Media As Force Multiplier

Media As Force multiplierToday media chooses to be apply upd in a more pro- numeralive expressive style to shape the in operation(p) scheme of a course tweet officer. This mountain be done by more integration and engagement of the media, usual relations officer and the men in uniform into two bearing converse looking after each others needs at the same time. atomic number 53 very important aspect is the education of the staff and subordinate commanders at operational distri fur there aim to realise the need and advantage of engaging media to state of wards armed services operations.The fourth e republic in this breedingal age gives commanders with vast opportunities to leverage towards accept operations which should be executioned to the maximum. The media can be use upd as potent force multiplier in achieving the bearing by boosting the esprit de corps of our own forces and heap, as an agent of deception for the armament, gathering valuable recognition and en hancing better build up of situational aw beness, sustained psychological operation and at last communicating the documental and end recite to the inter topic community.Maximizing the use of fourth estateMaximising and moulding the perception of the masses and antagonist by the use of fourth estate and how the commander leverage the media to efficaciously achieve operational objective to his own advantage is what the commander should research which obviously is the need of the hour.Before employing the media, a brief review of the disposition of the media would be required to better view its potential. Media covering whatsoever army operation ranges from novice in the field to the seasoned veteran. Thus recitation of media by the commander should be in a judicious manner like not allowing the media to wander in the sphere at discontinue ordain imputable to the liberal spectrum of their work experience. At operational level coverage of media can be divided into leash m ain principles viz. mobility, qualification and responsibility. Mobility is considered as the center of gravity of the media which is reporting from the scene era safety is the medias critical vulner faculty. This is evident from journalist getting stuck during operations not able to move due to lack of mobility. The units which are more expeditious or the ones with freedom of mobility cover the operation in a very much more realistic manner. Regarding the safety many a journalists cave in arrive themselves in dangerous situations and few lost their lives while covering password from the crisis zone. With regards to capability, media is often ahead of military on entropy age battlefield being armed with sophisticated satellite communication technology. This mobility and capability pass on complicated the operational commanders challenge to be more proactive in winning or at least not loosing to the media coverage.Understanding the medias c at a timerns, capabilities, streng ths and weaknesses bequeath help operational commanders in utilizing media towards the operational design and conduct of operations. purpose of media by the commanders is enumerated below-(i) Media as a platform. Media offers a platform for the operational commanders to transmit his operational objectives and goals. In many a cases during the operation when a commander is interviewed he communicates to general masses by giving his objective without divulging any intricacies which could jeopardise the operation. This way the heap are aware as to what is happening and further their get towards the operation. This also keeps rest of the forces informed and they understand the goal.(ii) PSYOPS potential. The use of medias PSYOPS potential by the operational commander towards own advantage. Propaganda exponent get victory before the first shot is fired by merely demoralizing the obstructor and breaking the allow for to fight. use mercantile broadcast would provide a heightened l evel of credibility with the enemy because its one-third party stature provides some assurance of truth, over military broadcast. Using commercial television for PSYOPS would fetch to be covertly subtle, done on a sublime level, and would require special authorization. The military might and capability can be projected to the adversary and mess to play with their minds. cataclysmic images of the adversary, pumping in of more forces to the theatre and special training of our phalanx to take on the enemy will affect the way the operation will be conducted by the enemy. In short, to maximize the potential of PSYOPS the operational commander must(prenominal) consider the media as a primary means of influencing an opponents actions.(iii) Media as a deception tool. The operational commander must consider using the media as part of the overall deception plan. Media can be utilise to inject information regarding a plan or designs however act on some other plan therefrom keep the adv ersary guessing on the course of action and delay his moves.(iv) Media for recognition gathering. An champaign rich with possibilities for operational commander is harnessing the potential of media in gathering intelligence. worth(predicate) intelligence like background information on flock, terrain and facilities in a particular region can be provided by the reporters. multitude whitethorn assign agencies/reporters to a particular geographic region to elaboration home(a) knowledge of the social fabric and the culture. Military leaders need to exploit this intelligence asset when planning or entering a recent theatre. Tapping into the media is an excellent open-source for gathering information about the adversary though it might be time consuming and challenging. Radical expansion and modernisation of open-source exploitation is an important reform for the intelligence community these days. Commanders should pause innovative ways to penetrate and analyse the most difficult targets, the objective should be to strengthen analytic expertise, methods and practice. Exploiting open-source information must be the antecedence and is one way operational commanders and intelligence staff can aide in this challenge.Day in and day out, there are new revelations about Muslim terrorist sleeper cells in India. Most of the suspects arrested and/or tried have tie beams to Pakistan. Islamist extremism in India needs to be explored by recognised experts. Military forces are subjected to this extremism in day to day operations which needs to be addressed. Military has to look into the modus operandi, funding, support (state and non-state), recruiting pattern in terms of location, general populace, mode, means, etc to understand the enemy to maximize its operations. The internet, where a practical(prenominal) caliphate has been created in cyberspace, is used to proselytize, recruit, radicalize, fund raise and plot act of terrorism. Military should be proactive in tappi ng the internet in conjunction with the state and friendly nation intelligence meshing to draw out inferences and intelligence to further their operations. Knowledge edifice and knowledge sharing should be the priority in this information age.Operational privateness and media. Some secrecy is inbred to both theme security and democracy but excessive secrecy undermines accountability and decision- devising, and sometimes national security itself. Disclosure decision in a democracy thus must balance the importance of public knowledge and deliberation once against the risk of exposing and undermining desirable actions or damaging national security. But neither the military nor the press can be indisputable to strike the balance, for both have asymmetric incentives. The military