The fog of war

The first casualty of war is usually the truth. The reason is that during wartime, propaganda is given preference over the true situation of things irrespective of the side i.e. the one gaining or the other losing ground or territory. Both sides tend to engage in propaganda to reassure their citizenry or supporters that they're on course for victory.

The side gaining the upper hand tends to downplay their losses no matter how insignificant they may be and blow their victories out of proportion while the side losing ground deceptively churns out propaganda of non-existent victories to boost the morale at the front lines as well as the home front.

To maintain war campaign, the morale at the home front is just as important as the front lines. The moment support is lost at the home front, it is only a matter of time before the front lines eventually collapse or give way culminating in defeat.

In today's digital world, the information war is as important as the physical fighting. Hence nations at war often dedicate personnel who are information warriors of sorts to ensure that they emerge with a upper hand in the war of words. The information wars can get so laden with propaganda such that troops on the front lines wonder if it's the war that they're engaged in that's being reported or some other battle in maybe a parallel dimension.

Today's mainstream media has earned itself a reputation of taking sides that suit the interest of their pay masters rather than the truth. Their role has indeed left more to desire as it pertains to the ideal standards of journalism. The ongoing war in Ukraine is still a fresh reminder that believing everything being reported from a particular media outlet without verifying from other sources is at one's peril.

The recent incident of missiles hitting some locations in Poland clearly buttresses this point. Some media outlets who are best described as irresponsible quickly ran with the story that it was the Russians that hit Poland without the slightest attempt at verifying the scoop.

The implications of Russian missiles hitting Poland would have meant NATO member countries had to take retaliatory action as required by the NATO charter. The unverified story was the headline across the front page of many newspapers and online media outlets.

As it would turn out , the missiles were not Russian but Ukrainian. They had gone off course and landed in Poland. I am very sure this revelation was to the disappointment of those who had hurriedly and irresponsibly fingered the Russians. This haste was probably all in a bid to be the first to break the story without recourse to ethics of responsible journalism.

In order to counter the often misleading or false narratives churned out by the mainstream media, alternative news outlets have sprung up over time. One of such is the concept of citizen journalism which is helping to break the backbone or monopoly of mainstream media in terms of news delivery.

Rather unfortunately, some of the citizen journalists have fallen prey to selfish or egoistic interests , such that their focus has shifted from conveying the unbiased truth to spinning the news in whatever direction that suits them or their sponsors. This misdemeanorsby some completely defeats the objectives of citizen journalism.

The way I see it what we need is not really a proliferation of media outlets either online or print, but individuals as well as organisations whose sole loyalty is to the truth. Any deviation from this only amounts to misinformation at best and spreading of fake news at the worst. The latter only thickens the fog of war which will not allow those at war to see things objectively as they are.

It is only after the fog of war has cleared do we truly see the extent of damage that has been done in terms of loss of human lives and properties. Structures can always be rebuilt but there can be no substitute for the lives lost during armed conflict especially the ones that are needless. It is even more painful when issues that could have been ironed out at a negotiation table result in wars only to eventually return to the negotiations to bring the conflict to an end.

Thank you for reading.