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

Wed Apr 22 16:26:34 IST 2009

Dear Venugopalan

May I first of all express my admiration for the graciousness with which you introspect and then convey it.  I wish, one saw more of that on this List. I wish I had that quality. 

What it was that you exactly meant, is quite clear now.

I wonder if there is some sort of a Media Watch organisation that totes up the airtime and printspace given to each political party, especially during elections. That would be interesting data quantitatively. But still it would not tell us much (qualitatively) about the biases.

I would still like to put on the plate a menu that suggests that the "Brahmanical and upper caste dominated" composition of the Indian Media (apart from your conviction that it has a bias favouring Hindutva) should also be seen as being partial to the 'Brahmanical and Upper Caste' in the Economic Segmentation of India. That automatically gets translated to a large extent into the socio-religious aspect. 

Our Media is somewhat suspect about the extent of Advertorialising it indulges in. The making sure that there is no antagonising of "where the big bucks come from". 

Thank you once again.

Kshmendra

--- On Wed, 4/22/09, 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: Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 12:56 AM

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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