As soon as man became akin to the art of language and the science of writing, media became prevalent. It manifested itself in myriads of vessels, and one that has stood the test of time since its birth was the newspaper. Nonetheless, the news publications, while they should serve the purpose of being servants of the reality, reporter of facts and messenger of the masses, have branded their strategy a bit differently.
If there is anything that these profitable news agencies have learned from their tenure in the industry, it is the power of fear and fright, of terror and trite among fellow humans. This immense power that lies only in the hands of the storyteller has been misused and understanding the human psyche, they have played it well. Deliberately choosing which nations to label the progressive and the regressive ones, and filtering the news accordingly, these agencies have succeeding in tarnishing the image of quite a few nations. Indeed, you will see that if there is a disaster in Kashmir, it will never cease to be because the account comes with its economic perks. Forget the reality! After all, in a product portfolio at least one segment has to earn them their profits.
While the commentary above may seem a tad bit melodramatic, it, in all actuality, does nothing but mirror the truth. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Yes, the one, which has heralded several acts of terror and violence in the news headlines with its name, like a permanent residence.
Honestly, being a tourist in the city of Srinagar, Kashmir, at first intimidated my family. One of the many reasons to blame: the media. To add more to it, as we entered, the magnitude of army officers spread across the city confirmed our fear that we had landed in the city of terror, expecting a vacation of warmth. Fools, weren't we?
However, as we began chatting with our taxi driver, we saw a different picture. From that moment on, till the very last of seconds on the soil of the J&K state, we had understood one thing: media was a master manipulator. While it highlights the lost and unspoken heroes and frequently glorifies the underdog, it also corrodes a nation’s reputation. Stereotyping the country simply by the misdeeds a minority performed and, thereby, displacing the tranquility in the lives of the majority -- that was the new role media had taken on.
Kashmir seemed peaceful and even harmonious unlike the precarious peak of India I had imagined. Its people had an alien sense of humility and respect for the guest, which most of the so-called safe states of India lack. More importantly, its mountains and valleys reverberated with the sweet scent of snow and nature’s melody, unlike the gun and grenade clamor I had anticipated.
To tell you the truth, a few of my friends mocked me for going to Kashmir for a vacation and some even texted me messages on the lines of, “Are you safe?” One even joked, “So, which ammunition are you bringing home in a fortnight?” Very well; I did infer the same stereotype of Kashmir, and I came to one conclusion: Kashmir was the victim and the inflictor.
Media had wronged Kashmir, in just one quick headline, every day. A few neighborhood fights were branded as “communal uprisings” and a few firecrackers on Diwali were branded as “bomb blasts.” I won’t deny that there aren’t military casualties, because there are. Militants versus the military. But that's all on the border where, technically, it is supposed to be. However, the media flips it around and renames the battle on Kashmir’s boxing ring, shrewdly, “Muslims versus Hindus”: the battle of the religions.
It may even come as a surprise, that while Jammu and Kashmir are majority Hindu and majority Muslim states, respectively, both are in harmony. One of our drivers, being a believer of Allah, had even joined his hands in a prayer at Kedarnath, a Hindu pilgrimage site. On land, there was no religious contempt or a religious divide. On the media, a virtual reality of itself, Kashmir was a state infamous for its religious intolerance, an open wound, and the prime breeding ground for violence.
Now I assimilate why people say experience is as important, if not more so, than erudition. What the books may whisper and the media may shout is only half-honest unless you confirm it with your own eyes. Media is an über-powerful creation indeed -- the best rationale being its effortless ability to refocus the lens and alter the reality.
