India’s broadcast media wage war on their audience (article on misinformation during the India-Pakistan war)

> #[The Economist] India’s broadcast media wage war on their audience

> Even those who closely followed the recent nightly air battles between India and Pakistan might have missed some of the most earth-shattering developments. They may not know that the Indian navy launched strikes on Karachi’s port; that India’s army crossed the international border; that Pakistan’s prime minister fled to a bunker; that its army chief was deposed in a coup. These events were nowhere to be found in India’s newspapers or even in supposedly reliable Western journals. Why?

> Because none of these things happened. That did not stop Indian broadcast news from reporting each confection as fact, while sirens blared and animated fighter jets zoomed in the background. One presenter helpfully reassured viewers that “All information coming in goes through a system of vetting”. If news segments were merely outrageous, commentary was unhinged. One anchor demanded: “Set fire to Karachi, blow up the entire city.” On another channel a former army officer called Iran’s foreign minister a “son of a pig”, triggering a minor diplomatic incident. Over the past few weeks Indian television achieved the astonishing feat of making social media appear sane.

> Indian TV news long ago relinquished membership of the reality-based community. Night after night presenters praise the government and the prime minister, heap scorn upon the opposition, disparage minorities and foreigners, and insult on-air guests who dare utter an errant word. The nationalist types who make up the audience treat it as amusement: a kind of World Wrestling Entertainment in suits. But there is at least a logic to it. TV news exists to support India—in the form of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—and to destroy its enemies. The past few weeks’ hyper-nationalism was the culmination of decades of descent into inanity.

> Yet as Manisha Pande, a media critic, puts it, “If you’re claiming to be a nationalist news channel at least serve the national interest.” Instead, ever since India launched strikes on Pakistan on May 7th in retaliation for unprovoked terrorist attacks on tourists in Kashmir last month, feral news anchors have worked counter to both India’s and the BJP’s interests.

> In press briefings, diplomats and defence officials repeatedly stressed the “non-escalatory” nature of India’s strikes. The government’s messaging was measured and sober. But on television, one guest prayed that, “For the future of this country, Pakistan should make the mistake of attacking India: then see what fun we will have.” If one job of a nationalist media is to take the state’s message to its people and the world, TV news failed miserably. India has emerged looking like an aggressor instead of a victim.

> On the home front, TV news did a disservice to its own audience. Disinformation about drone swarms and mass suicide attacks was amplified rather than squashed. Border communities—which bore the brunt of blackouts and drone attacks—were left groping for facts. The rest of the country was less vulnerable to bombs, but not to lies. Newspapers proved reliable, but the nocturnal nature of the skirmishes meant they were badly out of date by the time they arrived. Only a handful of private citizens and the government’s own fact-checking service provided useful information in real time.

> The harm to the BJP is no less pronounced. Indians watching television thought their country was only moments away from annihilating Pakistan. They believed that under the muscular leadership of Narendra Modi, the prime minister, India was on the verge of wiping out Pakistani terrorism once and for all. So when President Donald Trump suddenly announced a ceasefire on May 10th, the feeling was one of anti-climax.

> Disappointment quickly turned to rage. Arnab Goswami, who pioneered the belligerence now common across channels, exemplified it with an on-air rant: “This is typical Trump overreach…Last night we were pummelling them back… I don’t buy this and we will finish this.” Angry nationalists fed a nightly diet of Mr Goswami’s outrage took to X, subjecting India’s foreign secretary and his family to vicious attacks for selling out the country.

> On May 12th Mr Modi addressed the nation, seeking to project strength and denying that India would enter wide-ranging talks with Pakistan, as America had claimed. His party also announced nationwide victory rallies. But few in India really believe in the triumph the government is peddling. The BJP can thank its own cheerleaders for that.

stupid channels.

Only thing this war has shown to the right wing in India is their media sucks balls but they will blindly support it anyway.

Arnab definitely got warned by his overlords from above when he aired that trump segment, he straight up backtracked and became silent and removed that specific topic from the channel’s social media as well. he straight up started ignoring trump topic he was definitely warned. U can see how much of a bum this guy is out of all the channels.

A guy went to the other Indian ANI news and asked them how ass their coverage of war was then they took the mic away from him coz they know he was cooking them.