risks public critical review when it announces an audacious plan but risks little when it is secretive. Likewise, journalists have much to gain from publishing classified secret and little to loose. They almost fully assign the benefits of publication, but may discount or inaccurately assess national security handicaps. A free press is essential to inform the public, but critic urge that reporters are less accountable than the military they look for to check. The press wields vast power to undercut desirable classified information and to communicate the nations capabilities and vulnerabilities to the enemy. The military needs to look into unauthorized possession and revelation of documents or information relating to the national defence by the press which could harm future operations.Operational security is paramount in any charge up be it a full scale war or handling internal crisis situation. Commanders at all times establish rapport with reporters so they develop trust in him and accept his explanation of events. General Schwartzkorf open up four rules to engage the press, they are, dont let them intimidate you, there is no legal philosophy that says you have to answer al l their questions, dont answer any question that in your judgement would help the enemy and finally dont ever lie to the passel of the nation you are engagement for. These rules apply and holds good to any commander. fight brief of any commander is transmitted via satellite to world wide audience which includes the adversary as surface. Clear message can be sent across to the public and the adversary government and its military leaders. teaching overload by the media. The rapid advancement in technology and the medias ability to report real time as they occur, military can no longer realistically hope to maintain operational security by denying information to the media. In the present context, to reduce the enemys military metier is information overload. This entails providing the enemy more information than his ability to assimilate in any given point of time. A new military media construct, synergistic human relationship with cooperation at all levels will ensure informatio n overload and will force the enemy to focus on many diverse scenarios, qualification it im mathematical to discern valid intelligence data. These days media not scarce gathers information on preparation for the theatre of operation but have gone a step ahead by broadcasting practicable strategies and tactics debated by military strategists. International community, general public and fighting forces will monitor these telecasts and contemplate scenarios and reviews presented on global cable network and may be compelled to commit their scarce military resources to counter possible attacks. Thus the adversarys forces may be diluted and their overall military effectiveness reduced. The media has invariably become an indisputable ally in this process.Media for neutralizing propaganda. Media can be used to expose the untrue stories and the evil design of the adversary and thus making the propaganda machines of the parties involved ineffective. Media can aggressively hunt for the trut h and cater with intelligence by various agencies to publish/broadcast the same thereby neutralizing the force multiplication effect of the propaganda by the adversary.Social dimensionsPublic and military morale. Public support, national morale and soldiers will are powerful force multiplier for a commander to have victory. Opinion creates a state of mind, which is what precisely what constitutes the will and in other words is known as morale. Many difficulties are overcome with a exalted state of morale. If the people in general are not supportive of the cause of the war or operations other than war and adopt a couldnt forethought less attitude towards it, the same attitude gets passed on to the soldiers which is detrimental to the cause. Commanders should use media to project a true and set up image to the public and once this is done, no matter what the odds are, a willing public support and response multiplies the chances of victory. The soldiers morale needs be boosted by t he media as well and should peak just before the impending attacks sustaining it through the operations. Media serves as a forward as well as a backward link for the soldier with the people back home. Any wrong news or rumours traveling either way will affect the morale of the people as well as the troops which should be monitored by the commanders and negated by responsible journalism.Reaching the public. Today the commander should know the fact that the pull which comes from the people of the nation when any operation takes place is due to the clamorous relay of situation to the masses by the media. The military thus have an advantage in reaching to the people as fast as possible to generate and harness the support. Military being known for a respected institution and profession in the country, the image maintenance if not enhancing should be the prime concern of the commanders. During any conventional war or operation other than war, the credibility of military action is seldom questioned due to the trust, confidence and respect which the military enjoys. Commanders need to be proactive in engaging the press rather than being reactive and thus loosing the hazard to use the media rather than being used by the media.Accurate and correct reporting. Inaccurate reporting and depiction of the operations will have a negative and devastating effect on the conduct of operation there on in terms of likely changed perception of our own people and international opinion. This in turn will effect the decision making cycle from tactical to strategic level. Apart from the people of the nation and high level decision makers, one very important factor which comes into usher is that of our own troops, who are exposed to the same news, be it at the air bases, ships, harbours, communication chains, rear areas, etc will have an impact on the psychi. This again is going to have a telling effect on the way the troops are going to fight subsequently. Commanders should to be con cerned of the say fact in this information age to keep the morale of the troops high. In fact the operations where our forces have given a fearless fight should be projected to each and every possible people by the fastest means. Our soldiers are the best and to maintain the image of this potent force especially in this fast pace materialistic world, Commanders must take every opportunity to showcase our outstanding airmen, soldiers and sailors.Image building when our armed forces are engaged in aid to civil power. disgruntled armed forces personnel, rejected equipment suppliers or contractors, families and others seek justice through media and court. more than worrying are court cases, some of which have been widely report and sensationalised. These incidents are in an increasing trend and common to all the three services. Such adverse publicity has a bearing on the castigate and morale and cannot be simply ignored. Military commanders need to engage with the media and explain the news and not let the media to sensationalise the issue.The problem arises because of human rights violation, real, exaggerated or sometimes fabricated. These must be investigated and the findings made known to the public. Human rights commissions, nongovernmental organization organisations and media can help redress the balance. These instrumentalities, therefore, need to be cultivated, not shunned. The commanders need to pay more attention to these issues and negate any adverse publicity which might bring down the morale of the troops and operation as such.