Newspaper and Social Change: Recent Trends in Indian Journalism

Presented at THK Jain College

Abir Chattopadhyay

·        What is a social change and how newspapers do usher that changes?

Social change is such an interface that leads to a transformation of a time and space. Social Change is such an outcome that overrules the previous. Social Change itself is therefore a transit that invites a new phenomenon. