Military Media Relations - Kargil War
There have been media reports that the military has been talking
out of turn, and counter views have also been expressed on the
topic by some supposed thinkers. It is not by individual
perceptions that policies are made and the subject, in today's
context needs to debated with select examples of the world
military media relations kept as a backdrop and the examples of
using the various media tools as force multipliers.
Military has opened up to the media only recently. Kargil
operation was the first televised war, which brought the
conflict to peoples homes. It showed the war zone to the world
and changed people's perception on the pattern of conflict in
high altitude areas. It reduced the gap between the military and
the civilians and connected people with the lives of soldiers,
who carry out their duties even at the peril of their lives. It
is in their prompt response at the borders that our countrymen
can remain comfortable at their homes. It was a bonding
established and a national fervour built which brought about
unity in diversity. The up front reportage altered the world
opinion in our favour and justified the conflict, making
Pakistan the bad guy. All this happened only because the media
by India was handled with an aim, a vision and the public, in
many ways participated in the conflict. The negatives, to
balance out, have also been true, with at times some media
personnel being given preferential treatment by the military and
the same media men, when rubbished on an occasion have been
nasty in the reporting about the military. Such practices are
reasonably common, despite the users in the game being quite
aware, and such practices are bound to take place in a
democratic system, yet it is important to analyse the reasons
for the reporters adopting a sudden change in their outlook. It
must be appreciated, after all, they are also individuals and
bound to err and swing one way or the other to gauge the mood
swing of the readers.
Just prior to Kargil, Kosovo happened, and just a little later
the United Nations Force launched an operation in Sierra Leone.
A brief mention of the two will facilitate in framing opinions
on the media being used as a weapon system. While Kosovo was a
'War of Will' at least as projected by the western media, which
gave only a one sided picture with Mr Reuben giving his daily
briefings; the Sierra Leone intervention, despite the Indian
contingent being actually responsible for the success of the
mission, was over shadowed by the British media which
highlighted the contributions made by the British troops in the
success of the operations. However, damage control was carried
out by the Indian Foreign Service at a later stage more as a
reaction by sending the Indian media to cover the happenings,
bringing to focus the Indian Army's actions which brought about
peace in the Region. More recently, the American coalition war
in Iraq was again a reminder that a war can be projected as a
justifiable war, if the events are doctored well and projected
selectively.
The above examples bring to focus one important aspect, and that
is, media has to be intelligently applied and it must be
situation oriented. It cannot adorn a template which has to
dittoed in all situations and the content also has to vary. An
over or an under play will neither be good for the public nor
for the military. The responses from the military have to be
couched and well articulated. A total ban on interaction with
the media will give rise to speculation and invariably result in
misreporting. An over eager, inadequately thought of hurried
response, is again likely to give a negative projection. The
bait by the media will always be given with smiling faces
approaching the military and wanting to be the first to report
an incident and in the bargain getting access to an event. It
may also be that the military, at times may feel that some other
security agency may take the credit for the task accomplished
and therefore prematurely reveal some details to pre-empt the
other stake holders, which at times may result in tendering
apologies at a later stage. Such out of turn exposures to the
media must be guarded against and that comes with fore thought
and practice Hence, it is important that media education is
imparted to the military as a professional subject. It should be
taught in schools of instructions right from entr