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The Indian government\u2019s privacy law, which would require journalists to seek consent from people \u200cthey write about, amounted to pre-censorship and could lead to newsrooms shutting down, media groups told the Supreme Court on Tuesday, starting the most high-profile challenge against the legislation.<\/strong><\/p>\n The lawsuit comes amid accusations of declining press freedom \u200bin India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014. Critics say many \u200bmainstream media outlets have not done enough to scrutinise Modi\u2019s government, which has \u2060denied such allegations and says it respects press freedom.<\/p>\n A group of 21 news publishers, including \u200bcompanies owned by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, has challenged the privacy law, arguing it would trample \u200bupon investigative work and allow New Delhi to identify journalists\u2019 sources, Reuters reported on Monday. \u201cIt is changing the whole concept of what is news,\u201d Madhavi Goradia Divan, the lawyer for Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) told the judges.<\/p>\n \u201cNewsrooms \u200bwill shut down, if we have to ask for permission\u2026it\u2019s then a complete regime of pre-censorship.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u200blawsuit is the most high-profile challenge to Modi\u2019s privacy law. Until now, only free speech activists and a \u200cgroup \u2060of smaller news outlets had challenged it. The Supreme Court posted the case for next month.<\/p>\n Media companies received assurances in an August meeting with the government that the law would protect press freedom, but not having a written carve-out for journalists like in the European Union, \u200bSingapore and Britain was \u200balarming, the news publishers \u2060said in a filing earlier this month.<\/p>\n The publishers are demanding that most of the law\u2019s contentious provisions, which kick in from May 2027, should be \u200bquashed. They say the law could also force publishers to erase \u200bstories and give \u2060powers to government to demand information from publishers that could expose reporters\u2019 sources.<\/p>\n DNPA, the group which has challenged Modi\u2019s government, counts as members Ambani\u2019s Network18, Adani\u2019s NDTV (NDTV.NS), opens new tab and other marquee media groups including the \u2060Indian Express \u200band Times Internet, which is part of the Times \u200bof India group, publisher of India\u2019s largest-selling English-language daily. Divan said during the hearing that earlier versions of the law excluded journalists, \u200bbut the final one did not.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n