In its 25th World Press Freedom Index, RSF notes a global deterioration in conditions for journalism, with press freedom scores declining in 100 of 180 countries and territories. India is among those backsliding states and remains categorised by RSF as one of the world's most problematic environments for independent journalism, despite its status as "the world's largest democracy".

India ranks 157 out of 180 countries. Last year, the country was ranked 151.

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The watchdog underscores that the latest data comes at a time when political pressure on the press is intensifying, authoritarian tendencies are growing and media markets are under severe strain.

Abundant but captured media landscape

RSF points out that India has an exceptionally dense media ecosystem: nearly 900 privately owned TV channels, around half of them news-focused, a powerful public broadcaster in Doordarshan, and roughly 140,000 registered publications in more than 20 languages, including some 20,000 daily newspapers with a combined circulation exceeding 390 million copies.

Yet this apparent plurality masks a rapid shift towards online news, especially via social media, among younger audiences, and a radio sector where news remains effectively a state monopoly through All India Radio under the Prasar Bharati umbrella.

What worries RSF is how much of this landscape is now aligned with those in power. The organisation flags a "spectacular rapprochement" between Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a handful of corporate families dominating national media, including conglomerates led by Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.

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RSF notes that Ambani's Reliance-linked network controls dozens of outlets with a combined audience of hundreds of millions, while Adani's 2022 takeover of NDTV symbolised the erosion of mainstream pluralism.

According to RSF, the rise of so-called "Godi media" -- a term used for TV channels perceived to be lapdog allies of the government -- has, according to RSF, turned large parts of the Hindi and national TV sphere into vehicles for populist, pro-BJP narratives.

Political pressure and restrictive laws

RSF says India's media has "fallen into an unofficial state of emergency" since 2014, driven by a mix of direct political pressure, regulatory overreach and strategic legal harassment.

It notes that the prime minister does not hold open press conferences, grants interviews primarily to friendly outlets and influencers, and is openly hostile to critical coverage, while ruling-party-linked troll networks systematically target independent journalists online.

On the legal front, RSF highlights the continued use of colonial-era sedition, defamation and "anti-state" provisions, as well as modern anti-terror laws, to intimidate or prosecute journalists across party lines.

The report flags newer legislation -- including recent telecommunications, IT and data protection laws -- as expanding the executive's powers to censor, block content and demand data, creating what RSF calls "extraordinary" tools to control media and silence critics.

Economic concentration and state leverage

Economically, RSF underlines the heavy dependence of Indian media on advertising, much of it from governments and state-linked entities. Under the Modi administration, billions of dollars in public advertising have flowed into the sector, and RSF says this spend is often used as leverage, with central and state governments rewarding friendly outlets and squeezing critical ones.

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At the same time, according to the RSF report, ownership has become increasingly concentrated in a few conglomerates seen as close to the ruling establishment, with the Adani group's acquisition of NDTV cited as a key example of how remaining bastions of critical TV journalism have been reportedly brought to heel.

Social bias, polarisation and hate campaigns

RSF stresses that India's social diversity is poorly reflected in newsrooms, particularly in leadership roles, which remain dominated by upper-caste Hindu men. This lack of representation, it argues, shapes editorial priorities and frames, from under-reporting marginalised communities to skewed coverage on prime-time debates where women make up a small fraction of panellists.

The report also warns about the growing influence of Hindu nationalist ideology in mainstream media, especially Hindi TV channels that devote significant airtime to polarising religious content and, in some cases, broadcast narratives that stigmatise Muslims and other minorities.

RSF notes that there are counter-examples - such as women-led rural outlets like Khabar Lahariya -- but stresses these remain exceptions in an otherwise increasingly majoritarian media culture.

One of the world's most dangerous environments for journalists

Citing patterns it has tracked over several years, RSF ranks India among the world's most dangerous countries for journalists, with an average of two to three media workers killed annually in connection with their work. Journalists critical of authorities are frequently exposed to police violence, physical attacks by political activists, reprisals from criminal networks and corrupt local officials, as well as strategic litigation and arbitrary detention.

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Online, RSF documents "terrifying" coordinated hate campaigns, often spearheaded by Hindutva supporters, who brand independent journalists as "anti-national" or "traitors" and circulate calls for violence on social platforms, especially targeting women reporters by doxxing their personal information.

The situation is described as particularly alarming for those reporting from conflict-affected regions such as Kashmir or covering sensitive beats like environmental abuse and land conflicts, where prolonged "provisional" detention and harassment by security forces are common.