Modi avoids Norway media: How that led to storm over India’s press freedom
India is currently ranked 157th out of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index. A tricky encounter with a Norwegian journalist has shone
India is currently ranked 157th out of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index. A tricky encounter with a Norwegian journalist has shone a light on the reluctance of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of his government to engage directly with the media on uncomfortable issues. After Helle Lyng Svendsen from Norwegian daily Dagsavisen asked Modi why he wouldn’t take questions from the press, and later the same day asked a senior official of India’s Ministry of External Affairs about India’s human rights record, Modi’s response was to walk away without replying while his minister’s was to try to deflect by talking about unrelated facets of India’s past and present, and then to become visibly angry. India’s prime minister was in Norway on a two-day visit as part of a tour of northern Europe. On Monday, he met with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and, on Tuesday, Modi took part in the third edition of the India-Nordic Summit, before leaving for Italy, where he is meeting Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday. Modi has not held a single news conference in India during his 12-year term in office. On his multiple trips abroad, he has only rarely fielded questions – including two in Washington, DC, in 2023. The incidents in Norway have renewed criticism from media organisations, which point to India’s sliding rankings in press freedom indices. So why has Modi’s encounter with a Norwegian journalist led to criticism, and what do we know about media freedom in India? What happened at the Norwegian news conference? On Monday, Modi wrote on X that he was addressing a “press meet” with Norway’s Prime Minister Store. However, he did not take any questions from reporters. When Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen from the daily newspaper Dagsavisen asked: “Prime Minister Modi, why don’t you take some questions from the freest press in the world?” he simply walked out of the conference room. It is not known if the Indian leader heard the question. Svendsen followed Modi out of the news conference room and asked: “Do you deserve the trust of our … [government]?” But she did not receive a response to that question, either. She later took to social media to criticise the Indian prime minister. “In Norway, when foreign leaders visit, the press usually will get to ask questions. Not many, but a few. That was not the case today with Modi, and will not be tomorrow either,” she wrote on X. She told Al Jazeera on Tuesday: “We were, of course, expecting him not to answer questions, as that is what the PM does. However, it is our duty to try. I am a privileged journalist as I am reporting from one of the safest countries in the world. If I do not dare to ask questions, who will? I know the situation is alarming for my journalist colleagues in India.” Store, the Norwegian PM, initially addressed questions from the Norwegian media but not from Indian journalists.
The BriefWire