Global Warfare and Social Media Narratives In the Contemporary World

The forces of globalization have created a global media system connecting every corner of the planet. The new communication technologies facilitated multiple digital platforms for communication. The innovations of smartphones/tablets/iPads empowered the common man to interact at the local, regional, and global levels. Thus, media coverage of internal and external conflict is not restricted but is open and wide. The distinction between mainstream media and social media is an important instrument in this context. The mainstream media engages its audience through debates and repetition of programs at different time slots, while social media focuses on in-depth analysis of events and issues. Thus, several parallel media narratives are created to influence the masses on both internal and external issues that influence the social, economic, political, and cultural processes at local, regional, and global levels. The nation-states that lost their influence and power in the initial phase of globalization are recapturing it either through changes in their national and international policies or through external geopolitical conflicts involving their allies in wars and military interventions. In recent global warfare between Ukraine and Russia on the one hand and between America, Israel, and Iran and its proxies on the matrix of the Middle East, several media narratives in the contemporary world, which also mobilized people in support or against the countries/leaders engaged in these conflicts at the local and global levels. These narratives have a heavy influence on the audience and the rating of political leaders involved in global warfare, directly or indirectly.