Journalism does not serve any public purpose and therefore cannot qualify for nonprofit status in India. This is what the income-tax department allegedly reasoned when it cancelled the nonprofit status of Reporters’ Collective, an investigative journalism outfit, according to a statement by the collective.

The development came the day when two small news outfits put out videos alleging a massive, systemic cover-up of the actual death toll in the stampede at the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj.

The Reporters’ Collective has been operating in India over the past five years and has been registered as a nonprofit since July 2021.

“We.. believe that journalism, when done right, is an essential public service for our democracy. Journalism done right is a public good. Investigative journalism that holds the powerful accountable essentially serves the citizens, particularly the poor and the marginalised. We have consistently worked with public purpose as a non-profit and in adherence to all Indian laws, without fear or favour,” the Reporters’ Collective said in the statement.

Some of the reports of the Collective have been critical of the Narendra Modi government.

A report, headlined “Inside Modi Govt’s War Room to Whitewash Global Indices”, said the Modi government had been lobbying to change methodologies to pump up India’s ranking in global indices. Another report claimed hackers for hire were trying to manipulate public opinion on Manipur.

India’s courts have earlier many times upheld that journalism serves a public purpose.

On October 4, 2024, the Supreme Court said criminal cases can’t be slapped on media persons for being critical and prevented Uttar Pradesh from taking steps.

“In democratic nations, freedom to express one’s views is respected. The rights of the journalists are protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. Merely because writings of a journalist are perceived as criticism of the government, criminal cases should not be slapped against the writer,” a bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice SVN Bhatti said in its order.

In Romesh Thapar vs State of Madras (1950), the apex court had said the press has a significant role to play in informing the public and promoting democratic values. Therefore, any attempt to curtail the freedom of the press would violate the right to freedom of expression.

Mahatma Gandhi believed that the function of journalism was to educate the public.

“An editor should not apologise if he has published something which displeases the government but rather accept responsibility for it,” Gandhi wrote the Indian Opinion’s Gujarati edition on April 23, 1919,

Congress leader P. Chidambaram reacted to the Reporters' Collective statement.

“One more building block of freedom was knocked down today when the Income Tax department canceled the non-profit status of Reporters' Collective. The official reason given is "journalism does not serve any public purpose. The true reason is that independent journalism does not serve the government's purpose,” the former Union home minister wrote on X.

Earlier, the Narendra Modi government had cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act licence of many think tanks and NGOs, strangling foreign funding.