Now that the war's over, it's the new sport in town: spot the most ludicrous stories that ricocheted around TV channels, social media, and digital news sites. If you believed the chest-thumping coverage the way these super-patriots told it, it was only a matter of hours before India's mighty air force ruled the skies above Islamabad, and our navy had Karachi locked in its crosshairs.
The truth, we are reluctantly compelled to admit now, was much more modest. But only a few TV stars and anchors are prepared to admit they may have been just a tiny bit overexcited by the heady thrill of wartime reporting — not from the battlefield, mind you, but dressed in combat gear from their air-conditioned studios.
One of the rare exceptions? Veteran anchor Rajdeep Sardesai has been possibly the only media star to openly regret the wild errors made during India and Pakistan's four-day war. He used his weekly podcast to deliver a rare and refreshingly unvarnished mea culpa — a self-lacerating break from the usual bluster.
Sardesai sternly rebuked just about everyone concerned – including himself. And he didn’t pull his punches: “There was a flood of misinformation and disinformation and outright fake news across TV channels, social and digital media, especially on the night of 8th May. You only had to glance at your screen to realise how embarrassingly awful it all was.”
He twisted the knife further by reciting the nonsense that had been spilled out: “Someone was flashing that Karachi port had been captured. Someone else said there was a coup in Islamabad. F-16s were down. Pilots had been captured. It was a crazy disinformation war that, I might add, was taking place on both sides.”
Sardesai didn’t try to dodge the debris either. “Since I am part of this media army — in the belly of the beast, so to speak — may I offer a mea culpa, an apology,” he said, freely acknowledging his share of the mess.
How different it all was 60 years ago, when the Indian Army fought its way to the outskirts of Lahore. One black-and-white photo shows three officers of the 4 Sikh Regiment standing proudly outside Burkee Police Station in Lahore District in 1965. The photo tells the full story — no explanations or spin needed. No hashtags, no shouting – just facts, frozen in time.
It’s almost scary to think what our hyperventilating studio anchors might have made of such a genuinely victorious moment in this day and age.
Of course, propaganda and cooked-up stories have always been part of wartime storytelling. But this time, the sheer velocity and scale of misinformation and falsehoods flying back and forth were something else altogether. And while both sides were guilty, it’s the Indian media that’s taken the global flak – with stinging articles in publications like The Economist and The New York Times.
The Economist didn’t hold back. “India’s broadcast media wage war on their audience,” it declared. It continued with biting commentary: “When hyper-nationalism goes feral.” On a caustic note, it noted: “Over the past few weeks, Indian television achieved the astonishing feat of making social media appear sane.” That’s a takedown that should have our TV presenters crawling under their desks in embarrassment.
The New York Times said “anchors and commentators became cheerleaders for war” and called the misinformation aired by some long-trusted outlets “the latest blow to what was once a vibrant journalism scene in India.”