Factoid about mainstream media, so derided by those who prefer ignorance or propaganda:
In writing about the occupation of Kashmir, Indian media sources are invaluable. Not because they report the struggle from the point of view of Kashmiris or support self-determination but because what happens in Kashmir involves legal actions, military events, politicians touring in Kashmir or defending the occupation in India, information about India’s economic operations in Kashmir, actions by the Modi regime regarding Kashmir, reports about the conflict between Pakistan & India over Kashmir.
Indian media doesn’t report the massive protests in Kashmir, the arrests, forcible disappearances, mass rapes, home invasions by soldiers, or any of the human rights crimes of Indian military forces. But just on the issue of pellet munitions, Indian media was a goldmine of information. On some of the court maneuvers against Kashmiri human rights & on the arrest & imprisonment of Khurram Parvez, reading Indian media was essential.
Is Indian media biased against Kashmiri self-determination? Do they misrepresent the occupation? Of course they do. They’re not stupid. They don’t want to inspire anti-occupation sentiment in India or God forbid, an anti-occupation movement to emerge. They also don’t want Modi to close their operations down like it does to Kashmiri media.
This nonsense about not reading mainstream media is on the one hand a triumph of idiocy & anti-intellectualism & on the other hand a malignant attempt to censor & limit access to information.