Socialist Transformations of Communication under Market Economy: A Case of India
After the landmark, the decision of the Supreme Court of India in 1996 that declared airways as property of the people proceeded
by several changes in electronic and print media that began to take place with or without State intervention. To a large extent, these changes have shaped the way; readers/listeners/viewers began to differentiate between “government media” and “private media.” Newspapers have changed their editorial policy, reporting methods and the headlines so are the case with radio and television. Reporting about the political leaders and politics of the country have shifted to reporting of film personalities, rich and corporate icons. These media changes have started occurring over two decades ago and capitalism and market economy quickly deepened its root in communication of India. In the light of these observations the aim of the paper is to provide an analysis of the role of electronic and print media after economic liberalization of 1992 in India. The analysis is presented within the framework of growing importance of politics of “coalition government” and economic transformation that have taken place as a result of shift in “controlled economy” to “free market economy” advocated by the champions of capitalism under the influence of World Bank and
western countries especially United States of America.
Professor Binod C Agrawal, (MS 1969, Ph.D., 1970, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA) is an International Communication
Expert. Dr. Agrawal was awarded by AMIC Asian Communication Award 2009 for his outstanding contributions and leadership to Asian Communication Research. Professor Agrawal has a distinction in setting up Himgiri ZEE University, Dehradun, India as founding President (Vice Chancellor) (2005-2012). Currently, he is Professor of Eminence and Director General, TALEEM Research Foundation, Ahmedabad which he founded in 1995 where he leads an interdisciplinary Social Science research group and is involved in consulting, teaching and research including communication studies.