Last week, if one were to believe Indian television news channels, India had not only bombed Pakistan’s Karachi port using its aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, but had also landed troops in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. In this fictional narrative, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif was arrested, and its Chief of Army Staff, General Asim Munir, was removed. Incredibly, none of this actually happened. And yet, a large section of the public, primed by sensationalist coverage and nationalist rhetoric, accepted it as fact.
This episode revealed an uncomfortable truth about the vulnerability of modern societies to disinformation, especially when it’s packaged with patriotic fervour. In India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed neighbours with volatile relations, the media plays a critical role in shaping public sentiment. But when that media becomes a purveyor of fiction, the consequences can be dangerous and far-reaching.
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