Madness. That is the only word that can be used for what the Indian media did on Thursday night. From mainstream TV anchors to self-proclaimed ‘credible’ journalists with millions of followers, India’s media ecosystem collapsed into a vortex of misinformation so absurd it would have been laughable – were it not so dangerously irresponsible. For hours, Indian news channels peddled a grotesque fantasy: the ‘invasion’ of Karachi port, an ‘attack’ on the Prime Minister’s House, a ‘takeover’ of Quetta, ‘strikes’ in Lahore and Peshawar, and even the ‘arrest’ of a Pakistani pilot. They ran stories of a ‘change in army command’ and aired AI-generated videos of Pakistan’s military spokesperson supposedly admitting defeat. If one looked only at Indian electronic media and its social media offshoots, it would appear as if Pakistan had just been conquered, flattened and destroyed. Pakistan of course was very much alive, thriving – and shocked, angry and in fits at the same time. This wasn’t some clever psychological operation by India – as some enthusiastic social media users have been trying to now say. This was plain and simple insidious propaganda by Modi’s mouthpieces.
By Friday morning, somewhat embarrassed Indian journalists turned on each other – some mocking the hysteria, others self-righteously backtracking, claiming it was all part of a psy-op. But this was some next-level state-sponsored delusion and nothing else. There is no doubt that most of the Indian media today acts like Modi’s proxies, running anything and everything fed to them by the BJP without question. Why, for example, has there been no mention in Indian media of Rafale planes being shot down by Pakistan – despite international media verifying at least one jet’s downing (though the number is higher)? Because the Indian media simply can’t handle the truth. As the old adage goes: Truth is the first casualty of war. But in this case, truth was a target and what we saw was an information war waged against the Indian public itself. There is also extreme censorship in India at the moment. Elon Musk’s platform X (formerly Twitter) revealed that the Indian government ordered the blocking of more than 8,000 accounts, threatening ‘significant fines and imprisonment’ for local staff if they did not comply. Prior to this, India had already blocked YouTube channels of Pakistani journalists, social media handles and anything critical. All of this is being done to ensure the Indian public remains unaware of the actual situation.
This censorship allows the Indian media to continue spreading blatant lies without consequence. But as observers have pointed out, this reckless propaganda may please the Modi regime in the short term, but is damaging Indian society. One stark example of that damage is the suspension of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a week. Why? Because foreign players no longer felt safe in India amid the war hysteria manufactured by the media after the Pahalgam incident. That alone is an indictment of how far India’s media has spiraled into paranoia and nationalism. For Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this is the biggest embarrassment since the BJP failed to secure a simple majority in the 2024 general elections. His plan to execute an unprovoked military move against Pakistan at a politically convenient time has backfired. India has reportedly lost five jets. And the attempt to bury this defeat under a mountain of media spin has failed. International media outlets have exposed Modi’s lies, while Pakistan has presented its case to the global community with facts and transparency. If Modi believes he can rewrite this reality through a compromised media, he is in for a rude awakening. The fog of war will lift – and when it does, Indian media will reek of jingoism and journalistic malpractice.