Press not to play along with the State

Press freedom in democracies has been on the back foot for a while. Some countries have done a better job than others in keeping the state's meddling powers less obvious. This is largely due to past reputation firming up the present, and pushback from quarters willing/ able to hold their ground. In September, Pentagon began enforcing a new media-access policy that requires reporters to sign a pledge promising not to seek any information - classified or unclassified - unless explicitly approved by the department. Essentially, the US state dictates and the media plays stenographer. Earlier this month, New York Times, with liberal biases of its own, filed a suit in a federal court against the Pentagon and its head, Pete Hegseth. The newspaper argued that the policy violates the First and Fifth Amendment (freedom of the press, and due process) of the US Constitution, setting a dangerous precedent for future government control.

Global State of Democracy Report 2025 found that press freedom has suffered its sharpest global decline in 50 years, with roughly 1 in 4 countries showing deterioration in this core democratic indicator. Of course, there have been instances where media outlets have shot themselves in the foot, BBC recently airing a 'spliced up' Trump speech being a notable 'how-not-to'. Such lapses deserve criticism. But they do not change the fact that our world would have been immediately recognised by philosopher Marshall McLuhan, who had pointed out, 'Every society honours its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.' Media conformation is confirmation of such a worrying state of affairs. How the 'NYT v. Pentagon' case pans out over the months will be of interest to many other democracies - for both their governments and media.