India’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry has directed the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to suspend Television Rating Points (TRP) for all TV news channels for four weeks in the month of March or until further notice. Though not specified, the temporary suspension has been applied over the concerns of unwarranted sensationalism over the coverage of US Israel- Iran conflict which began on 28 February. In fact, a joke doing the rounds of the social media platforms says that both US and Israel have urged Indian TV news channels to exercise restraint!
This raises serious issues regarding media ethics during war reporting in India. Even after the dastardly selective killing of tourists in Pahalgam on April 22, last year and during Operation Sindoor, our news channels went overboard with speculative reporting. During Operation Sindoor proper from May 7-10 last year, Indian media carried out a type of live reporting with exaggerated and unsubstantiated claims. The government informed the essential details of Operation Sindoor through daily media briefings and even went to the extent of a formal media brief by the DGMO of Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. Yet, the news channels continued with jingoistic reporting.
It is a fact that ‘Information Warfare’ has become a critical part of modern wars and conflicts. Shaping the information domain is an ongoing process and the media platforms play a key role in influencing the public opinion. But when parties and nations other than India are involved in a war and conflict, the media reporting has to be accurate, objective and impartial. Our media reporting in such conflicts should be neutral and only cover verified news. It may be difficult in the fog of war but the media should not become a part of propaganda and disinformation campaign. Such sensational and biased reporting can adversely impact the foreign relations. The tendency to seek government response to every event of someone else’s war should be also be discouraged.
It also has to be understood that war reporting is a specialised form of journalism. War correspondents are supposed to provide firsthand details and harsh realities of the conflict to the public. During wars and conflicts which involve India, the responsibilities and ethics should be different as compared to conflicts involving third parties. For example, media reporting between Russia-Ukraine war and Operation Sindoor have to follow different guidelines, while following the basics of ethical journalism. The TV news channels tend to go overboard in the race for TRPs and end up covering sensational news which facilitates the spread of misinformation. Such a tendency can be curbed by responsible journalism.
In India, the Ministry of Defence(MoD) conducts an annual three weeks Defence Correspondents Course (DCC). The aim of the training curriculum here is to train Indian journalists in covering military affairs, disasters, wars and conflicts. During my military career, I had the opportunity to conduct the journalists for the field visits to the border areas, briefings and talks by senior officers as part of the DCC. DCC gives an insight into the three services Army, Navy and Air Force and empowers a select pool of journalists to report on matters military in most professional manner. Unfortunately, reporters from most of the news channels have not attended the DCC.
The private TV news channels are a business entity and they need the revenue from advertising to sustain themselves. But the unhealthy race for TRPs which are given on a weekly basis by the BARC creates the unnecessary rat race. There have been attempts in the past by the government to reform the methodology of TRPs in India. Also, there is a need to distinguish the TRPs between the entertainment and news channels. The news channels also have a social and patriotic responsibility. The news channels cannot go overboard on events that garner higher viewership. During wars and conflicts, the sensivities are critical for the conduct of ongoing operations.
During the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, Indian TV news channels unwittingly compromised the ongoing anti-terror operations of the security forces. The live reporting then virtually made the job of terror handlers in Pakistan easy to guide the terrorists about their next move. The urge for the higher TRPs led the reporters to unwittingly leak much sensitive information, which ultimately assisted the terrorists. Such poor judgement on the part of journalists, reporters and editors can be dangerous for the ongoing operations, be it counter-terror operations or conventional wars.
During the ongoing US- Israel-Iran war, most of the news is coming from the western media sources. There are some news channels like Al Jazeera which cover the perspective of Iran and other West Asian nations. Since very few Indian journalists are physically covering the reporting from the war zones, most of the news and clippings are being supplied by the respective parties. In such a scenario, the media in India, particularly the news channels have to exercise caution and restraint. In the spirit of self-regulation, the TV news channels can cover the ongoing conflict with a deeper sense of war reporting with focus on national security and national interests.
