[Reader-list] The 'upper caste dominated' Media

[Venugopalan K M]

Dear Kshmendra,

I must now admit that I should not have linked  that aspect  of upper caste
domination in media *directly* to the politics of Hindutva. These two
happened to be mixed up in my earlier post as though they were same things.

Nevertheless,the post-2004 elections scenario generally anticipated and
propagated by a media dominated by the upper castes was one in which the NDA
led by the BJP would come close to majority or at least the combine would
emerge as the biggest single block."India Shining "and such hypes were
indeed tried out by the media, apart from propagating opinion poles which
conceded considerable prospects  to the NDA over others. In fact, they
neither considered  the Left parties nor the BSP as anywhere in the
fray.This continues even today as the accepted pattern of reporting of the
so called National mediausual practice of the of these media.
I have seen scores of blogs these days that dream the fantastic return of
BJP; these blogs are apparently  creations of a section of the upper middle
class largely emanating from the (privileged) upper castes who lament the
overall deterioration of politics and at the same time vociferously argue
for more and more draconian, anti people  measures  to maintain the status
quo of system of privileges.Their single handed pursuits of combating
terrorism often match well with the neo-liberal economic agenda
characterized by militaristic solutions to political conflicts.Ever
increasing spendings for defence ,nuclearization and escalation of conflicts
with neighboring states and such things often obscure the  burning issues of
farming crises, unemployment, price-rise , remarkable decline in the total
outputs of wealth, increasing disparity in incomes, giving away of  the
public assets to the corporates for a song, etc,etc.
I hope that I have made my point clear; thank you.
Regards,
Venu.



On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 4:03 PM, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>
wrote:
>
> Dear Venugopalan
>
> You made a statement, on which I requested clarifaction. Answering my
question with a question hardly helps. I might or might not agree with your
statement and I might or might not agree with it's converse. The explanation
is yours to give if you choose to.
>
> I appreciate your saying that "  my understanding in terms of exactly
which castes are running the show is limited"
>
> You have also clarified that "I said only that it is dominated by the
upper caste hindus both in terms of ownership as well as control."
>
> That is not what you said earlier.
>
> What you had conveyed was that because of  "the support of the upper
caste dominated media." in 2004 the 'band of nationalists' who subscribe to
a 'form of cultural nationalism' which is 'rooted in the ideology of
Brahmanical Hindutwa' seemed to be dangerously close to a second tenure in
office.
>
> Your statement was not about "ownership' or "control' but about "support".
But, let that be.
>
> Whatever the 'ownership' and whatever the 'control', are you saying the
Indian Media judging by it's News Reporting and excercise of other
Editorial/Ownership controls shows an "upper caste dominated" bias that
translates into (or led in 2004 to) "support"  for """"" 'band of
nationalists' who subscribe to a 'form of cultural nationalism' which is
'rooted in the ideology of Brahmanical Hindutwa' """"" ?
>
> Kshmendra
>
> --- On Tue, 4/21/09, Venugopalan K M <kmvenuannur at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Venugopalan K M <kmvenuannur at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] The 'upper caste dominated' Media
> To: "sarai-list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 2:46 PM
>
> Dear Kshamendra,
> I would ask you to tell me which is not dominated by the upper caste ;
> perhaps that would be much easier,though my understanding in terms of
> exactly which castes are running the show is limited..I said only that it
is
> dominated by the upper caste hindus both in terms of ownership as well as
> control.I am very open to be criticized and got corrected.
> Thanks,
> Venu
>
> On 4/21/09, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > Dear Venugopalan
> >
> > You have written that in 2004 the 'band of nationalists' who
> subscribe to a
> > 'form of cultural nationalism' which is 'rooted in the
> ideology of
> > Brahmanical Hindutwa' seemed to be dangerously close to a second
> tenure in
> > office thanks to (amongst others factors) "the support of the upper
> caste
> > dominated media."
> >
> > I would like to understand:
> >
> > - Which is this Media which is 'upper caste dominated' that
> commands such
> > an influence?
> >
> > - How does one reach the conclusion that it is 'upper caste
> dominated'?
> >
> > Kshmendra
> >
> >
> >
> > --- On *Tue, 4/21/09, Venugopalan K M <kmvenuannur at gmail.com>*
> wrote:
> >
> > "In short, I would say that there indeed exists a concept of
> 'Muslim
> > voter' in India,  notwithstanding that individual voters might
> > challenge this blanket concept in a particular context and would
> > endorse the same in another context. In my view, there is nothing
> > reprehensible in acting in this manner, when we take into
> > considerations the imperatives of grave challenges to the very
> > existence of divergent faiths in India which is actually rooted in the
> > ideology of Brahmanical Hindutwa. This is the most deplorable form of
> > cultural nationalism, which likes to ground the very idea of
> > citizenship in it. Even the Indian constitution is anathema to this
> > band of nationalists,who fortunately did not enjoy the mandate of more
> > than a fifth of all Indian voters even in their best days! In the 2004
> > elections they seemed dangerously close to a second tenure of office
> > thanks to the oprtunist realpolitiking by the regional parties and to
> > the support of the upper caste dominated media."
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> http://venukm.blogspot.com/
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