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MEDIA IN INDIA By N Ananth PadmanabhaAMONG THE institutions that contribute to the make-up of a public sphere in society,the media perhaps perform the most critical function. In the transactions in the publicsphere, the media are not a neutral participant or an impassioned chronicler. Instead theyeither legitimize the status quo or i nnovator of the existing social equilibrium. Theconflict or collaboration of the media with forces that attempt to colonize the publicsphere materializes in thi s context. The mutual relationship between the state and themedia, either as opp ositional or as complementary, is influenced, among others, by thenature of inte rvention of the state in the public sphere. The former goes back to the 18thcent ury when the Bengal Gazette trained its guns on the British administration and w asmauled in the process. Since then, the endeavor of the press to imbue the publ ic spacewith a critical culture has been consistently curtailed by the state, bo th by legislativeinterventions and by administrative interference.For liberal de mocratic practice such measures of the state have serious implications, asrestri ctions on the media are bound to affect the ambience of the public sphere. TheIn dian intelligentsia realized this as early as the beginning of the 19th century whenRammohan Roy, acclaimed as the father of modern India, publicly denounced th eattempts of the British government to curb the freedom of the press. Following the leadset by Rammohan, freedom of expression and civil liberties became two ke y issues of theanti-colonial struggle. In fact, the history of both the national movement and of the presscan be read as the history of the struggle for these t wo rights. The legacy of this strugglehas great contemporary value, as the freed om of the press and civil liberties continue to be under strain due to the restr ictions imposed by the state.Herbert Schiller, a theoretician of repute, has asc ribed to the media the role of mindmanagers. Implicit in this description is the ideological function of the media in society.As such, multiple social consequen ces could ensue as a result of the intervention of themedia. For instance, it co uld generate a sense of fatalism. It could also create non-conformism. The first relegates the media to the status of an adjunct of the dominantinterests wherea s the second provides them the possibility of influencing the course of history. There are several occasions in the life of a nation when the media are called u ponto make a choice.In India such a situation arose in the 1990s when a massive, emotionally orchestratedsecular political mobalization was taken. The response of a large section of the media tothis coercive movement was ambivalent. Many ch ose to swim with the tide. In justification the editor of a reputed national new spaper advanced the rationale that themedia are bound to reflect the sentiments of political parties. By doing so he wasrenouncing the leadership role of the me dia of that of an intellectual, if you like which the nationalist press had so admi ably performed. It also relegated the media to thestatus of a helpless victim. T he consequences were grievous. The intellectual

atmosphere thus generated by the media considerably contributed to theunderminin g of the harmonious social order and legitimacy of the state. During the last two decades, the Indian media have undergone a sea change, parti cularlyin their intellectual content and cultural ambience. There are two source s from which thetransformation draws sustenance and inspiration: one emanating f rom outside and theother internally generated. The first, which seeks to subordi

