By Awais Ozair Qureshi
In this day and age if the government controls the media it can certainly control its society. Media is the main source of information for the masses. And it is the basic tool for a government to build its narrative, to internalize a discourse, and to make people think and talk about something that does not even concern them. Especially, in the fascist form of government, the media is controlled by the government.
On the other hand, even if there is free media, it can also keep the masses in illusions by propaganda. So it is extremely difficult for the public to see the truth which is wrapped up in many forms of a lie. Media has been used many times by the governments to sell their side of the story and to keep the public in the dark.
Media can even change and alter the thinking of people. In the following paragraphs, I would discuss two countries and how the media of those countries affected their society. I would explain in detail how these narratives are built by the media and how people accept them.
Firstly, the country that I have chosen is India. The current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, is a fascist leader. His government has strong influences on the media and it is mostly controlled by the media. It is a type of authoritarian state. Authoritarian state is a state that does not grant much liberty to its citizens, for example: free media and free market.
Recently, during the start of Covid-19 in India, the media blamed the Muslims for its spread. Particularly those who were associated with the Tablighi Jamaat. The use of the media for putting the blame on Muslims was deliberately done. The media showed fake stories and propaganda to make Muslims look like culprits. The media successfully sold their side of the story and the majority of the people believed it.
Ultimately, Muslims were labeled as the main source of widespread. Moreover, Muslims were demonized and had to face extreme persecutions and hatred by the far-right Hindu nationalists. This fueled up Islamophobia in society. As Molana Abu al Kalam Azad said ” after partition in India Muslims would be always remain in danger and in Pakistan Islam would always remain in danger”, Muslims were beaten in the streets and those who were street vendors were told to never come to Hindu streets to sell. The icing on the cake, Hindus never realized that spread might have been associated with their bath in the Ganges river.
This is not the first time the Modi government has used the media to its advantage. In 2002 the infamous Gujrat Riots took place. A train carrying sixty Hindus was set on fire. It was allegedly blamed on Muslims. The media showed biases and sided with the far-right Hindu Nationalists. Consequently, riots started and about one thousand Muslims died because of them.
Last but not least, the Modi government used the media to portray Jammu and Kashmir as some kind of a safe and good place for the Muslims but the reality is different. Indian media shows that basic facilities are available in Jammu and Kashmir but the International media shows otherwise. The jingoistic population of India believes in their own media and discards what the International media says.
There is no internet service and Human Rights watch has counted multiple problems in the region. But still most of the population, apart from some intellectuals such as Arundhati Roy and Shashi Tharoor, supports the Indian media.
Secondly, in history, the media has been used to cause different impacts on society. Germany during the time of Adolf Hitler. Hitler was a pure fascist leader. His regime had control over the media to show the public that what they are doing is right. Hitler killed millions of Jews in Auschwitz through his Nazi Army, Holocaust a dark incident in the history of mankind.
To portray this as something right and required for the greater good, the government regulated the media outlets in which Germans were shown superior, and Jews were portrayed as vile creatures who had no inherent value. They even gave lame arguments such as because Jews had killed Christ so now they must be killed. The impact of this propaganda by media was astonishingly positive in the favour of the Nazis. The majority of the German public came under the illusions and influences of the media and believed that what Nazi Army was doing was required and right. This is the power of the media : it can make people believe even the most absurd things.
The case of Nazi Germany, as ludicrous it sounds but it happened, and as Hegel says ‘ We learn from history that we do not learn from history”. History is repeating itself in the form of the Modi Regime and people are still being easily fooled. Modi is a far-right Hindu nationalist who believes in Hindutva supremacy. India whose first Prime Minister was Nehru, whose first Educational minister was Molana Abu al-Kalam Azad, whose father of the nation was Gandhi has now a fascist as a Prime Minister. And people support that with full force and zeal.
To conclude, I would say that the media has immense power to make and also destroy narratives. Media can even distort history. The impact of media on nations and societies is huge and I have mentioned the two examples in the above paragraphs. But I think there arises a question: how could people become so ignorant of reality and buy these narratives posed by the media. How could Germans agree that it was alright to kill the jews just because they were jews?
There is a point to be noted here: the media only influences those who are irrational in their thinking. A rational mind can never be persuaded through emotions or irrational arguments. So the fascist government tries to make the public more and more emotional and less and less rational. When the media starts propaganda most of the people come under their influence and there are very few who go against the currents of the sea. And those with unpopular opinions who try to rationalize the situation are silenced by mobs and masses. As Mark Twain says “ it is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled”. Moreover, who tries to make out of Plato’s cave and then comes back to inform others about the “ truth” is first beaten and then killed by the people inside the cave.
