Won Lahore on TV, shed tears on the ground

When nationalism shines on the screen and fades in real life

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It is nighttime. People switch on the TV at home, tune in to news channels, and the next moment explosions start on the screen—headlines like "India entered Lahore and took a big action!", "Pakistan is shocked!", and "Pakistan on its knees!" appear, and the anchors scream as if they are reporting live from the battle-field.

But when they open their eyes in the morning, everything is the same as it was. There is no war, no attack; it is just a magical game of TRP. This is not a war; it is a scripted show—a live tamasha of nationalism, which is being served in the name of TRP. The real question is whether the security of the country, the martyrdom of the martyrs, and the sentiments of the public have also become a part of media marketing now.

Media's ‘heroic’ spectacle:

Indian news channels are now less a source of information and more a platform for dramatic entertainment. Anchors are in a warlike mood; the panel is staffed with retired generals, jingoistic spokesmen, and a couple of faces from the "enemy country." Everybody screams and shouts at each other, and viewers are glued to the TV.

Fake bombs, missile explosions, and fake maps created with CGl—all this gives the viewers a feel of a ‘great war.’ But what is the ground reality? The ground reality is that this entire drama strengthens only one thing—the channel's ratings and the government's image.