Podcasts

South Central 27 | India-Pakistan tensions, and the theatre of TV news

In this episode, Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, and Leena Reghunath speak with Sushant Singh and Prem Panicker about what led to the India–Pakistan ceasefire and how the media responded during a tense moment.

Dhanya Rajendran, Leena Gita Reghunath, Pooja Prasanna

Published:16th May, 2025 at 6:46 PM

In Episode 27 of South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, and Leena Reghunath discuss the India-Pakistan ceasefire following Operation Sindoor and examine the role of the media during moments of military escalation. Joining the discussion are defence expert Sushant Singh and senior journalist Prem Panicker.

On the role of the United States in brokering the ceasefire, Sushant says, “Without the US, this would not have happened. The deal, even the DGMO calls, would not have happened but for the United States… That made sure that the two DGMOs eventually came out and spoke to each other. So they acted as a kind of an interlocutor, a kind of a facilitator.”

Prem reflects on what the ceasefire reveals about India’s long-term approach to terrorism, “We have Balakot, which is supposed to have ended the threat of terrorism. Now we have Pahalgam and other operations. In all these intervening years, what was the government doing in order to end terrorism? Are we just going to be a reactive country?”

On the misreporting of madrasa teacher Qari Mohammad Iqbal from Poonch, Dhanya says, “We have spoken to local journalists who work for all these channels and what they have told us is that they only said that the madrasa teacher had died in a shelling by Pakistanis… By the time the next day, that man had been branded a terrorist. And the local journalists are really shocked.”

Prem explains how TV news turns hate into content: “News has become a match for Muslims. Every day, we need a Muslim, because we have created a concept. Who’s the audience? Who’s the audience you’re playing to? People who have been drip-fed hate 24/7. To keep that audience captive, we need to keep providing hate objects, we need to keep giving them reasons to hate, we need to point them at people and say, okay, this is your target for today.”

On the failure of newspapers to upload journalistic standards, Sushant says, “Some of the newspapers seen as very reputed, I think, are essentially doing stenography. And I have a huge problem with that. That is not journalism at all. There is no context. There is no questioning. There is nothing. Actually, essentially, it is just ‘sources told me this’ and ‘sources told me that’ and that makes everything in the newspaper. That’s not what the business or job of a newspaper is.”

All this and more—tune in.

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Audio Timecodes

00:00:00- Introduction

00:01:58 - Announcements

00:02:38- Headlines

00:12:50 - India-Pakistan

00:41:25- Role of Media