The Right to Information (RTI) mechanism, once a powerful tool for investigative journalists, is being actively paralyzed by mounting bureaucratic stonewalling and inordinate delays. Government departments are increasingly rejecting reporters’ queries under the guise of national security or by utilizing broad privacy exemptions.

The Bharat Media Association highlights that this systematic denial of public records completely cripples data-driven journalism. Allowing state corruption to thrive in deliberate secrecy severely undermines the public’s fundamental democratic right to question their elected institutions.