus Hicky. This momentous occasion, celebrated as Indian Newspaper Day, saw t…

Let's look back at the year 2024 and see how the media industry fared. Join me in this time travel!

Year Ender: Looking back at the Indian Media Industry in 2024 Last year, the Indian Media &Entertainment sector grew 8%, reaching INR 2.3 trillion (FICCI Frames, 2024). As 2024 draws close, the Indian media industry navigates a transformative landscape. O…

✨ Dive into the intricate web of social media's influence on elections Discover the power of X as a political battleground and the rise of 'Botopinion' in this latest blog post. Join the conversation!

Your opinion or `Botopinion’: Who is making up your mind? Social media plays a significant role in political campaigning, including during elections. Politicians utilise platforms like Instagram and X as crucial tools for communication, outreach, and enga…

This World Freedom Day is dedicated to Sustainable development and global environment crisis.

Journalists encounter challenges in seeking and disseminating information on issues, such as supply-chains problems, climate migration, extractive industries, illegal mining, pollution, poaching, animal trafficking, deforestation, or climate change. Ensuring the visibility of these issues is crucial for promoting peace and democratic values worldwide.

Journalists should have the opportunity to report accurately, timely, and comprehensively on environmental issues and their consequences, as well as on possible solutions.

This requires a plan that includes:

1. Preventing and protecting against crimes committed against journalists.
2. Ensuring the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of scientific research, and access to key sources of information, in addition to combating dis-/misinformation through journalism.
3. Promoting the plurality, diversity, and viability of media, especially grassroots and/or community-based media.
4. Ensuring that the governance of digital platforms foster the transparency of technology companies, their accountability, due diligence, user empowerment, and content moderation and curation based on international human rights’ standards, as indicated in UNESCO’s Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms.
5. Promoting Media and Information Literacy programs to empower users with skills to engage and think critically in the digital environment.