Propaganda: An Effective Weapon

    

        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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