'Reassessing Global Press: One Standard, Different Realities'

 

On a recent diplomatic visit to Norway, the first since 1983, the Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was thrown a curve ball by one of the members of the Norwegian journalist community. A video posted by the journalist herself has gone viral on social media where Helle Lyng, after a joint press interaction involving the heads of both states, exercised her freedom of press to force a response from the Indian Prime Minister with, “Prime Minister Modi, why don’t you take some questions from the freest press in the world?”

Norway, a Nordic European country, with a population of around 5.6 million and a GDP ranging between 5-6 billion dollars ranks on top of the World Press Freedom Index measured by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). An International non-profit organisation founded in France in 1985, RSF is dedicated towards safeguarding and promoting the freedom of press acting as a watchdog ensuring that news can be spread without the fear of harassment or unlawful imprisonment. India ranks 157^th out of 180 countries in the latest 2026 RSF Index indicating that the deterioration of independent media finances, socio-political pressures and criminalisation of journalism has heavily impacted the freedom of press in the country.  

With a higher GDP per capita income of approximately $1,05,000 against India’s $2500, Norway manages to secure one amongst the top positions in terms of Prosperity and Quality of Life Indexes with the IMF World Economic Outlook pinning their broader GDP growth at 1.5% for 2026. In contrast to this, India ranks 63^rd amongst 89 countries globally, a leading position in South Asian region and 103^rd out of 167 countries in the global Legatum Prosperity Index. IMF World Economic Outlook recognises India as the world’s fastest growing economy with an annual growth rate of roughly 6.5% with Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) adjustment reaching up to $18.9 trillion making India the third largest economy in the world.    

The current Indian population is approximated at 1.47 billion according to Worldometer India Population, which is estimated to be around 17.79% of the world’s population. With a total land area of 29,73,190 sq. kilometers, around 37.61% of the population is urban based, with New Delhi topping the list with approximately 33 million inhabitants. With 3,85,207 sq kilometers, Norway stands 61st in terms of size and 121st globally in terms of population.

Despite these blatant facts and figures, the glaring question still remains. Are any comparisons between these two countries fair?

From a historical perspective, while Norway achieved its independent sovereignty on 26 October, 1905 from Sweden and Denmark, India managed to gain its independence from the British rule on 15 August 1947, 42 years later. While on one hand, Norway was already recognised as an independent nation according to the constitution signed on 17 May, 1814, India was still undergoing massive exploitation at the hands of British East Inda Company that acted as the major military and political power in the subcontinent laying the groundwork for the entire British subjugation of India. Norway today, is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy with a multi-party system, while India is a sovereign, democratic republic established in accordance with the Constitution of India.  

In terms of diversity, India is home to around 4600 distinct communities showing a great deal of complexity in social composition, Norway consists of primarily ethnic Norwegians of North Germanic/Scandinavian origin with a small percentage of the indigenous Sami population and immigrants who migrated to Norway in the later half of the 20^th century. Norwegians are historically overwhelmingly Christians affiliated with the Lutheran tradition with the Church of Norway. On the other hand, Indians have communities aligning themselves with the Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Austroasiatic communities etc. with multiple religious, cultural and ethnic identities. India also has the world’s largest tribal population and the Indian constitution recognises and protects the Scheduled Tribes with affirmative action. While Norway has regional variations in term of culture, the diversity in Indian states sometimes resemblance differences between independent countries in Europe.

The assessment indicators for the World Press Freedom Index includes Political Context, Legal Framework, Economic Conditions, Sociocultural Environment and Journalist Safety with scoring categories based on a 100 points scale. While on one hand, it can be argued that these parameters ensure a healthy socio- political environment for journalists to investigate and reports different functionaries of the government and society in general without the fear of censorship or retaliation, the comparison between geographical larger and smaller countries alike along with no consideration for the complex realities in terms of population or cultural signifiers are important limitations that has to be taken into account when analysing the press freedom of a country.

While India is 8.5 times larger than Norway in terms of size, its population is approximately 261 times larger than Norway’s, making it the most populous and overall, seventh largest country in the world in terms of size, with about 2.4% of the world’s total landmass.

With all these comparisons taken into consideration, are the ranking agencies being fair if the same social, legal, political and cultural safety indicators for assessment are placed for both the countries with such starkly distinguishable differences?

Though the freedom of press is amongst the fundamental pillars of democracy allowing the media organisations to gather, publish and distribute information without any interference from governments, corporate giants, powerful corporations and social groups, it generally ends when it begins to violate the rights and safety of others or in matters of public order and national security. Infringement of privacy rights and calls to armed protests or incite violence also limits their freedom while strong attempts to balance it with social responsibility and legal accountability gain momentum. 

Western liberal democratic assumptions regarding governance, media system and freedom of expression vary on a large scale in comparison with the Global South in terms of diverse socio-cultural, postcolonial and historical realities. Thus, the universal standardized ranking parameters create a perception of poorer performances for the non-Westerns societies, often questioning if the framework is adequate enough to account for the complexities of the Third World.

The final question that lingers despite a universal understanding of this concept is, ‘Can Western and non-Western societies be judged through a uniform lens in terms of press freedom?’

References:

Singh, K. S. (Ed.). (1992–1998). People of India (Vols. 1–43). Anthropological Survey of India & Oxford University Press.

GeoRank. (2026, April 20). Economy of India vs Norway: GDP, debt & 66 stats. GeoRank. https://georank.org/economy/india/norway

World Bank. (n.d.). Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index (RWB_PFI). World Bank Data360. https://data360.worldbank.org/en/dataset/RWB_PFI

Worldometer. (2026). Norway GDP (2026). Worldometer. https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/norway-gdp/

Trending Desk. (2026, May 19). Who is Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng who asked PM Modi, “Why don’t you take questions from the freest press in the world?” The Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/who-is-norwegian-journalist-helle-lyng-who-asked-pm-modi-why-dont-you-take-question-from-freest-press-in-the-world/articleshow/131191521.cms

International Monetary Fund. (2026). Real GDP growth (annual percent change): Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway (NGDP_RPCH@WEO). IMF DataMapper. IMF DataMapper

Worldometer. (2026). Norway population (2026). Worldometer. https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/norway-population/