Role of media and social networking
sites in internal security challenges
1. Media:
Any communication channel through which any kind of information, news,
entertainment, education, data, promotional messages etc. can be disseminated
is called media.
Media could be broadly classified as:
- Print
Media (newspapers, magazines, books, etc.)
- Electronic
Media (news websites, social networking sites, mass SMS schemes,
television, internet, radio, cinema etc.)
Besides there are many other forms of mass
communication which can’t be classified in either of the above forms like
various forms of dances etc.
2. Principles governing
media:
The experience of freedom of press
with the British made our founding fathers realize its importance and hence it
was included in the constitution in the form of freedom of speech and
expression as articulated in the constitution in Article 19(1) a. This freedom
of speech and expression is not absolute but is limited by scenarios given in
Article 19(2) of the constitution. The article says that nothing in the freedom
of speech and expression shall affect the operation of any existing law, or
prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable
restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub clause in
the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the
State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or
morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an
offence.
3. Internal security challenges:
What could be the internal security threats facing India?
1. Terrorism
2. Communalism
3. Naxalism
4. Cyber Hacking and its aftermath
4. Role of Media:
1. In terrorism:
India has been home to terror activities since its independence.
Terrorism funded through foreign land is not new to India. Pakistan has funded
terror in J&K area, while many of its state and non-state actors are
allegedly involved in many of terrorist attacks in various parts of
the country, the most talked of being the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Similarly India
has many terror outfits operating within its own frontiers which have carried
out terrorist activities in the country.
TV has been the most important broadcast media with reach comparable to
newspapers. With the coming of cable TV in India, there has been a tremendous
increase in the news channels available to an individual. Though news through
print media comes only a day later, news channels via the broadcast media
provide information 24x7. This enables them to provide real time information to
the public especially those affected by the terrorist attack. But without any
curbs on the amount of coverage, these forms of media can be used by the
terrorists to mislead the investigation agencies and/or the public as was the
case during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks [1]. In the 26/11 attack, the handlers of
the terrorist used the media coverage to tell them the exact locations of the
policemen and advised them about the best way to attack the police. Thus the
thoughtless media coverage, in a way helped the terrorist [2]. Also the goriest
details of the attack were shown virtually non-stop [2]. Situations
like the Mumbai attack check the credibility of our media. This incident
certainly weakened the media demand to regulate itself.
2. In Communalism:
India is home to different communities having different religious
sentiments. The history of India is full of incidents of communal tensions most
particularly between Hindus and Muslims. Broadcast media particularly news TV
channels is often criticized for its non-stop live coverage of these incidents
which might incite the communities to further wreak havoc. Even print media
sometimes thoughtlessly carries messages from the leaders of opposing factions
creating further tensions.
One particular incident would be the Gujarat riots of 2002. The report
of ‘The Editor’s Guild of India’ on media ethics states that the local
newspaper of Gujarat Sandesh had headlines which would
"provoke, communalize and terrorize people. The newspaper also used a
quote from a VHP leader as a headline, "Avenge with blood". But the
same report also lauded some other local newspapers for their coverage [3].
Broadcast media was heavily criticized for the gory images that were shown
non-stop.
One other such incident would be the recent Assam riots. The social
media and the SMS were blamed for rumour mongering during the Assam unrest.
They were alleged of misrepresentation of facts and doctoring news which
incited the opposing factions and led to huge migration of north easterners
across the country [4].
3. In Naxalism:
The term Naxalism takes its name from the village Naxalbari in West
Bengal where a group of left radical communist brought an uprising against a
local Zamindar in 1967. Today, the Naxal movement is spread across various
districts of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar
Pradesh, and Uttarakhand to varying degrees. Our PM while addressing the police
force in 2009 even announced that Naxalism is the greatest internal security
threat to India [5]
Media can be used very effectively to mainstream the naxal areas.
Innovation is the key here. Street Plays can be used to educate the junta about
various schemes of the govt. Recently Home Ministry issued guidelines which
apart from providing SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) to security forces
while working in Naxal areas gave a directive to screen movies on India’s
freedom struggle and national leaders in such areas, which is a welcome move
[6].
4. In Cyber Space:
The problem with cyber security related to massive social media networks
is that there is limited knowledge about the consequences of the snooping which
is carried by various countries in the name of security. Countries like US are
not only snooping on their own citizens but are also able to freely intrude the
privacy of any individual in other countries too. US has the specific advantage
of having the servers of main social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter
etc. within its frontiers and hence in the outreach of their laws.
Experts have suggested India to build our own social networks like the
way China has its own. Though the reason China built its own social networks
was to suppress public dissent and monitoring online activities to identify
troublemakers, India can follow the same to avoid personal information of
millions of individuals going into the hands of US and other countries. But
then again, this kind of islanding would defeat the purpose of internet.
Also the media networks are regularly hacked by
enemy countries to spread false information and to recover classified data.
Recently hacking of New York Times and Twitter servers by Syrian agencies was
in news. Similarly the US and China continue to exchange blows in the field of
hacking.
5. Possible ways to plug the shortcomings of media:
1. Sensitizing journalists about the possible effects
of non-stop display of gory images during coverage of riots, terrorist affected
areas etc.
2. Preparing guidelines for the coverage of areas
affected by man-made disaster.
3. Building solid networks and creating a task force to
combat any kind of hacking.
There could be many more suggestions but then they would grossly
interfere with the freedom of press.