Democratic Transformation and the Vernacular Public Arena in India by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies
ISBN: 9781317694021
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2014-07-11T04:00:00+00:00

English and Hindi channels

Some in the media, especially on English channels, challenged the Gandhian frame that Team Anna had sponsored. They played up events from Hazare’s past to suggest that he was no Gandhi and that his non-violence was merely a mask. For example, they pointed out how during his anti-alcohol movement, in his village of Ralegaon Siddhi, Hazare would routinely beat ‘drunkards’ with his military belt. It appeared that Team Anna was aware of the differences between the English and Hindi media, because volunteers around the stage were providing access to the leadership and Hazare for the Hindi and other vernacular journalists.19 The organisers were clearly trying to reach out to vernacular publics and saw vernacular journalists as their allies in this task. There was a lot more coordination with the Hindi journalists than with journalists from the English media. The members of Team Anna felt that journalists from the English channels were close to the political parties and saw them as part of the ruling elite of India.20

Team Anna felt that the English media were distorting their message and that they did not have the same degree of control over the message. Some volunteers felt that the English media were engaging in ad hominem attacks on Hazare and other members of Team Anna.21 This view was confirmed by a senior journalist from the sister Hindi channel of a major English news channel. There was a perception among Hindi journalists that their fellow English language journalists were pushing the government’s line that Team Anna was undemocratic, arrogant, and adamant and that Hazare and his team had no respect for the Indian Parliament and constitutional democracy. The feeling among volunteers was that the English channels were reflecting the view of the political class, including the Congress, BJP, and left parties, that the JLA was undermining electoral democracy. Additionally, the English media journalists were not only critical of activist journalism, but also alluded to a fascist tendency in the JLA.22

The English media were sympathetic to the fight against corruption, but were uncomfortable and sceptical of the utility and relevance of fasts in an electoral democracy. They often asked why Team Anna did not contest elections if they thought people supported them. At another level the differences in the media were largely about political idiom and symbolism.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.