{
 "no": 60,
 "id": "case-60",
 "sk": 20140526,
 "year": 2014,
 "date": "May 2014 onward",
 "cat": "Democratic institutions",
 "sev": "amber",
 "title": "Twelve years, and not one press conference",
 "stamp": "Never took the questions",
 "human": {
  "v": "<b>Zero</b> open news conferences in India across twelve years as Prime Minister, against <b>64</b> one-to-one interviews given between January and late May 2024 alone",
  "est": false
 },
 "cost": {
  "v": "Not a money case. India went from <b>140th</b> of 180 on the RSF press freedom index in 2014 to <b>157th</b> in 2026, inside the band RSF calls 'very serious'",
  "est": false
 },
 "what": "Narendra Modi has not held a single open news conference in India since taking office in May 2014. The nearest exception came five days before the 2019 Lok Sabha results, when he made a brief statement at a joint appearance and referred every question to the then party president. When a journalist tried to put a follow-up to him directly, he was told the Prime Minister need not respond to queries on everything.",
 "dodge": "The pattern holds abroad. In Oslo on 18 May 2026 a Norwegian journalist asked why he would not take questions from 'the freest press in the world'; he left without answering. In July 2026 the Editors Guild of India called the Foreign Ministry's explanation — that he prefers direct contact with a largely rural electorate — 'deeply flawed', adding that scripted one-way communication on social media is not a substitute for public interaction with independent media. Interviews are granted in volume, 64 in under five months of 2024. What is avoided is the unscripted follow-up, and with it the possibility of being asked the same question twice.",
 "ministers": [
  {
   "n": "Narendra Modi",
   "r": "Prime Minister; no open news conference in India since May 2014"
  },
  {
   "n": "Ministry of External Affairs",
   "r": "Defended the absence as a preference for direct contact with voters"
  }
 ],
 "pos": "The Prime Minister's stated position is that he declines to follow a culture of managing the media, communicating instead directly with citizens through Mann Ki Baat, rallies and social media, and that he remains answerable to Parliament. The Foreign Ministry adds that as a quintessentially Indian politician with a largely rural electorate, he prefers unmediated contact over intermediaries.",
 "alleg": "The count of zero rests on consistent reporting rather than an official record, since no government tally is published. RSF changed its index methodology in 2022, so the 2014 and 2026 ranks are <em>not a strict like-for-like comparison</em> and are cited here as a trend rather than a measurement.",
 "alt": "One open news conference a year, questions not submitted in advance, and follow-ups allowed.",
 "sources": [
  {
   "label": "Modi avoids the media in Norway, 2026",
   "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/20/modi-avoids-norway-media-how-that-led-to-storm-over-indias-press-freedom",
   "tier": 2,
   "archiveUrl": "http://web.archive.org/web/20260721125230/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/20/modi-avoids-norway-media-how-that-led-to-storm-over-indias-press-freedom"
  },
  {
   "label": "A decade without press conferences",
   "url": "https://thediplomat.com/2024/05/narendra-modis-decade-without-press-conferences/",
   "tier": 2,
   "archiveUrl": "http://web.archive.org/web/20260530152138/https://thediplomat.com/2024/05/narendra-modis-decade-without-press-conferences/"
  },
  {
   "label": "Editors Guild rejects the MEA defence",
   "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/india/editors-guild-of-india-slams-mea-pm-modi-press-conferences-10789306/",
   "tier": 2,
   "archiveUrl": "http://web.archive.org/web/20260720034937/https://indianexpress.com/article/india/editors-guild-of-india-slams-mea-pm-modi-press-conferences-10789306/"
  },
  {
   "label": "RSF 2014 index: India 140th of 180",
   "url": "https://rsf.org/en/index?year=2014",
   "tier": 2,
   "archiveUrl": "http://web.archive.org/web/20260524173105/https://rsf.org/en/index?year=2014"
  }
 ],
 "caseUrl": "https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-60/"
}