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When a News Article Vanishes, We Have More Than Just a Pandemic to Worry About -Priyanka Pulla

-TheWire.in

An article critical of the government's response to COVID-19 was published on The New Indian Express's website on May 8, and disappeared from its link within a day.

Last week, The New Indian Express, one of India’s major English newspapers, pulled down an article that was heavily critical of the Centre’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The article, entitled ‘Centre’s COVID-19 Communication Plan: hold back data, gag agencies and scientists’, discussed the government’s reluctance to share outbreak-related data and attempts to muzzle scientists.

It noted how scientists from India’s apex medical research agency, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), have suddenly and inexplicably disappeared from the health ministry’s daily COVID-19 press briefings. It also claimed ICMR had disbanded an expert panel it had previously set up to study COVID-19 drugs and vaccines because the group’s members had been critical of the government’s actions.

The article was published on The New Indian Express‘s website at 7:09 pm on May 8, and it disappeared from its link within a day without any explanation. The page at the same link now has a short message: “Oops! Looks like you are looking for a page that doesn’t exist or has been moved.”

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