Over the last two weeks, as tensions between India and Pakistan rose, Indian TV news channels faced a grave responsibility: to inform a billion citizens with calm, credible reportage. Naturally, they did the exact opposite. It’s difficult to associate the words like ‘comedy’ and ‘drama’ with anything that has to do with a potential war-like situation, where lives are being lost. But what we witnessed was not journalism. It was theatre. And not even good theatre. It was a low-budget war musical, with cardboard missiles, animated explosions, and decibel-rich anchors. None of this maybe surprising, as we have come to expect this from our TV news channels for a while now. But given the unprecedented nature of the situation at hand (the last time India and Pakistan went to war was in 1999, when the news channel ecosystem was leaner and saner), one hoped that maybe, just maybe, good sense will prevail. Wishful thinking, it turned out to be. Studios transformed into high-stakes war zones, complete with military music, countdown clocks, and anchor personas that would make Rambo look underprepared. There were hashtags like #SurgicalStrikeReloaded and #WipeThemOutNow, as if geo-political tensions were trending topics at a WWE event. Meanwhile, facts were optional. “Sources” became the primary narrator. On the second night of the escalated conflict, our news channels claimed that we have invaded the Karachi port, and it’s a matter of time that we grab Karachi from Pakistan. Of course, none of this came from any official source. But our trigger-happy (pun intended) anchors couldn’t care less. ‘Never lets facts come in the way of a good story’, it’s said. And we saw it play out in real time last week on Indian news. Ironically, these channels, who take pride in being ‘nationalistic’, did very little national service, at a time when they had the opportunity to. Instead, it was left to the international media to ask the right questions in pursuit of facts. The best pro-India coverage came from Sky News’ Yalda Hakim. Even as our anchors were channelling their inner General Patton. But the real tragedy isn’t the volume. It’s the vacuum. A vacuum of depth, sanity, and any actual reporting of real value. Just “BREAKING NEWS” slapped onto anything that moved. It was like watching a nation’s foreign policy play out inside a WhatsApp forward. All of this would be hilarious if it weren’t so dangerous. Thankfully, we have a few independent digital news platforms that continue to give us hope, even as they search for a business model themselves. So here we are, post-crisis, with no clarity, no accountability, and no apology. Just another week of chest-thumping and CGI patriotism. One wonders if these channels will reflect. They won’t. Because when every crisis becomes an opportunity for manufactured masculinity and televised nationalism, who has time for journalism?