Editors Guild: Indian Officials’ Clashes With Dutch, Norwegian Journalists ‘Embarrassing’

From the Editor’s Desk

May 26, 2026

A screenshot from X

The Editors Guild of India has criticised recent stand-offs involving Indian government representatives and journalists from the Netherlands and Norway as “embarrassing,” saying they followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s refusal to take questions from local media during visits to the two countries.

The confrontation unfolded in Oslo on May 18 after Modi and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre finished a joint media appearance and began leaving the podium. Helle Lyng Svendsen, a journalist with Dagsavisen, called out from the room, “Prime Minister Modi, why don’t you take some questions from the freest press in the world?” Modi left without responding.

The Indian Embassy in Norway later invited her to a briefing the same night, where Sibi George, the Ministry of External Affairs secretary for Western countries, faced questions from her on trust, human rights and whether Modi would take critical questions from Indian reporters. George spoke at length about India’s civilisation, democracy, yoga, chess and the origin of zero. He reportedly did not specifically answer her question.

Two days earlier, on May 16, 2026, in The Hague during Modi’s visit to the Netherlands, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten had told local reporters ahead of a dinner at Catshuis that there were concerns in the Netherlands and other European Union countries about press freedom and minority rights in India, including the position of Muslims and smaller communities. At an official media briefing later that day, Ashwant Nandram of De Volkskrant asked the Indian delegation to respond to Jetten’s comments and also asked why Modi and Jetten were unavailable for questions after their meeting. Secretary George rejected the premise, saying such questions arose from a lack of understanding of India and that some people abroad formed mistaken impressions from reports by “ignorant NGOs.”

The guild called it “regrettable” that Modi had not addressed a single open news conference during more than a decade in office.

The guild said it was concerned by the confrontations and linked them to what it called the government’s intolerance toward media questions.

“The same intolerance to being questioned is increasingly being manifested at all levels of government, both at the Central and State levels. Media restrictions hurt our economy and our society,” said the Guild.

It noted that Norway and the Netherlands ranked first and second in the World Press Freedom Index, while India ranked 157th of 180 countries.

Svendsen faced a large online backlash after posting the video of her question to Modi. She told Aftenposten that within hours the post had received thousands of comments and later more than 9.9 million views, with users accusing her of being a hired actor, a spy, an agent, and someone paid by India’s opposition, Pakistan or China. She also said her phone kept ringing from unknown callers.

Svendsen later said her Facebook and Instagram accounts had been suspended.

The guild said the Dutch and Norwegian journalists were right about the need for journalists to ask questions in a democracy. It also said opinions could differ on methodology or implicit bias in international press freedom rankings, but India’s “abysmal position” in such rankings remained a grave concern.

The guild said India’s ranking pointed to an increasingly constrained space for the media to perform its democratic role.

The guild also said the government should stop treating the media as an adversary when journalists sought to hold those in power accountable.

The statement was signed by president Sanjay Kapoor, general secretary Raghavan Srinivasan and treasurer Teresa Rehman.

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