Coping with change in India’s media: Struggles of English-language journalists in an evolving mediascape
Abstract
In recent times, journalism, worldwide, has been undergoing significant changes. Some of the major revolutions have occurred in India, the world’s largest democracy. The size and face of Indian news media have seen rapid transformations owing to major economic, technological, and political developments in the country in recent decades. The focus of this research is on how India’s English-language media are dealing with the various changes, including digital disruptions and other pressures under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Hindutva’ government. The insights are drawn from the experiences and perceptions of a sample of journalists at the forefront of covering major events. Being in the coalface, these journalists are bearing the brunt of the developments, both good and bad. The email interviews reveal that while the English-language media may be a small part of India’s vast national media landscape, they are also buffeted by some major developments in the country, and fighting to maintain their independence in the face of some powerful trends and influences in technology, politics, and commerce.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Bhushan, S. (2015, September 23). The power of social media: Emboldened right-wing trolls who are attempting an internet purge. The Caravan. Retrieved December 8, 2015 from https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/power-social-media-emboldened-right-wing-trolls.
Chakravartty, P., & Roy, S. (2015). Mr Modi goes to Delhi: Mediated populism and the 2014 Indian elections. Television & New Media, 16(4), 311-322. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476415573957
Christians, C., Glasser, T.L., McQuail, D., Nordenstreng, K., & White, R.A. (2009). Normative theories of the media: Journalism in democratic societies. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Coderre, F., & Mathieu, A. (2004). Comparison of the quality of qualitative data obtained through telephone, postal and email surveys. International Journal of Market Research, 46(3), 347-357. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/147078530404600303
Cook, T.E. (1998). Governing with the news: The news media as a political institution. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Corbridge, S. (2010). The political economy of development in India since independence. In P.R. Brass (Ed.), Routledge handbook of South Asian politics: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal (pp. 305-320). New York, NY: Routledge.
Deuze, M. (2008). Understanding journalism as newswork: How it changes, and how it remains the same. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 5(2), 4-23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.61
Diwanji, S. (2019, October 21). Circulation revenue of English newspaper market India 2013-2024. Retrieved April 25, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/797396/india-circulation-revenue-of-english-newspaper-market/.
Ganguly, S. (2019, May 28). India’s prime minister Modi pursues politics of Hindu nationalism—What does that mean? The Conversation. Retrieved May 28, 2019 from http://theconversation.com/indias-prime-minister-modi-pursues-politics-of-hindu-nationalism-what-does-that-mean-117794.
Hanitzsch, T., Hanusch, F., Mellado-Ruiz, C., et al. (2011). Mapping journalism cultures across nations: A comparative study of 18 countries. Journalism Studies, 12(3), 273-293. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2010.512502
Ilieva, J., Baron, S., & Healey, N.M. (2002). Online surveys in market research: Pros and cons. International Journal of Market Research, 44(3), 361-376. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/147078530204400303
International Telecommunication Union (2016). India: Mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions. Retrieved from https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx.
Internet World Stats (2020). Internet usage in Asia: Internet users, Facebook subscribers & population statistics for 35 countries and regions in Asia. Retrieved April 26, 2020, from https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm.
Josephi, B. (2007). Internationalising the journalistic professional model: Imperatives and impediments. Global Media and Communication, 3(3), 300-306. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/17427665070030030303
Kaplan, R.L. (2002). Politics and the American press: The rise of objectivity, 1865-1920. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Khorana, S. (2012). English-language television news and the great Indian middle class: Made for each other? Studies in South Asian Film and Media, 4(1), 23-37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/safm.4.1.23_1
Kumar, R. (2019, June 10). India has lots of newspapers and lots of readers and one big journalism problem. Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved from https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/india-has-lots-of-newspapers-and-lots-of-readers-and-one-big-journalism-problem.php.
Madan, A. (2019, January 23). India’s not-so-free media. The Diplomat. Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://thediplomat.com/2019/01/indias-not-so-free-media/.
Mehta, N. (2014). Channeling cultures: Television studies from India. Retrieved from http://www.oup.co.in/product/academic-general/media-studies/102/channeling-cultures-television-studies-from-india/9780198092056.
Mehta, N. (2008). India on television: How satellite news channels have changed the way we think and act. New Delhi, India: HarperCollins. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203895597
Michaelidou, N., & Dibb, S. (2006). Using email questionnaires for research: Good practice in tackling non-response. Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing 14(4), 289-296. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jt.5740189
Mody, B. (2015). How well do India’s multiple language dailies provide political knowledge to citizens of this electoral democracy? Journalism Studies, 16(5), 734-749. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2015.1054185
Neyazi, T. (2011). India on television: How satellite news channels have changed the way we think and act. Contemporary South Asia, 19(3), 342-343. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2011.594284
Ninan, S. (2012). Old journalism, new journalism, and public spheres in India. Keynote address presented at the Indian Media Symposium, ‘Public Spheres, the Media and Social Change in India’, University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, 21-23 November 2012.
