By: Lt Col JS Sodhi (Retd), Editor, GSDN

The morning prayer of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, which is the world-renowned Tri-Services training institution located in Pune, India has a line “Choose the harder right, than the easier wrong”.

In today’s world where only power and money matter, this line of the NDA Prayer holds a deep significance for every profession and organisation as when history is written many years and decades down the line, every aspect will be intensely studied since in hindsight issues acquire deeper clarity than while in the midst of it.

As India races towards the goal “Viksit Bharat 2047” of being a developed nation in 100-years of her independence in 2047, it is a whole-of-the-nation approach in which every organisation and citizen has to contribute in own capacity and capability.

At the end of 2047, which is just 22 years down the line, when stock is taken of India having become a developed nation, one aspect that will be discussed in detail will be the role of the mainstream electronic news channels (hereafter referred to as the mainstream media) and the leading social media handles (hereafter referred to as the social media) which are very active in today’s era, as they command phenomenal viewership and followers and help shaping narratives. Every word spoken in the mainstream media and written in the social media has a deep impact not only on the 1.46 billion Indian citizens but also in global geopolitics.  

India has 465 news channels comprising English, Hindi and regional languages channels and amongst them are 20 news channels which have the maximum viewership. Out of the 1.46 billion Indian citizens, 1.17 billion watch television. The mainstream & social media are also watched/followed by the Embassies and High Commissions located in India who regularly send back reports back to their countries on the internal situation in India. Also, this media has immense global viewership.

There are 75 leading social media handles in India which have a combined followership running over 1.5 billion. The current global population is 8.2 billion. In contrast only 400 million Indians read newspapers. Thus, the mainstream electronic news channels and the leading social media handles are a very powerful medium of conveying information and shaping narratives.

While it is easy to say that the mainstream media anchors and the social media handles are independent, but when the same persons are seen in official/political party functions then it is amply clear that they do enjoy the official/political party backing.

The aim is not to name and shame such mainstream & social media, but to drive home the point that while immediate gains may be made in Television Rating Points (TRPs) which in turn leads in to increase in advertising and hence more revenue, and gains in electoral politics, the international image of the nation suffers as does the domestic social fibre.

Thus, mainstream & social media matter globally as well as domestically.

Each individual has to take the call-are TRPs and electoral dividends important, or is the nation’s image more important? Blind pursuit of profits with utter disdain to social impact isn’t just morally incorrect, it is blatantly dangerous.

Take the case of Germany. After it’s defeat in World War I, Adolf Hitler in his bid for power started blaming the Jews for Germany’s defeat. That time, Jews comprised just 1% of the German population and had contributed in equal measure for Germany’s growth. Adolf Hitler was so successful in selling the narrative of Jews being responsible for the German defeat, that resulted him in not only seizing power but in the Holocaust of Jews leading to the killing of 6 million Jews. Judaism not only survived as a religion but catastrophe befell Germany and it was split into two nations after the end of World War II – East Germany & West Germany. It took 45 years for Germany to be united again in 1990. For mere 12 years of being in power from 1933-45, Adolf Hitler not only killed millions but had his country divided into two nations too.

Another nation that merits attention is Myanmar. In 1947, Aung San, a prominent politician of Burma (now Myanmar) had said that if Unity in Diversity of Burma is played with, Burma will sink in chaos. In 1962, the Military Junta seized power and did contrary to Aung San’s caution, started playing merry-hell with Burma’s Unity in Diversity. Burma was renamed Mynamar in 1989. As the internal strife in Myanmar continued because of the Military Junta’s playing with the Unity and Diversity of the country, China started taking advantage of the internal mayhem in Myanmar and started supporting various terrorist outfits. One of such terrorist outfit is the United Wa State Army which controls large swathes of the nation in which no soldier of Myanmar’s army can dare enter. The country which has 90% Buddhist population and Buddhism is regarded as one of the most peaceful religions in the world, has now slipped into a civil war with the conditions having come to such an impasse that the Myanmar President Myint Swe declared on November 09, 2023 that Myanmar will be split if the violence doesn’t stop.

India too is a land of Unity in Diversity, like Myanmar is but a much bigger bouquet of 89 major and minor religions and 122 major languages and 1599 other languages that are spoken across the length and breadth of the country.  

