Can Media Lead to Democratic Deepening? Perspectives from India (original) (raw)

2012

Abstract

ABSTRACT The role of media has already been recognized in the process of democratization and ensuring the survival of democracy. Studies have highlighted positive impacts of news media on increasing political participation and political discussion. With a few exceptions, most of these studies are concerned with the developed countries. The relationship between media and democratization has not received significant academic attention in the case of developing countries. Moreover, despite the importance of media in a democracy, there is hardly any study that systematically studies the role of media in influencing political participation and democratic deepening in the context of world’s largest democracy. This study makes the necessary intervention in the field of political communication by analyzing the role of vernacular media in the deepening of India’s democracy. India is a classic example whereby democracy has not only survived but it has also been consolidated with the entry of hitherto marginalized sections of society, who in the conventional theories of democratization, were considered to be ill-equipped for adjusting to democratic functioning. India’s recent economic growth also disproves the commonly held belief that got established through the experiences of East Asian countries that authoritarian regimes are needed in order to achieve rapid growth. The main hypothesis of my current research argues that vernacular media have played a key role in the process of the deepening of India’s democracy. The English media, which were mostly confined to the urban and English educated sections of society, could not play an effective role in the grass roots mobilization that started in the 1980s. The media revolution, which began with the unprecedented growth of Indian-language newspapers since the 1980s went parallel with the greater mobilization of Indian masses in north India. The rise of vernacular political elites who were spearheading the plebian politics proved instrumental for an increasing role of vernacular media in regional and national politics. The vernacular media provided a platform to the emerging political leaders of north India to raise their voice in the public arena. While explaining the mechanisms of the deepening of Indian democracy, my paper compares the experience of the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh in northern India with that of Kerala and Tamil Nadu in southern India. The findings help in understanding the political role of the media in developing countries and contribute to theorizing the relationship between media and democracy.

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