Communal Constructions: Media Reality vs Real Reality

In: Race & class: a journal on racism, empire and globalisation, Volume 38, Issue 1, p. 1-20

Abstract

The media's role in fueling & proliferating the communal forces of right-wing Hindu movements in India is examined. It is argued that communalism, the organized politics of violence & conflict between religious groups, has come to the forefront of contemporary Indian politics, & the print media have played a large part in the success of communal propaganda. This propaganda has included the ideal of a homogeneous & purely Hindu India, powerful stereotyping against Muslims & minorities, & the myth of a 100-year-old conflict between Hindus & Muslims. Although the print media reach only the literate minority, it is suggested that the Hindu Right's control of the media has influenced the power elite & legitimized the expression of communal violence at the public level. Under these circumstances, journalistic reality has been superseded by politics, & journalists have become less concerned with reality & more focused on the continued production of pseudo-events that exaggerate, ignore, &/or glorify reality for the sake of advancing a right-wing Hindu agenda. 66 References. T. Sevier