Why BBC Editors Must One Day Stand Trial for Colluding in Israel’s Genocide

the BBC has largely ignored Israel’s campaign of murdering Palestinian journalists in Gaza. A greater number have been killed by Israel in its war on the tiny enclave than the total number of journalists killed in all other major conflicts of the past 160 years combined Jonathan Cook / Jonathan Cook Blog Veteran journalist Peter Oborne… Read More Why BBC Editors Must One Day Stand Trial for Colluding in Israel’s Genocide

From Mumbai 26/11 to Pahalgam, India has entered the post-truth era

During Operation Sindoor, the Indian media did not merely broadcast propaganda – it deliberately subverted the truth. Nissim Mannathukkaren The India-Pakistan conflict in May left a deep chasm in the subcontinent. It also revealed a breakdown on both sides of the border on what constitutes fact and the truth. This reflects an unprecedented polarisation of… Read More From Mumbai 26/11 to Pahalgam, India has entered the post-truth era

Why the Response to Rahul Gandhi’s Accusation of a Stolen Election Is Less Than Convincing

It is necessary to see how news media has responded to the opposition leader’s article and how soon. Prem Shankar Jha It has taken the Election Commission four months to respond to opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s first disturbing accusation at a press conference in February – that the Commission had somehow managed not to notice that there were… Read More Why the Response to Rahul Gandhi’s Accusation of a Stolen Election Is Less Than Convincing

How social media lies fuelled a rush to war between India and Pakistan

Disinformation spread to mainstream channels in what experts call deliberate ‘informational warfare’ Hannah Ellis-Petersen South Asia correspondent As missiles and drones crisscrossed the night skies above India and Pakistan earlier this month, another invisible war was taking place. Not long after the Indian government announced Operation Sindoor, the military offensive against Pakistan triggered by a militant attack in Kashmir that… Read More How social media lies fuelled a rush to war between India and Pakistan

Professor Ali Khan’s Arrest Raises Critical Questions on Free Speech, Liberty and the state of Indian Law & Justice

“It is preposterous that we have come to such a pass in India that even praising the army, albeit while criticizing those who clamour for war, can now invite such targeted harassment and attempted censorship,” read the letter signed by 1,200 academics. Mekhala Saran It should not matter that Ali Khan Mahmudabad is an empath, a friend… Read More Professor Ali Khan’s Arrest Raises Critical Questions on Free Speech, Liberty and the state of Indian Law & Justice

Our soldiers won the war for us – but politics and the media have undone their good work

Avay Shukla Going beyond the nit picking about the number of “assets” lost by India and Pakistan, it is now clear that we have inflicted significant losses on the latter. In doing so our defence forces have also demonstrated the technological and air power to enforce the Prime Minister’s stated resolve to extract a heavy… Read More Our soldiers won the war for us – but politics and the media have undone their good work

Spinning the Yogi

Vanguard and fringe Mukul Kesavan The zombification of right-wing publicists in contemporary India is a small but significant part of our intellectual history. When the Bharatiya Janata Party’s turn at the top comes to an end and the bruised republic shuffles back to the centre, historians of this political moment will explain why Right-leaning commentators… Read More Spinning the Yogi

The US left Vietnam 50 years ago today. The media hasn’t learned its lesson

The myth that news coverage turned Americans against the war persists. In fact, it was largely complicit in perpetuating the conflict Norman Solomon The last helicopter liftoff from the roof of the American embassy in Saigon on 30 April 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam war. Fifty years later, mythology about US media coverage of… Read More The US left Vietnam 50 years ago today. The media hasn’t learned its lesson

The incredible tale of Anna Politkovskaya has taught me one thing: I could never be that brave

She faced endless opposition and threats to her life. This has become a reality for far too many journalists Maxine Peake A woman places flowers in front of a portrait of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Moscow, 2009. Photograph: Pavel Golovkin/AP What drives someone to become a journalist? A good journalist, someone whose keyboard is a tool for exposing… Read More The incredible tale of Anna Politkovskaya has taught me one thing: I could never be that brave