Lessons for media and government from Operation Sindoor

Fake news after Operation Sindoor exposed urgent need for stronger media regulation and digital accountability in India.

- ALOK MEHTA

After India carried out strikes on nine terrorist bases under Operation Sindoor, a flood of fake news erupted on social media. Not only that—some prominent Indian TV news channels and their websites, which claim to reach vast audiences, also aired misleading and provocative reports late at night in their rush to compete. This led to chaos both domestically and abroad. Women and the elderly spent the night calling relatives in panic.

In response to the widespread fake news, officials from the Ministry of Information Technology and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting convened an emergency meeting to urgently discuss countermeasures. The government ordered the immediate removal of misleading content. From the following day onward, the media appeared somewhat more restrained.

In this national crisis-like situation, what's being criticised is not the freedom of the press, but its recklessness and the indirect support it can lend to anti-India forces. However, the question remains—despite the vast expansion of advanced communication technologies, why have the Indian Parliament, Government, and Supreme Court failed to implement stringent and effective laws for newspapers, TV and YouTube channels, websites, and social media? Are emergency procedures for security, medical treatment, or disaster relief not supposed to be pre-established?

For years, Parliament, the courts, and the government have debated and made short-term decisions, but now the time has come to implement concrete regulations for the media.