Witoubou Newmai
What good can one expect from the citizens when they are constantly fed by the media, suddenly awash with jingoism?
Using hyperbole, certain television news channels in India have been embracing a ruinous culture of whipping up national passion post Uri incident. It is not only undermining the ethics of journalism and humanity, but also building up odious perceptions.
For the sake of humanity the media should report the truth, but instead, they are indulging in war mongering and have started planting fear and doubts.
The Press Council of India's (PCI) media guideline pertaining to the ‘national interest’ neither implies spreading falsehood and engaging in war cry, nor hints at media being the ‘extension of the state.’
Blinded by jingoism, however, certain national television channels are posturing more fiercely than the men in the battlefield. This development is definitely painting the media houses as parties obtuse to their obligations.
The developments post Uri incident are reminiscent of the situation created after June 4, 2015 ambush by NSCN-K on the security forces in Chandel district, Manipur.
Following the ambush, the public were made to consume carefully laid narratives which were eventually proved to be a blunder.
Three photographs were published by a news agency with gun wielding jawans flashing victory signs signaling victory over the Naga Political Group (NPG) involved in the June 4, 2015 Chandel ambush.
One photograph showed the jawans sitting before an army helicopter with a caption—“These soldiers had carried out the offensive against militants along the India-Myanmar border killing several militants”.
According to this particular news agency, “The image was duly authorised for use by the ADG PI (Additional Directorate General of Public Information) of the Army, with the specific request that the faces of the persons be morphed, which we duly did before release.”
A couple of days later, the Defence Ministry while refuting to the particular news item had to clarify that it did not release any of the images of the operation so far. The controversy over the matter died down few days later but the people were left with confusion. It was learnt several days later that it was an old photograph.
During the same period, there was horde of media reports claiming that a large number of NPG cadres were killed in the so called ‘surgical operation’ inside Myanmar. In that full blown hyperbolic reporting, the number of ‘Naga militants’ killed was put at 100.
At a crucial time, when the intolerance level of one group towards another group is perceived to be rising, the way ‘nationalist’ news outlets are manufacturing undesirable perceptions to cater to popular sentiments is creating a dangerous precedence.
“Perception is reality," says the Republican strategist Lee Atwater. Georg Pazderski, a leader of Alternative for Germany expands this maxim saying, “What people feel is what they perceive as reality.”
Whatever the case may be, humanity must come before anything else. The Time magazine editor Nancy Gibbs in one of her recent editorials made an immense effort to emphasize this.
She has written about journalist Lynsey Addario who was covering the migrants coming from Africa to Europe. "When I pulled my camera away from my face, I realized everyone's hands were full but mine, and there was a startled boy at my feet---no more than 3 years old. The boat was jostling to the left and right, the sea splashing around us, and I thought of my son. I instinctively picked up the boy, letting my cameras dangle at my side, and undoubtedly missed some of the most important images of the day."
Media outlets in India must value humanity over rants and noises.
