The Media and Kargil
Indian Institute of Mass Communications, 1999
Information War Media A Victim Or
A Tool?
It is generally believed that truth is the first
casualty of war. War exposes most starkly the gap between the rhetoric and
reality that exists at the heart of the profession of journalism. In wartime a
journalist is often faced with a number of ethical problems. Should graphic
pictures of the dead be shown? Should the grief of the families who have lost their
dear ones be intruded upon? Should the correspondent report on the enemy side?
Should the reporters accede to the restrictions placed by the armed forces on
their movement in the war zone? These are all-important ethical considerations
in the reporting of war. However, the basic ethical dilemma remains, how a war
reporter should resolve the competing claims made by their work and their
country. And how the media can safeguard itself from being manipulated in
believing what may be only the ¿truth of imagination¿.
India was faced with a war-like situation in May-July
99 after almost 28 years of the Bangladesh Liberation. The media scene in the
meantime has taken a 180-degree turn. Besides a very vibrant print medium,
there are over 50 satellite channels with round the clock program. The media
with its extensive coverage kept the nation hooked on to their television sets
and newspapers during the Kargil War. In order to know what the media
especially the print was covering and how much they were covering, the IIMC
undertook an exploratory study of a cross section of mainstream newspapers.
Do media have an agenda to pursue? Or should they
have one? Are media objective, especially in critical times. Are media
independent of the system? Are they vulnerable to manipulation by cunning
system or subversive? Questions such as these have bothered the academia,
social scientists and the public at large.
Research conducted over a span of a century does
suggest that media can be manipulated and have indeed been at various points of
times. Adolph Hitler was quick to realize the potential of propaganda
especially through the mass media like the radio and the press, which he made
use of to the hilt. So did Winston Churchill during the War when the BBC
broadcast all that Churchill¿s government wanted it to. The fate of a
controlled media in the former USSR is too vivid to be forgotten. These are
just a few cases in point.
An exploratory study of Indian, Paksitani, British and US print media was
conducted with the following objectives:
Hypotheses:
Methodology: