You are not just the media !!
It all might have started long back.
The Gulf War was televised life. Newspapers were on decline. No one could scream out of of a 'page' of newspaper columns - page 1 or insider packaged with cartoons and photographs unlike TV screens.
How did Indian TV anchors conduct during the recent India-Pakistan conflict?
How did Pakistan media passively carried the distorted version that Islamabad has won the war ? No Pakistani is able to question why a 'defeated general' took away the title Field Marshall.
Who is the laughing stock here ?
(Security personnel with supporters of BJP during a rally expressing solidarity with the Indian armed forces, in Srinagar, on May 15, 2025. Post-Operation Sindoor) snap - social media
Fear is profitable. It garners 'money' for TV channels via TRP route.
Of course the war -- sells; as it 'sold' pretty well in the past !!
In 2022 during Russia-Ukraine or even Israel-Hamas battle and now Operation Sindoor of India - it goes without stating that the tide of unfiltered information and misinformation has been immediate, constant and motivated.
The Congress leaders and a lot many intellectual-Sickulars were in hurry to ask :
"Suna hae Modi has surrendered?" .... The issue was not merely a question.
It was one of their wishlist. Let Modi surrender. Let Jugadu culture of Delhi return home in plentiful.
Rahul Gandhi was unable to do balance between his ego (being overshadowed by Shashi Tharoor) and his wish - Narendra Modi should be cornered.
He got busy with Jaishankar bashing. In the meantime, the perception war was set to rest with the Prime Minister's assertion that the cessation of hostilities was India's call only after Pakistan DGMO called.
A Tweet showed the Rahul-syndrome caught up with the US President.
But media was unable to show reasons in many cases. Some BJP leaders also spoiled the party for the Prime Minister. Unwarranted remarks have been made on Col Sofiya Qureshi.
Both herself and Indian army might not have imagined == these will be impact.
Some sensible articles were written. Some leaders spoke sense.
They certainly tried to make a difference to the level of engagement that individuals around the world may have with dramatic events.
But who might have contributed to "feed back" to affect the course of wars themselves? I mean all the three conflicts - India-Pakistan, Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas ?
Now fact check -- The technological revolution of the last three-four decades has linked human experiences and interactions more closely than ever before.
Around two-thirds of the world’s population – 4.9 billion people ( estimated 5 billion plus) have access to the internet.
Remember another fact of life - a number that has risen significantly during the coronavirus pandemic, by around 800 million new users).
An estimated 4.4 to 4.8 billion plus of those in 2025 use social media such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and X (Twitter).
In 2022 - an article in London-based 'The Guardian' said:
"Social media users do not just watch these events unfold in real time; they react to and interact with them. Gestures such as incorporating a Ukrainian flag into one’s username may be merely symbolic, but when users lobby politicians online, donate money, or even offer up their own homes to refugees, their engagement with the war begins to have real-world consequences".
In 2025 -- frenzy caught up Indian TV anchors and on the other side Pakistanis were no better if not worse.
There were live “breaking” segments that claimed troops one one country had captured fighter pilots of other countries.
For days, Pakistanis kept on claiming one Indian woman pilot has been held.
Social media was at its peak. A fictional order spread signed by someone claiming Indian army chief.
Anchors could not be waiting for facts.
Some anchors have had the privilege of working in the field. So they thought they know everything. They forgot even the old definition of TV was 'idiot box'.
To be idiots was a smart move; they made facts and fiction on the spot facing camera.
Meanwhile, the reality was grim.
Even a Gurdwara was struck. Amrik and Ranjeet, who sang Kirtan together at a gurdwara, were killed by an exploding shell at Syndicate Chowk.
Thirteen civilians died, including women and children died in Poonch.
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| Gurudwara - 'shell-shocked' |
Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar attained martyrdom in Pakistan shelling in forward area of Sagra. He hailed from Palwal in Haryana.
Bhai Amrik Singh, a Ragi at Gurudwara Singh Sabha and Maulana Iqbal, a prominent religious preacher of Zia-ul-Uloom Madarsa were among those killed in the shelling.
The Gurudwara and Madarsa and Gita Bhawan temple were damaged.
Iqbal, a resident of Baila village in Mandi tehsil, was killed when a mortar shell hit the Madrasa Zia-ul-Uloom in Poonch city on Wednesday.
A Gurudwara and a temple were also hit by the indiscriminate Pakistani shelling in the district, claiming 13 lives, including that of a soldier, four children and two women.
Many Government offices including District Police Lines (DPL), Forest Department etc were damaged in the shelling.
Besides, a number of shops, houses, vehicles and other structures were also damaged.
During the first world war, cinema provided a new medium.
In August 1916, the British War Office released a feature-length film, The Battle of the Somme, mixing documentary footage with staged recreations.
It was an extraordinary success: 20 million people saw it during its first few weeks of release.
There was widespread anxiety, though, about graphic images of casualties, and whether exhibiting them turned war into a gruesome form of entertainment.
The Manchester Guardian reasoned at the time about the disturbing footage:
“This is what war means, and it is right that our people should be made to feel the horror of it and realise that it is not merely a lively game that goes on in newspapers.”
Contrary to what TV studios tried to paint through some 'idiots' and 'idiot boxes' -- war has begun !!
The fact check: India had launched a calculated response to the Pahalgam terror attack — measured -- nine precision strikes deep within Pakistani territory.
No military or government buildings were targeted.
New Delhi targeted only terrorist hubs and training centers.
Those were not blind bombings. A strategic operation to deter terror and hence certainly not a declaration of war.
Why then jingoism was started. It had become a show perhaps the viewers also took it as entertainment.
ends
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