Two full scale wars that India fought with the neighbouring country in 1965 and later in 1971provided first hand
knowledge how truth becomes
the first casualty during
war time so much so that we
refuse to trust the media of our own country . And the reason is simple. Communication, with all its effective tools,
becomes the most formidable weapon to outdo the enemy. Simple modes of
communication, called media, in collective sense, which is supposed to function as a trustworthy watch dog, assumes the ferocity of toxic propaganda during war times.
The distinction between publicity and propaganda,
as we know, is that while truth is necessarily the base of a publicity campaign,
propaganda is marked essentially by total absence of truth. While for
both the same communication tools
are used to put across the messages , the
magic of propaganda is that, by crafty use of media, a worst lie can be
projected as a sacrosanct truth by repeating it with skillful manipulations. And
skillful manipulations involve excessive slanting of news, creating fake news and
flooding it through all available channels like radio, televisions, print media,
word of mouth and whispering campaigns.
With the coming up of digital media, propaganda has further assumed lethal character as lie
garbed as news can freely travel on
emails and social media platforms leading to unquestioned acceptance by millions of gullible users.
Though India has not been at
war with any country recently, we could witness the propaganda machinery in
full operation during recent elections within the country. Every election in a democracy, whichever the
country, is fought like a battle to undo the opposition and to acquire absolute
political power. But the candidates of political parties who contested
elections held in India before the
advent and expansion of electronic media did not have the advantage to woo it and
pick it up as an effective weapon in their hands .However , with the
multiplicity of television channels, the situation has drastically changed . Hundreds
of television channels now operate round the clock for all the seven days, vying
with each other to gain TRP for their survival and to ensure
continued sound health for their channels. No wonder, barring a few who valiantly fight
to retain their professional sanctity, many of them succumb to irresistible
temptations and unbearable pressures.
Added to it, the internet,
with easy access to social media platforms and immense hidden possibilities to push the communications
as fake news, has eroded whatever little has been left of media sanctity. The result is that the picture that emerges,
after dust settles down, does not inspire confidence in our democratic system
of governance which throws up thousands of candidates of
different political parties chasing to occupy seats of power with scope to manipulate
media to their advantage.
How to reverse the process
and return to original sanity is a matter
of serious concern because to
expect the powers that be which , directly or indirectly, use it as a
ladder to climb to the seat of power and
depend on this well tested
machinery to survive and promote their
socio-political agenda, will take steps in this direction is nothing short of wild goose chase . But the
trend does not auger well for the future of the country. Once the media has got
entangled in the wiremesh of propaganda trappings, it will be well nigh
impossible for it to get out of it. And a strong pillar of democracy and
trusted watchdog to ensure adherence of democratic norms will stand to lose
its credibility for all times to
come.
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