Journalism in Kashmir is a risky venture even in the best of times. Life and livelihood are both at risk when reporting the ‘situation’ in the Valley, whether it was the insurgency in the turbulent 90s or the street agitations since 2008. Reporters have had to face the ire of the government as well as the public, and at times of the ‘non-state actors’, from armed insurgents to intelligence agents. But in the past few years a new challenge has been posed, a direct threat to their survival: the blocking of advertisements to the organisation they work for.
Advertisements are the major source of income for any media outlet. Senior journalists in Kashmir say that the government has been using this tactic of blocking ads largely in the past few years. The motive is obvious: to force media organisations to desist from reporting stories that go against the government’s interests.