DIGIPUB Calls For Immediate Reversal of Blocked Access to The Wire’s Website

New Delhi: DIGIPUB News India Foundation, a platform of various digital news media organisations and independent journalists, has strongly condemned the blocking of access to The Wire’s website, saying that if indeed the Indian government has done so, it is a “blatant attack on press freedom”.

“Silencing independent media doesn’t protect democracy – it weakens it,” read the   statement, issued after The Wire said that on May 9, access to their website was blocked by some Internet service Providers (ISPs) following government order, citing one ISP saying it had done so on the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

DIGIPUB, which has among its members news websites such as The News Minute, Newslaundry, Article 14, AltNews, The Quint, Scroll, Newsclick, Boomlive, Cobrapost, HW News and various other websites and independent journalists, has called for immediate reversal of the censorship.

“The Indian government must uphold constitutional values of free speech and restore unrestricted access to independent media – democracy cannot survive in silence,” it said.

Earlier in the day, when various people reported not being able to open The Wire’s website on laptops and desktops as well as in some mobile phones, the website’s founding editor, Siddharth Varadarajan, in a statement on his X handle, protested that the censorship comes at a critical time for India “when sane, truthful, fair and rational voices and sources of news and information are among the biggest assets India has.”

The Wire said it was taking “all necessary steps to challenge this arbitrary and inexplicable move,”

The blocking of access to The Wire comes in the backdrop of escalating tension between India and Pakistan amid a flood of fake, inflammatory and provocative news telecast being done by TV channels known as “Godi Media”, even as various independent YouTube channels, such as 4PM, as well as of individual satirists, such as singer Neha Singh Rathore and lecturer Madri Kakoti (Dr Medusa) and others, have been blocked or booked

The Chennai Press Club, too, condemned media censorship and called for immediate restoration of blocked news platforms, such as The Wire and Maktoob Media.

In a statement on may 9, it said “at a time when the public urgently needs access to accurate, diverse, and independent information – particularly amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan – such arbitrary blocks set a dangerous precedent and suppress voices committed to public interest journalism.”

The Chennai Press Club also called upon all media organisations, national and regional, “to exercise utmost responsibility, accuracy and restraint” in their coverage of the India-Pakistan tensions, so as not to “inflame public sentiment and compromise national security and harmony.

The Press Club of India, Indian Women's Press Corps, Delhi Union of Journalists and the Press Association also condemned the crackdown on independent media, such as The Wire. In a joint statement, they pointed out that some sections of the media and independent YouTube channels have also been "unfairly targeted". The statement also mentioned the withholding of the X accounts of well-known journalists Anuradha Bhasin and Muzamil Jaleel as well as independent media organisation Maktoob Media on "legal demand" by the government.

"While there is no doubt that the media as a whole has to conduct itself responsibly, the arbitrary blocks on the some social media accounts of media-persons and news organisations, the orders for which have not been made public, must be lifted," read the statement.

Read DIGIPUB’s full statement below:

DIGIPUB strongly condemns the blocking of The Wire’s website

DIGIPUB’s founding member The Wire has released a statement on Friday, May 9 stating that the access to their website has been blocked by some Internet Service Providers following government orders. One of the ISPs says the block has been done by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under the IT Act, 2000.
If the Indian government has indeed blocked access to The Wire, then it is a blatant attack on press freedom. Silencing independent media doesn’t protect democracy—it weakens it.
This is a critical time for the nation and such actions impede rational thinking. The urgency and horrors of battle cannot be used as an excuse to silence independent journalism.
A free media is the best antidote to misinformation and fake news, DIGIPUB strongly condemns this attempt to suppress journalism. We demand the immediate reversal of such censorship, the orders for which have not even been made public. The Indian Government must uphold constitutional values of free speech and restore unrestricted access to independent media—democracy cannot survive in silence.

Dhanya Rajendran, Abhinandan Sekhri, Ritu Kapur