Recollections of a Communicator; Reporting terror needs accuracy and competence

Media organisations have not given much attention to the latest circular of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting asking television news channels to desist from live coverage of anti-terror operations following the recent attack by terrorists at Dinanagar in Punjab's Gurdaspur District.

The ministry has pointed out that such telecasts are in clear violation of the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules 2015. The Cable Television Network Rules have been recently amended to restrict news channels from reporting periodic briefings by designated officers while reporting on anti-terror operations.

The need for restrictions on reporting when operations against terrorists are continuing was felt following the terror attack in Mumbai in 2008. The television networks in India gave live coverage to the attack on Taj Mahal, the Oberoi Trident and the Nariman House.

They covered the event as if they were covering a cricket match with salacious details about the location of security forces as well as those who might be inside terror-traps. The terrorists, as also those who were masterminding their operations in Pakistan, were getting a bird's eye view of the events even as they were unfolding.

I have had the experience of covering the India-Pakistan Wars of 1965 and 1971, and the counter insurgency operations in north eastern India and Jammu and Kashmir. While reporting the events, one has to take every care that the adversary is not aware of the strength of the forces opposing them, their locations and the equipment at their disposal.

The Ministry of Defence issued guideless for the coverage of operations following the 1965 India-Pakistan War. They were revised after the 1971 war with Pakistan. The changes in the media scene, with the television media able to communicate the events instantaneously, made it necessary to revise them after the 1999 Kargil War.

The guidelines were also changed to meet the needs of forces fighting the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country.

It is important that there should be persons who are authorised to brief the media on a regular basis during terror operations. In war-like situations, briefings are conducted by the Government of India at New Delhi, by the Principal Information Officer, the Spokesman of the External Affairs Ministry, where the representatives of the services headquarters are present.

The commanders in the field also authorised to conduct briefings. This is particularly important in anti-insurgency operations.

During my visit to the United States of America in the late 1980s, I had an opportunity to visit the Pentagon and discuss the subject with the officers of the U.S. Army. I was told that coverage by media of the operations in Vietnam made the war unpopular in the United States and forced the country to withdraw. According to reports, over 2000 reporters roamed freely to cover those operations.

I was told that in future the United States Armed Forces would only permit a small pool of reporters to cover the operations, and, every pool would be accompanied by an escort. And, it said that a violation of the rules could result in arrest, detention, revocation of press credentials and expulsion from the combat zone.

The Pentagon practiced the new guidelines during the Gulf Wars, the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. After the assassination of Ahmed Shah Massoud in September 2001 by someone who posed as a television journalist and hid explosives in a camera, the restrictions became more stringent. The term 'embedded journalism' was born during the First Gulf War.

The New York Times in an editorial on August 10, 2015, has come out strongly against the 1,176-page document, the first of its kind released by the U.S. Defence Department, which lays out guidelines on treatment of journalists covering armed conflicts. The manual warns that "reporting on military operations can be very similar to collecting intelligence or even spying".

It says that governments "may need to censor journalists' work or take other security measures so that journalists do not reveal sensitive information to the enemy.

The New York Times editorial says that the new rules would make the work of journalists "more dangerous, cumbersome and subject to censorship".

The editorial warns that allowing the new document to stand as guidance for commanders, government lawyers and officials of other nations would severely damage press freedom. Authoritarian leaders around the world could point to it to show that their despotic treatment of journalists, including Americans, is broadly in line with the standards set by the United States Government.

I recall that I had interacted with the Indian Armed Forces following the 1999 Kargil War to revise the guidelines regarding the coverage of operations.

However, during the last decade the media scene has changed, particularly with the social media becoming popular, and guidelines related to media coverage of wars, counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency need to be revised.

Also, with terrorists activities erupting in various parts of the country, as in Gurdaspur and Udhampur recently, suggest that it is time for the Government of India to lay down new guidelines for coverage while the operations are in progress.

While reporters are required to report accurately and quickly on such events, it is also their job to be responsible and sensitive to the situation at hand.

Endangering the lives of security personnel and civilians, merely for the ratings game is irresponsible journalism. The government, on the other hand, should be aware that reporters have to do their job.

Giving them timely information and taking them into confidence about the sensitivity of the information is also a delicate balancing act. The need is to evolve a set of rules and designate officials to give the information to the media when anti-terrorists operations are in progress.

Mere banning of conveying information concerning anti-terrorist operations will not meet the need.

Mr. I. Ramamohan Rao is a former Principal Information Officer of the Government of India. He can be reached on his e-mail raoramamohan@hotmail.com