‘News channels are a joke’; Indian celebs slam their own media over fake war coverage

As tensions between India and Pakistan escalate, a storm is brewing not just at the borders but within India’s own media landscape. Indian celebrities, influencers, and digital voices are openly calling out their own media channels for spreading fear, fake news, and irresponsible reporting.

Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha was among the first to speak out. Reacting to a post by the Indian Ministry of Defence, which advised against live coverage of military actions, Sonakshi criticized Indian news channels for turning serious national matters into dramatic spectacles.

“Our news channels are a joke,” she wrote on Instagram.

“I’m thoroughly fed up with these exaggerated visuals and sound effects, the yelling and commotion! Just report the facts as they are. Stop sensationalizing WAR and creating anxiety for people who are already distressed, for heaven’s sake.”

Her remarks came shortly after Indian media, on Thursday night, began sharing unverified claims that the Indian Army had attacked Karachi port and other locations across Pakistan. They also falsely claimed that Pakistan had attacked India that same night.

Building on that narrative, Indian media launched another wave of disinformation, alleging that Indian air defenses had shot down a Pakistani F-16 inside Indian airspace and captured its pilot. Verified Indian media personalities hyped up “exclusives” that never materialized, while fringe accounts with little credibility circulated a hazy, underexposed image that supposedly showed the ‘pilot’ in custody.

Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra also spoke up, directly criticizing the Indian media.

“The worst thing we can do at this time is to spread fake news and scare those who are sitting at home,” she said.

“Trust only government sources and nothing else,” she added.

She called for “responsible reporting” and stressed that spreading unverified news only creates unnecessary panic and harm.

Indian YouTuber and influencer Dhruv Rathee, known for his fact-based and critical content, also condemned Indian news coverage in a viral Instagram video.

“This news was fake. This one was also fake. This too was fake news, and so was this,” Rathee said while pointing to multiple misleading headlines.

“At an unknown border, it’s being claimed the Indian Army has entered. Last night, 90 percent of the news shown on Indian news channels was completely false.”

He urged viewers to stop watching these channels and instead share his video with others to help expose the media’s deception.

“If anyone in your family is still wasting time watching these news channels, please share this video with them so they can understand what a big joke is being played on the people of this country,” he said.

“At such a sensitive time, spreading fake news and creating panic among the public is unacceptable. Stop watching these national news channels immediately.”

A viral clip posted on X (formerly Twitter) showed an Indian news anchor saying, “You know, a drone explodes and reports start coming in, ‘escalation happened.’ They instigate it and then ask why it happened. Alright Ghazali, I’m coming to you in just 30 seconds. But before that, let’s bring in…”

What stood out in this clip was a reporter who didn’t realize his mic was still on. When the anchor was asking for an update, he was heard saying, “First, they’ll ask for an update. Then, after running the update themselves, they’ll say, ‘Why did you give fake news?’”

Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of Defence issued an advisory instructing media outlets and social media users to refrain from broadcasting live coverage of defense operations or the movement of security forces. Unconfirmed reports also suggested that Indian officials were instructed to avoid engaging with Western media.

However, by the time a new news cycle began on Friday morning, it appeared that at least some Indian media outlets, and those who had amplified their false claims, had sobered up from the previous night’s frenzy. Many tweets had quietly disappeared, deleted by users who either realized that Pakistan was still very much intact or reluctantly accepted a less magical truth: that Pakistanis do not possess a superhuman ability to rebuild entire cities overnight or rewind time like Doctor Strange.

Some, like Aaj Tak, even found the courage to issue an apology for a night spent spreading fake news, though not without hiding behind the convenient excuse of the “fog of war.”