Obijiofor, L. (2015). New technologies in developing societies: From theory to practice. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137389336
Obijiofor, L, Murray, R., & Singh, S.B. (2017). Changes in journalism in two post-authoritarian non-Western countries. International Communication Gazette, 79(4), 379-399. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048516682147
Obijiofor, L., & Hanusch, F. (2011). Journalism across cultures: An introduction. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-34524-9
Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (3rd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Population Census 2011 (2011). India: Population Census 2011. Retrieved from https://www.census2011.co.in/.
Ranganathan, M. (2015). Sting journalism: A sign of the times. In U.M. Rodrigues and M. Ranganathan (Eds,), Indian news media: From observer to participant (pp. 65-94). New Delhi, India: Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd.
Ranganathan, M. (2014). Indian elections, 2014: Commercial media pushes social media into focus. Asia Pacific Media Educator, 24(1), 23-38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1326365X14539073
Rangnekar, S. (2018, November 16). The fate of press freedom in India over the years. The Wire. Retrieved from https://thewire.in/media/press-freedom-in-india-over-the-years.
Rao, S. (2009). Glocalization of Indian journalism. Journalism Studies, 10(4), 474-488. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700802618563
Rao, U. (2010). Empowerment through local news making: Studying the media/public interface in India. In S.E. Bird (Ed.), The anthropology of news and journalism: Global perspectives (pp. 100-115). Bloomington & Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.
Rao, S. (2016). Awakening the dragon’s and elephants’ media: Comparative analysis of India’s and China’s journalism ethics. Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism. doi: 10.1177/1464884916670669. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884916670669
Rao, S., & Mudgal, V. (2015). Introduction. Journalism Studies, 16(5), 615-623. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2015.1054135
Rao, S., & Wasserman, H. (2015). A media not for all. Journalism Studies, 16(5), 651-662. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2015.1054173
Registrar of Newspapers for India (2016-2017). Press in India 2016-17. Retrieved from http://rni.nic.in/pin201617.htm.
Reporters Without Borders (2020). India. 2020 World Press Freedom Index. Retrieved April 26, 2020, from https://rsf.org/en/india.
Reporters Without Borders (2020). World Press Freedom Index. Retrieved April 26, 2020, from https://rsf.org/en/ranking/2020.
Reporters Without Borders (2017). India. 2017 World Press Freedom Index. Retrieved from https://rsf.org/en/india.
Robie, D. (2014). Don’t spoil my beautiful face: Media, mayhem and human rights in the Pacific. Auckland, NZ: Little Island Press.
Rukmini, S. (2019, May 14). In India, who speaks in English, and where? Retrieved April 25, 2020, from https://www.livemint.com/news/india/in-india-who-speaks-in-english-and-where-1557814101428.html.
Ryfe, D.M. (2006). Guest editor’s introduction: New institutionalism and the news. Political Communication, 23(2), 135-144. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600600728109
Sen, A., & Nielsen, R.K. (2016). Report: Digital journalism start-ups in India. London, UK: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and University of Oxford.
Singh, S.B. (2015). Rethinking journalism for supporting social cohesion and democracy: Case study of media performance in Fiji. Unpublished PhD thesis, The University of Queensland. Retrieved from: http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:365724.
Sonwalkar, P. (2004). Mediating otherness: India’s English-language press and the northeast. Contemporary South Asia, 13(4), 389-402. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09584930500070613
Sparrow, B.H. (1999). Uncertain guardians: The news media as a political institution. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Stassen, W. (2010). Your news in 140 characters: Exploring the role of social media in journalism. Global Media Journal—African Edition, 4(1), 116-131.
Statista (2018). India: Number of social network users 2015-2022. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/278407/number-of-social-network-users-in-india/.
The New York Times (2015, August 17). Editorial: India’s government censorship. Retrieved August 17, 2015, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/opinion/indias-government-censorship.html.
Thussu, D.K. (2012). A million media now! The rise of India on the global scene. The Roundtable: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 101(5), 435-446. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2012.713234
Times of India (n.d.). The spirit of a startup: The resources of an institution. Retrieved from http://timesinternet.in/.
Tongco, M.D.C. (2007). Purposive sampling as a tool for informant selection. Ethnobotany Research & Applications, 5, 147-158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17348/era.5.0.147-158
Van Selm, M., & Jankowski, N.W. (2006). Conducting online surveys. Quality and Quantity, 40(3), 435-456. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-005-8081-8
Copyright (c) 2020 Levi Obijiofor, Shailendra Singh
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
