The danger of multiple stories: An assessment of the facts and reporting surrounding the Pulwama attack
Sources alone cannot constitute reporting. Yet most reports since the deadly Pulwama attack have relied heavily on such “sources,” government statements, and conjecture without actually providing evidence of the facts. Many serious questions remain unanswered. But rather than investigate these and report on the serious crisis that has taken the two nuclear states to the brink of war, the Indian media has largely ascribed to itself the role of an amplifier of government propaganda.
Pakistan has denied any link to the attack. As of February 26th, NDTV reports “Officers of the state police who have been associated with the investigations into the current case say there is very little evidence.” Yet, news organisations like India Today have consistently reported that Pakistan is responsible for the attacks obfuscating the difference between regular armed forces and state-sponsored militant groups. “By oratory and the influence of the Press, public opinion is largely created by the State, and a tyrannous public opinion is as great an enemy to liberty as tyrannous laws… A free community requires not only legal freedom but a tolerant public opinion, an absence of that instinctive inquisition into our neighbours’ affairs which, under the guise of upholding a high moral standard, enables good people to indulge unconsciously a disposition to cruelty and persecution. Thinking ill of others is not in itself a good reason…
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