Days after a Wall Street Journal reporter was trolled online for asking prime minister Narendra Modi about free speech and rights of religious minorities at a press conference with US president Joe Biden last week, the White House has strongly condemned her harassment and termed it “unacceptable” and “antithetical to democracy”.
The Asian-origin American reporter, Sabrina Siddiqui, had asked the prime minister about the steps his government was taking to “improve the rights of Muslims and other minorities” in India and “to uphold free speech”. Siddiqui was trolled, with many alleging an ulterior motive behind her question and attacking her Muslim identity.
Siddiqui had mentioned the hate campaign in a tweet last week.
Since some have chosen to make a point of my personal background, it feels only right to provide a fuller picture. Sometimes identities are more complex than they seem. pic.twitter.com/Huxbmm57q8
— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) June 24, 2023
The White House reporter was extended support by several journalists and rights groups.
Sabrina asked a pertinent question, that's what journalists do. Targeting journalists for their personal backgrounds is an old and desperate trope. Instead of focusing on PM Modi's answer, which he gave willingly, strange that trolls are focusing on who asked the question. https://t.co/4BJ1qk8R9l
— Suhasini Haidar (@suhasinih) June 24, 2023
We want to express our continued support of our colleague @SabrinaSiddiqui who, like many South Asian and female journalists, is experiencing harassment for simply doing her job. Press freedom is the hallmark of any democracy and PM Modi leads the world's largest democracy. https://t.co/rbvKpk7vUo
— SAJA (@sajahq) June 24, 2023
Modi, called out on human rights record by WSJ’s @SabrinaSiddiqui, bizarrely claims there is “no discrimination in India’s democracy”, vehemently defends human rights record
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) June 22, 2023
Modi had been asked what he steps he is taking to improve rights of Muslims and uphold free speech
.@SabrinaSiddiqui asks tough, fair questions. No journalist should be harassed for doing their job. https://t.co/ug1ibmdNL6
— amna (@IAmAmnaNawaz) June 26, 2023
As President of SAJA, I want to add that @SabrinaSiddiqui asked a fair question, one PM Modi's team and anyone keeping track of news should have expected. His response and how Indian journalists haven't had the opp to ask him this in 9 years is what we should talk about more. https://t.co/SwTkfq95Sg
— Mythili Sampathkumar (@MythiliSk) June 26, 2023
The US National Security Council’s lead for strategic communication John Kirby said, “It’s unacceptable, and we absolutely condemn any harassment of journalists anywhere under any circumstances.” He said it was “antithetical to the very principles of democracy” that were on display during PM Modi’s visit to the US.
In response to Siddiqui’s question, Modi had said that “democracy is in our DNA, democracy is our spirit” and it “runs in our veins”. He had said that there is “no space for discrimination; not on the basis of caste, creed, age or any kind of geographic location.” Read all about it here.
The US president had told the media that the issue of human rights was raised in his talks with Modi, but said that democracy is part of the “DNA” of both countries.
Notably, ahead of the “rare” media interaction, a senior White House official had called it a “big deal” and CNN had reported that the Indian side was initially reluctant about a press conference and had pushed the idea of a joint statement.
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