The Indian government no longer has viable channels to put across its point of view to the Western media

• India is used to a negative international media.
• The difference between then and now, when the global media has cast doubts about India’s “non-military and preemptive” response to the Pulwama terrorist attack, is that the Indian version of events is hardly getting a credible hearing.
• This is because the Indian government no longer has viable channels to put across its point of view to the Western media.
• By acts of commission and omission, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which should be in the driving seat for such publicity, has, over the last few years, discontinued a practice that might have persuasively argued the Indian position.
• For some time now, foreign correspondents based in India have not been attending briefings by MEA spokespersons.
• They may have concluded that their time might be better spent on other stories as they tend to cover the entire subcontinent and have enough on their plate.
• The daily briefing by the MEA spokesperson seems to have faded in importance.
• Such useful content is no longer available on the MEA’s information outlets.
• The brief for spin doctors of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diplomacy has been to convince the domestic audience that India is a great power.
• Earlier, the brief was to convince the world that India is an emerging giant in global affairs.
• With this change in priorities, the government is unable to disseminate information that could have produced a more sympathetic global media on the current play in India-Pakistan relations.

The Hindu