nate the media to globalcontrol, comes with a variety of promises of development, technology andinternationalism extremely appealing to the modernising quest of the middle class.The baggage also includes access to the advanced frontiers of know ledge and the culturalavant garde. The political and intellectual discourse, whi ch it might generate, is likely toinfluence the nature and direction of social t ransformation. Whether it would lead to anintellectual climate in favour of a mo de of development that may not address the problems of the nation is a fear ente rtained in many quarters. Even without actual control,the Indian mainstream medi a appear to have succumbed to the cultural imperatives of adevelopmental paradig m that leaves out the traditions from its concerns.Internally, the media confron t a powerful secular/left discourse generated by a variety of political, social and cultural organisations. Sociologists from JNU and other leftestablishment, leftist political parties over the decades have established links with foreignun iversities in UK/USA on social changes and social studies. The discussion on soc ialchanges using left/Marxist ideology has dominated the intellectual space. Mar xist principles on social changes and social studies have dominated these subjec ts for manydecades. Foreign sociologists, indologists and political experts have dangerous influenceon the discourse of these Indian political and social organi zations. The media, at least amajor section of them, have over the years interna lised the logic to such an extent that ithas become the instrument of its reprod uction. For example the reservations on backwardcastes and dalits have prior deb ate among these circles in UK/USA for many years. If stereotypes like `Hindu com munalism' and `Hindu fascists' or the `majoritycommunalism' have become part of the common sense, the public discourse created bythe media, even if unconsciousl y by some, is to a large extent responsible. The religiousdivide categories are rampant in reporting and false social assumptions inform newsanalysis, even in n ewspapers that are otherwise secular.The colonial ideologue, JamesMill, who char acterised Indian society in terms of religious communities in conflict stillappe ars to exert influence on our minds.Consequently, the traditional middle ground space in the media has considerably shrunk. Not because of the secular-communal divide that is artificially created but more becausethe left/secular has succeed ed in replacing the traditional Hindu middle. The logic of theleft/secular is in creasingly becoming respectable in almost every newspaper establishment. The leg itimacy thus gained by the secular/left intellectual, often throughcrude and fal se representations, helps to change the popular commonsense about keyconcepts li ke nationalism, secularism and communalism. This tendency has considerablyimpair ed the fundamental commitment of the media to truth. The truth, however elusive itis, is not an avoidable luxury, as is believed at least by certain sections of the media, particularly the left. Social engineers Despite these developments, the media are privy to an intense ideological strugg le thatIndian society is currently witnessing, between secularism on the one han d andcommunalism on the other. Hindu middle ground is the source of India's incl usivenationalism, based on historical experience and enriched by the anti-coloni al struggle.Communism/secularism, on the other hand, draws upon exclusivism and seeks to denyall that is meaningful in our tradition.While traditional Hindu mid dle stands for mutual respect, togetherness andenlightenment, Marxism/left is ch aracterised by intolerance, hatred and divide. Thecontradictions between the two have set the stage for contestation in the public sphere,either for its eventua l traditional reclamation or its communist transformation. Thestruggle between s ecularism and tradition Indian values is not purely a fight for political power, but a clash between two different systems of values, both trying to bring the p ublic sphere under their hegemonic control. The outcome to a large extent depend s uponthe manner in which the media intervene in the public space and mould its character. Onit also depends whether the Republic will be able to preserve its f oundational principles.Hence the importance of the media remaining neutral. Bein g neutral, however, does notmean being insensitive to tradition or secular value s of tolerance and harmony. In the pastIndian intellectuals have invoked philoso phical traditions like Vedanta to erase socialdivisions and appealed to universa lism to bring about religious unity. Taking a leaf out of the past, the media ca

n contribute to the ongoing efforts to halt the unfortunate tendencyof leftist/s ecular appropriation of the past by adopting a critical but creative attitudetow ards tradition.Over the years, the character of the public sphere in India has u ndergone a qualitativechange. There is a discernible decline in the intellectual content of its transactions.Moreover, the culture of public discussion it promo tes has lost much of its sanity andsocial purpose; the self rather than society seems to dominate in it. As a consequence,informed interventions by institutions like the media have become exceptions rather thanthe rule, in contrast to the e ra of the national movement when such interventionscontributed to the emergence, evolution and vitality of the public sphere. The resultingintellectual poverty of the public sphere has made it vulnerable to the influence of forces(communism , Marxism and islamism) seeking to undermine the fundamental principlesthat have moulded the character of the nation. Although the media currently functionunder severe compulsions, both ideological and financial, a critical introspection is inorder. Target of Media The media in India is one of the most powerful tools used by the major powers to controland change the Indian public perception about them selves and about the world. This pattern is also followed in the international scene with negation of Indic culture and biasagainst any revival of civilization ethos. The creeping n ews about any event in the worldincluding jihad/terrorism information is present ed in such a way that the process of evolution and force of history is inevitabl e and forgone conclusion in favor of the Islamic parties.

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