Any society would be shaken by the gruesome acts of terror like what occurred at Pahalgam. The question one asks here however is what role should a media in a responsible democracy have in its aftermath? For people still reeling from shock, grief, and anger, should a large section of mainstream media abet and aid in manufacturing an atmosphere of frenzy? Indeed, during the short war that followed there were state directives to the media. In an Advisory issued on 26th April 2025 by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, the Government of India refrained the media channels from showing live coverage of the defence operations and movement of security forces (Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, 2024). The Advisory asked the media “to exercise utmost responsibility and adhere strictly to existing laws and regulations” (ibid). Further, it had to remind the media of the adverse consequences of the live coverage of the Mumbai terror attacks. 

In this essay, however, one does not enter this aspect of media coverage but instead focuses on the nature of the medium, particularly visual. With television still thriving in India, and the exponential and unregulated consumption of videos on internet platforms, there is a greater-than-ever incursion on human cognition. With very little and ineffective regulations, the citizen is left to fend for themselves in this onslaught. However, part of the problem lies with the medium itself, here, the video. It is useful to revisit the classical thesis of the Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan—the medium is the message—and his warning.

Simply, the pithy statement, ‘medium is the message’ means that the medium is much more than merely an innocent medium. A medium may necessarily not be a television, a radio or an internet website, but anything. In his magnum opus, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964), McLuhan uses the example of the electric light as a medium, but without a message, because it is pure information. In another example, railways did not function only as a medium of transportation but also promoted urban development. Further, aeroplanes brought about even greater transformation. McLuhan emphasised recognising the form of the medium and not only the content. For him, the content was not inconsequential, however, the form was important too. This is because the form shapes human interaction and, beyond, the society itself.

In recent history, we have witnessed a proliferation of different media. Among these, the video has gained centrality as a medium for accessing information (Dai & Wang, 2023). Video is increasingly replacing text and audio. Individuals who once used search engines to access textual information are now using video platforms such as YouTube for the same. In response to a text search, search engine companies not only show video content but also place it higher in their results. For a Google search for “how to study well?”, the search engine showed Andrew Huberman’s (a popular podcaster) video at the top of the results. In other words, we are being encouraged to watch more and read less. Cisco, a U.S.-based technology company which releases annual internet reports, had predicted that online videos would account for 82% of total consumer internet traffic in 2024 (DeGuzman, 2024). Indian media has proliferated since the 1990s. Most information is about entertainment. Infotainment is legitimate and sensationalism is not just acceptable but encouraged. (Chaudhuri 2021)

Different mediums deliver the same message but with different power and effect. For example, despite the identical material, people feel more connected to their leader on digital sites like X (previously Twitter) than through a newspaper. In a different case, the effects of learning about, say, the death of an individual from various sources—from reading about it in newspapers to viewing a graphic video of the incident on a viral video clip—differ. Technically speaking, the change in the form of the same content/message results in different degrees of “affective engagement” among the viewers/consumers. Or, the medium has done much more than merely delivering the message/content. Existing research has demonstrated that video is found to be more engaging and interesting than text, and thus it elicits higher emotional engagement. Among others, this multi-sensory and immersive engagement may have a triggering and titillation effect. The conclusion of a recent research paper (Richardson, 2020) presents a more nuanced picture:

We found that participants perceived themselves to be more concentrated and engaged while watching video narratives, but their physiological responses revealed more cognitive and emotional engagement while listening to audio narratives. Why do they feel more engaged if their bodies say otherwise? We suggest that spoken narratives require the participant to be an actively engaged listener, whereas videos deliver rich stimulation to a more passive viewer. The pictures in the listener’s mind may not be as vivid and as detailed as those onscreen, and so auditory narratives are rated explicitly as less engaging, yet the imaginative generation of those images requires greater cognitive and emotional processing, and so they are physiologically more engaging.

In the aftermath of the highly abominable Pahalgam attack, we had been inundated with information—real and unreal. Among others, graphic videos have contributed to the creation of hysteria. Citizens have engaged in calls for as well as violent incidents against their fellow Indian citizens. Further, the emotionally charged citizenry creates a popular and undue pressure upon the government. Given the ineffective regulation of traditional media such as television and the challenges posed by an almost unrestrained digital media, citizens need to be more vigilant and help prevent themselves from being consumed by the medium. Further, it is useful to understand that the digital technologies of communication are not innocuous, but rather work well, within the logic of the processes of neoliberalism and populism (Chaudhuri, 2021).

McLuhan’s warning seems apposite even after sixty years: “Once we have surrendered our senses and nervous systems to the private manipulation of those who would try to benefit from taking a lease on our eyes and ears and nerves, we don’t have any rights left” (source).

References

Chaudhuri, M. (2021). Democracy in smart times. In S. Patel (Ed.), Neoliberalism, urbanization, and aspirations in contemporary India (Chap. 2). Oxford University Press.

Dai, X., & Wang, J. (2023). Effect of online video infotainment on audience attention. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10, 421.

DeGuzman, D. (2024, September 23). The power of video in news media: How increased audience engagement drives success. The Associated Press. https://www.ap.org/insights/the-power-of-video-in-news-media-how-increased-audience-engagement-drives-success/

McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding media: The extensions of man. McGraw-Hill.

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. (2025, April 26). Advisory. Government of India. https://mib.gov.in/sites/default/files/2025-04/advisory-to-all-media-channels-dated-26.04.2025-1.pdf

Richardson, D. C., Griffin, N. K., Zaki, L., Stephenson, A., Yan, J., Curry, T., Noble, R., Hogan, J., Skipper, J. I., Devlin, J. T., & Leong, Y. C. (2020). Engagement in video and audio narratives: Contrasting self-report and physiological measures. Scientific Reports, 10, 11298.

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Krishan Takhar has recently submitted his doctoral dissertation to the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. His core interests are post-liberalisation industrial spaces, governance, placemaking, informality, caste and spatiality. His other interests include decolonial theory, gender, postcolonial theory, and Rajasthan politics.