How and when both countries would rush to use their nuclear weapons was also forecast. One of the channels went on to compare the arsenal stock-pile of all these nations, and declared boisterously that Pakistan can be swiped off from the earth by India in minutes. Anchors of news channels turned up in army dresses and studio was also camouflaged to give a border area depiction. One of the news channel reporter started giving news from a ‘bunker’-the one in the studio itself. Border disputes with China and Nepal amidst Covid-19 pandemic has turned many anchors out in their army fatigues. But post ‘surgical strike’ and Doklam standoff many news channels have made it a point to raise the question: “When is the war?” Some news channels have gone from this question to another: “What if there is a war?” Pakistan bashing became the favourite news item. We are not in the frame and mood of making a commentary like ‘ Peepli Live’. From ‘ bijli baba’ (the saint who gives electric shock) to ‘Prince in a pit’, media definitely walks theextra mile. Media coverage of the Kargil as‘action pack weeks’ generated its own share of empathy for military and disgust for faceless anonymous enemy as the ‘other’ side kept denying that they are at war.įor news channels when they cannot ‘cover’ the news they create news. Similarly, the Kargil War became the first ‘live’ war in South Asia. It was akin to video-game war but the real people died. The Gulf War in the early 1990s got the world the first glimpse of war and future warfare. The media coverage of invasion of Iraq and Syrian war has already generated lots of controversies around pro-war barons like Rupert Murdoch and WikiLeaks.
#Jnu incident and gadar ek prem katha tv
The Indian TV scenario is no different from other nations. In context of recent ‘surgical strikes’ and ‘muscular’ government at the centre, many news channels have gone overboard in talking about war. Amongst hundreds of channels looming into our most private recesses of drawing rooms and bedrooms, news channels have a distinct reputation wherein we consider the content shown and depiction as authentic and truthful. We are not concerned about the literary, cinematic or fictional piece of works about war but the area of concern is the content and depiction on news channels. The media and medium for expressing this emotion has been there in different forms in high culture like paintings and poetry, but in popular culture it takes a subversive form to titillate the viewer and create the fuzzy excitement. The usage of this emotion in mass media or popular culture is what that leads us to warnography-semantically equivalent to pornography-intended to stimulate our fear, insecurity, and simultaneously our heroic nationalistic sentiment. Similarly, in creating a war-like situation, veer-ras is eulogised to glorify the edifice of courage, bravery and nationalism, ethnicity or a particular religion.
This is to support quick and random (and heroic/adventurous!) decision to sweep all enemies in a day. In a war carpe diem (seize the day) is the aim. In an era, when mass media rules our lives and decision or choice making ability 24X7 being in tizzy favours commerce and commercialization. The political compulsions of the governments at helm also contribute to the idea that war is at door or we are at war. The arms industry and profit mongering survive on the spate of fear and insecurity among people. It benefits an ideology to be in perpetual state of war. No war is fought for the sake of war but for peace or for the control over the ability to disturb peace. It is only a masculine response to economic, political, geographical, religious and cultural conflicts. War is an extreme aggression and destruction leading to mortality.
“The surest way to become a pacifist is to join the infantry.”-William H.