The Jingoistic Media
All it took was the sacrifice of our beloved jawans for the newsrooms to turn into war rooms with news anchors screaming for war.
Are journalists supposed to seek out war or should they advocate peace? Liberals and those who still believe in the fourth pillar of democracy would vote for the latter. However, as Ravish Kumar says (as reported by the news portal The Wire)
“What was once considered unacceptable and unethical in the public domain has been made entirely acceptable and ethical by the mainstream media in the last five years. Not only is the media celebrating existing immoralities, but it is also scaling new heights of impropriety. Crudity is the new definition of refinement — the mainstream media’s vulgarity has destroyed the norms of Indian democracy that once prevailed in the public domain”
The mainstream media has become the official spokesperson of the Government since BJP came into power. Questions on Balakot operations are yet to be put forward to the government. The prominent media with the exception of a few quoted the government source for the number of militants killed in a ‘non-military pre-emptive action’.
Media who quoted 300+ deaths have nothing to say when Air Marshal R J K Kapoor commented on the uncertainty of the number of militants killed. Our Airforce entering Balakot undetected by Pakistan should itself be considered a major victory for India. But our media needs numbers to avenge the gruesome Pulwama attack. For them, the truth is what the government says.
Aljazeera and Reuters have no reason to lie and yet they haven’t reported any deaths. A report by Happymon Jacob cautioned about the chance of losing our pilot in case of escalation and we did. Fortunately, within three days, Wing Commander Abhinandan is back in India as a gesture of peace and according to the Geneva Convention. We need to credit them where it is due. We also need to condemn them for making a video before his release.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has confirmed that the elections will be held on time. Hopefully, sense and peace will prevail along with the jingoistic media.