There will be enough reasons to support or decry the views expressed in this article. But an example will amplify the case better. Would one like to visit a house whose inhabitants are seem to be always shouting at each other and bringing out mistakes of few of their family members in the media which is widely watched and read the world over? Answer this question honestly to yourself.

India’s size is 897% times Malaysia’s size. India has everything to offer what a tourist would want – mountains, beaches, deserts and islands, same as Malaysia offers, but with much more choices. But in 2024, 25 million foreign tourists visited Malaysia as compared to only 9.7 million foreign tourists who visited India the same year. It is here that the mainstream & social media’s role becomes important. In 2019, 10.9 million foreign tourists visited India. A clear drop of 1.2 million foreign tourists visiting India in the five-year period from 2019 to 2024. Tourism is one industry which the mainstream & social media can help grow manifold by projecting how safe a country is, as any tourist considers the security in the visiting country of paramount importance while planning a trip.

Sample this. Last year in a capital city of an Indian state, a rape and murder took place in a hospital. The mainstream & social media for weeks together broadcast and posted news of this issue, as this state is ruled by a particular political party whom they want removed from power.

The same year in an important town in a central Indian state, an Army officer was robbed and his girlfriend raped at midnight. Since this state is ruled by a political party whom the mainstream & social media likes, this news was hardly mentioned for few minutes. Any act of violence should definitely be reported in the mainstream & social media, but the brazen double-standards adopted in cases depending on which political party is in power, needs deep introspection.

And when such incidents are run on the mainstream & social media non-stop for weeks, the world notices. The world gets the message that India is unsafe for women. It is then the foreign countries issue advisories for travel to India. Latest case in point being the US issuing India Travel Advisory on June 16, 2025 placing India in Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution.

Don’t rape and murders occur in the US or the UK? How much of such news is run on the Western mainstream media like BBC, CNN, France24 etc?

Discussions happen on the Western mainstream electronic news channels too but no fighting or abusing amongst the co-panellists takes place as in commonly seen in almost all the Indian mainstream media.

In 2020, a retired Indian Army Major abused a retired Lieutenant General and a retired Brigadier on a news channel. In 2023, a retired Indian Army Major General called a retired Lady Indian Army Officer as a mosquito. In 2025, a retired Indian Army Major called another country’s Foreign Minister as son of a pig on his social media handle, leading to a diplomatic row between India and that country, with which good relations exist.

In 2023, a leading Indian social media handle mocked at a neighbouring foreign country leading to increased tensions between the two neighbours. Eventually, resulting in that nation embracing China openly.

The Indian mainstream & social media is also obsessed with Pakistan. Why should we compare ourselves with Pakistan? It is a failed nation. When one has to progress in an organisation or a career, does one look at the success stories or failures? Why success stories of countries like Switzerland and Spain are not shown in the Indian mainstream news channels? Why success stories of Indians within the country are rarely aired and discussed? Does India lack success stories? No, we don’t. But the answer is obvious too. There are no TRPs and electoral gains accruing by success stories abroad or Indians excelling domestically.

As for a person to succeed, it is imperative that he/she has a positive outlook and gains inspiration from people who have already succeeded in that particular field. Similarly, the narrative for India required from the mainstream & social media is of positivity and success stories and not just communally oriented programmes and posts & and selective stories of rapes and murders, based on the states they occur in.

Shaping of narratives is important and not TRPs and electoral gains. Money will come and go, followers on social media handles will increase or decrease, political parties will loose and gain power. But India will always stand as a nation.

“With great power there must also come…great responsibility!” quoted Stan Lee. The Indian mainstream electronic news channels and the leading social media handles are undoubtedly immensely powerful. It is time for change in these powerful mediums of information in India as 2047 is just over a little two decades away. The mainstream & social media should indulge in fair and equitable reporting staying clear of over-sensationalism for prolonged periods.

Steve Jobs in his famous speech on Jun 12, 2005 in the Stanford Stadium had aptly remarked “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards”. In 2047, the role of the mainstream & social media who for the last few years have only kept TRPs and electoral gains paramount, without the effect it is having on the domestic social fabric and global geopolitics, will definitely be assessed as they comprise the Fourth Estate which has an equal role in national building as others.