Around the same time, the Indian government censored several credible journalists, news websites, and content creators in India, with one of its targets being The Wire. A day before that, at least 8,000 X accounts from India were withheld. While X banned these accounts, it objected to the censorship and said that for most accounts, the government gave no legal basis to justify the blanket ban.
Perhaps some of these handles did post content inimical to India’s interests. But the list also included pro-India commentators and veteran journalists—those who had covered Kashmir critically, or questioned the Union government’s handling of security in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack.
A recent Pew Research Centre survey on misinformation in India helps make sense of this contradiction: while two-thirds of Indians fear fake news, very few are concerned about press freedom. At least 68 percent had no problem with the political censorship of news, and 80 percent believe the Indian media is free to report.
So, Indians vehemently detest fake news, but they have no problem with the biggest reason behind it—a compromised mainstream media and poorly funded and massively under-resourced alternative newsrooms facing attacks for reporting fairly or asking questions to the government.
The huge pay disparity between anchors, reporters, and stringers adds to the rot. In many Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, stringers earn less than workers under the MGNREGA employment scheme. When alternative spaces tried to attempt quality journalism with a viable model to pay reporters, they are attacked.
A large section that is now lamenting the death of media credibility cheers when independent voices get suppressed under the pretext of national security. In reality, what really threatens national unity and security is TV media and the anchor who takes on the role of a military general.
In many ways, 8 May was the best glimpse into how this media would behave if ever a national emergency were to be declared—or 400 par becomes a reality for any party in the future.
The answer is clear: Simply put, this propaganda comes with huge electoral benefits for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It does not serve the people or the Government of India, which is trying to promote a message of secular unity. The ruling party, however, wants its core base to rally behind the polarising slogan, “Dharma dekha, jaati nahi.”
The Indian media doesn’t care about world opinion or question the lack of sync between the ruling party’s internal narrative and the government’s external message. It operates to serve narrow domestic political interests—no matter the cost. It did so during COVID-19 with “COVID-Jihad”-type coverage, which, while mostly internal, raised some international eyebrows.
But to think that they’ll get away with similar lies during the most serious India-Pakistan confrontation since Kargil is just wishful thinking. Even after the Pahalgam attack and before India’s Operation Sindoor, they made sure to incite violence and divisions internally by abusing Kashmiris and Muslims. Pakistani propaganda post-Pahalgam had mirrored this, focused on dividing Indians on religious lines. At this point, it seems that these anchors are aiding the Pakistani war effort.
Meanwhile, Pakistani military propaganda is making its own ridiculous claims—such as accusing India of staging attacks on Sikhs in Punjab—claims the Indian government has rightly called deranged.
Pakistani psy-ops are trying to exploit every instance of disharmony being peddled by the media and the right-wing vigilantes who serve as useful idiots for their propaganda. Take the recent viral video of a Saudi flag—bearing the Islamic Kalima—being burned. It was viewed tens of millions of times and fed straight into their narrative.
Now that both nations have agreed to a ceasefire, the propaganda that dominated our screens looks more like self-sabotage than any kind of strategy.
