Reader Supported Press Can Better Handle Political Pressure: Justice BV Nagarathna

Supreme Court's Justice BV Nagarathna has stressed on the independence of a reader-sustained press which can better handle political pressures. Delivering the keynote address at the International Press Institute (IPI) India Award for Excellence in Journalism 2025 ceremony at the Constitution Club in New Delhi, Justice Nagarathna said that independent journalism can survive only when supported directly by readers and civil society.

“A press sustained by its readers is always better placed to serve the public interest and fend off political pressures,” she said adding that good journalism doesn't run on goodwill alone. Justice Nagaratha clarified that when someone takes a subscription, they're really saying, this kind of reporting is worth backing. A press sustained by its readers is always better placed to serve the public interest and fend off political pressure, she said.

“The press may be free from the State yet dependent on corporate power which may in turn be dependent on State patronage,” she observed on corporate-owned media which may on the face of it be independent but still be constrained by economic realities and political linkages.

Justice Nagarathna also raised concerns over editorial independence which could be affected by ownership interests and financial dependencies even in the absence of direct censorship. She noted that ownership rules, licensing laws, taxation policies, advertising regimes and antitrust regulations could indirectly shape editorial choices while maintaining formal constitutional compliance.

“The law may not silence the press, but it may shape the conditions under which speech is created,” she said serious threats to press freedom which arise not from direct restrictions under Article 19(2) of the Constitution, but from economic and regulatory pressures justified under Article 19(6).

On the influence of government and public-sector advertising, the Supreme Court judge said editors may internalise the risks of critical reporting where advertising revenue is at stake. A press outlet may be legally free to criticize the government, yet economically constrained in ways that make such criticism costly or unsustainable she said.

Justice Nagarathna also cautioned on the emergence of “selective journalism” and said attempts to capture the press often have both economic and political underpinnings.

"A free press is not created by decree; it evolves through interaction between readers, writers, and editors. Attempts to perfect it through centralized control, whether political or bureaucratic undermines the very spontaneity that gives it vitality. The recent trend of attempts to capture the press not only has economic underpinnings but also political overtones", she observed.

Justice Nagarathna also presented the IPI India Award for Excellence in Journalism 2025 to Scroll.in reporter Vaishnavi Rathore for her ground report on the Great Nicobar Island Development Project.

The Supreme Court judge also said journalists play a crucial role in translating constitutional values into public consciousness by reporting on issues such as environmental degradation and climate risks and emphasised that constitutional guarantees alone cannot sustain press freedom and that social support for independent journalism remains essential.

"In honouring journalism today, we therefore also honour a deeper constitutional value - freedom of the press that enables truth to reach the public and ensures that the interests of the future are not eclipsed by the conveniences of the present," she added.