For decades, viewed as an extension of the country of their origin, the national and the international media have been weaponised by power to shape public opinion, globally and nationally (Boga, 2014; Chomsky & Herrmann, 1988; Chomsky, 2009, 1991, 1991a; Debord, 1970; Entman, 2004). Here, we use the word “weaponise” to indicate the negative use of media by power for manipulation and agenda setting, vis-a-vis the use of media as a positive medium to inform the public and convey their message to the State and vice versa. With India’s economic “liberalisation”, the corporate control over the media increased as the number of publications and national and international television channels multiplied. Changes in political and economic thought led to new patterns of ownership and processes that dictated pragmatism, catapulting commerce to the forefront (Ranganathan, 2014). Commercialisation of media led to trivialisation or invisiblisation of issues concerning the majority of the public and the burgeoning of both overt and covert power nexuses. For example, the widely known accommodation of business magnates in their managements by media houses led to an increasing suspicion of media’s agenda and their political affiliations (Guha-Thakurtha, 2012; Ranaganathan, 2014).
26/06/2022
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