It’s Kiev once more. That’s your very first thought as you watch the news: plumes of smoke rise out of buildings that collapse like dust castles, aerial shots of a city shrouded in smoke, rockets lighting up the sky into a starry, starry night.

On the ground, burnt vehicles, debris everywhere, soldiers on the prowl, the sound of missiles, gunshots, and sirens. In the distance, there are tank formations at the border. For Indian viewers, there’s also the all-too-familiar sight of bulldozers, crushing the wire netting that divides two countries.

All these images and descriptions are well-known–was it just yesterday that Russia began the invasion of Ukraine and we witnessed the same wages of war?

Except this is the ‘Israel-Hamas war’ (CNN News 18), ‘Israel-Gaza war’ (NDTV 24×7), ‘Israel-Palestine war’ (India Today), ‘Israel War’ (Times Now) – call it what you will.

And it’s coming to you straight from Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Sderot – and Gaza — courtesy international and Indian TV correspondents who rushed there after Hamas launched an ‘absolutely horrifying’ (CNN International) attack on Israel, killing nearly 1,000 people.

This time, India’s Hindi and English News Channels mobilised their forces so promptly that their correspondents were standing amid the ruins of rocket attacks the next day—pots, pans, books, dumb bells, cupboards, children’s cycles. “It’s very easy to sit at home and watch this, but in conflict reporting, this moves you to tears,” said the Times Now reporter, who had moved beyond tears to outrage.

However, the same cannot be said for the English mainstream print media, which has chosen to sit this one out (at least until Wednesday morning) and use international agency reports for information on the conflict and supplement them with their own reports from New Delhi.

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Coverage by Indian anchors

‘This is ‘Israel’s 9/11,’ news channels said, defining the broadcast media’s position. There is no ambiguity at all here: the Indian media sees Israel as the victim of ‘barbarism, butchery’, as Times Now described it. Its slogan, ‘India Stands with Israel’, pretty much sums up the nature of the news coverage of what India Today called the ‘unspeakable violence’. ‘Israel strikes back’, said Republic TV, always ready for a good fight.

Correspondents from nearly all TV channels—ABP News and India TV were perhaps the only ones missing from the “conflict zone”—travelled through Israel, talking to people, telling its side of the story. No Indian TV reporter entered Gaza—it will be interesting to watch their movements if and when Israel launches a ground offensive on the small strip of land with two million inhabitants.

Most of the reporting was calm and composed. The reporters knew the basics of the situation and stuck to on-the-spot stories—these were fairly routine and, after the Ukraine war, déjà vu for most of us.

There were some standout moments: NDTV team was caught in the middle of an attack on its hotel, TV9 Bharatvarsh found itself under attack at Tel Aviv airport, while Aaj Tak/India Today strolled through Jerusalem. Taken together, you got a pretty good idea of the physical damage Hamas had done.

We ought to recognise NDTV 24×7 for ‘world exclusive’ interviews with Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, and with the ‘top Israeli voice on war’ – Maj Gen Amos Yadlin (retd), former chief of the IDF’s military intelligence. In his chilling words, “…they (Hamas) want war, they will get war.”

In terms of balanced, clear, concise, and well-informed reporting, Palki Sharma (Firstpost, CNN News 18) was spot on. Do watch her.

For a broader perspective

If you want a broader perspective, watch BBC World and CNN News International – and Al Jazeera. The latter has a disclaimer which tells you everything about its coverage; ‘Funded in whole or in part by Qatar government’. Qatar has strong ties with Palestine and Hamas—this reflects on Al Jazeera: If CNN International speaks of ‘strong international reactions’ against Hamas, Al Jazeera will say there’s support for Hamas from Lebanon and Iran. It speaks more of the attacks on ‘besieged Gaza’, of its casualties — ‘450 killed including children’, ‘a night of heavy Israeli strikes’ — and the ‘Israeli occupation army…’ It reports from Gaza, Tehran, Beirut, and on protests in Washington and Iraq in ‘solidarity with Palestine’.

BBC World and CNN International report from Gaza extensively too but more from Israel. CNN carries headlines like ‘Gaza civilians face carnage and Hamas leaders hide’, but also covers the ‘brazen’ attacks on Israel. BBC speaks to a doctor from Liverpool stationed in Gaza and then returns to the picture from Israel. Both news channels present the Palestinian point of view: for example, BBC had the Ambassador of Palestine to the UK, Husam Zomlot, who refused to condemn the Hamas attacks but attacked Israel instead. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria talked with Mustafa Barghouti, leader, Palestinian National Initiative, who did the same.

However, Israel Defense Forces spokespersons and Israeli experts dominate the conversations on these channels.

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Covering Indians

The Indian news channels arrived in Israel in record time, but they limited themselves to the immediate developments.

But they have dwelt rather too long on footage of the rubble. They could have sourced better coverage from a channel like i24 News of Israel, which gave us a truly tragic view of Hamas’ brutality in villages, kibbutz and the music festival. The New York Times compiled a series of videos of the violence that make you shiver.

Indian news channels might have made an attempt to speak to Indians in Israel and their families back home. That would have made this terror attack more personal for Indians.

There are reportedly 18,000 Indians living there and others who may have travelled for work or pleasure and got stranded there. CNN News 18 interviewed a few Indian university students in Israel but what about the ‘caregivers’ from India that The Indian Express wrote about in a Wednesday story? Or the relatives of Indian actor Madhur Naik who died in the Hamas attack (The Times of India)?

By the way, while the Indian TV is quite clear about Hamas being “terrorists”, the newspapers stick to `militants’. NYT dithers between ‘militants’, ‘terrorists’ and ‘Hamas gunmen’. The Guardian writes ‘militants’ so does BBC, Reuters while Al Jazeera calls them ‘Hamas fighters’.

The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.

(Edited by Prashant)