Go back to December 1999, when Indian Airlines flight IC-814 was hijacked to Kandahar and the Taliban mounted a protective security cordon around the plane to prevent any possibility of a commando assault.

Displaying all the collective wisdom, maturity and restraint of a lynch mob, our reporters, journalists and editors proceeded to whip up national frenzy in favour of securing the safe release of the passengers ‘at any cost’ over many days.

Significantly, as soon as the passengers were released, the media, which had been crying itself hoarse for the rescue of the passengers, overnight changed its tune. The NDA Government was pilloried for releasing hardened terrorists. Today, no media analysis of a terror strike is complete without a passing reference to it.

India Policy Foundation has come up with a serious work of research on the approach of the Indian print media towards terrorism with Terrorism and the Indian Media.

The book discusses a constructive approach to terrorism. It critically analyses the role of the Indian print media in dealing with terrorism on the one hand and makes a comparative study of the approach on the other. It includes the study of almost all national Hindi and English dailies and 25 Urdu newspapers published across the country.

The book also traces the evolution of the media’s attitude towards terrorism in its study and finds that 26/11 has proved to be a turning point for the Indian media. Earlier, the media used to analyse terrorism from the law and order and communal point of view; now, it perceives the events of terrorism in almost every context.

The book also discusses the link between terrorism and media. The terrorists and their ideologies use the media to communicate the message of terror and the ideology behind it not only to their potential victims, but also their potential supporters and recruits.