WHEN Indian journalist Sakshi Joshi showed a bit of courage, I was reminded of Kurt Lang and Gladys Engel Lang.
This husband-and-wife duo migrated from Italy to the United States and accomplished a remarkable feat—they identified a condition that India is currently afflicted with.
A few days ago, in Istanbul, accompanied by dear brothers Fahad Shehzad Warraich and Abdullah Zubair Mir, I had the pleasure of meeting the respected brother Umar Farooq Korkmaz.
Brother Korkmaz’s area of focus is the Muslim world and its movements.
He keeps himself consistently updated with developments in the Muslim world and events that affect it.
As a result, his insights are not only fresh but also enriched by a deep understanding of ground realities.
This is why Turkish leadership values him and benefits from his counsel.
Our meeting in Istanbul was both pleasant and fruitful.
Most of our discussion revolved around the question: Why does the democratic process in the Muslim world—and especially in Pakistan—often suffer repeated setbacks?
Incidentally, we also discussed the state of religious groups.
One question was: Why do these groups often seem alienated within society?
On this point, I maintain the same view that the Lang couple presented in 1967 in the form of a theory—known in academic circles as the Media Malaise Theory.
This theory, which has been tested and proven in practical scenarios, is quite fascinating.
It explains that when lies become widespread in a society’s media, and when the media stokes conflict for specific purposes—exaggerating tension and violence beyond actual levels—it leads to societal unrest.
This unrest is what the Langs termed media malaise, or in simpler terms, communication-induced anxiety.
This condition is highly dangerous.
As a result, the average person becomes disillusioned with legitimate systems and ideologies and starts looking for ways to escape.
It breeds despair in constitutional and democratic frameworks.
This is why democracies in democratic societies fail and people start welcoming authoritarianism.
This is a phenomenon people often struggle to make logical sense of.
It creates the impression that a society has not yet reached a level of awareness where it can understand the harms of dictatorship and the blessings of democracy.
Similarly, when leaders associated with a belief or ideology abandon their guiding principles and instead use offensive language or promote violence from their platforms, the public becomes alienated from them.
Brother Umar Farooq Korkmaz took great interest in this discussion and requested that I send him my writings on the subject.
The chaos of travel and war didn’t allow me the time to do so, but the Indian media’s bankruptcy and the concern shown by thoughtful individuals there has certainly given me a reason to write something new on the matter.
In the recent short war between Pakistan and India, Indian media—which already carried the derogatory label of Godi Media—displayed disgraceful behavior.
Sakshi Joshi highlighted some glimpses of this in her vlog.
She questioned why Indian media claimed that Indian forces had not only entered Pakistani territory but had even taken over Islamabad, the capital.
She also raised questions about the claim that Indian forces had destroyed the Karachi seaport, leaving it in ruins.
She expressed concern over news channels spreading panic by playing war sirens repeatedly, saying that this needlessly created anxiety among the public.
She asserted that this is precisely the kind of media behavior that has led many—including herself—to stop trusting Indian news channels and stop watching them altogether.
This is the second aspect of the Media Malaise Theory.
Experts say that when media outlets resort to lies and slander, they may initially attract attention, but eventually, viewers grow tired and turn away.
This has already happened in our homeland for other reasons and we are now seeing the same trend in India.
Sakshi Joshi was among the first to react against the shallowness of Indian media, especially electronic media.
Now, she is not alone—many others have joined their voices with hers.
This is encouraging.
If a majority of media professionals in India begin to share her concern, it could slow down the anxiety spreading within Hindu society and open a path toward peace and stability in the region.
However, at present, such optimism may be premature, since the government and state itself are complicit in this process.
The latest example is a tweet from India’s Ministry of External Affairs, in which an old video was used to falsely claim that Pakistan had attacked India with Shaheen missiles.
The implication of this accusation was that Pakistan had initiated a nuclear war.
This accusation falls squarely under media malaise and the consequences ultimately rebound upon the accuser.
These consequences are more dangerous than just eroding trust in democratic institutions or media—they undermine public trust in the state itself.
Media malaise or communication anxiety is born out of intense hatred.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his allies are gripped by this very condition.
India already had many separatist movements.
Now, by using state media malaise as a tool, they have only strengthened the foundations of their own destruction and fragmentation.
That’s because the media malaise that emerged during this recent conflict has caused the public to lose faith in the state itself.
And this is the greatest danger facing India—one it seems completely unaware of.
—This writer is former advisor to the President of Pakistan, author & mass media theorist. (farooq.adilbhuta@gmail,com)
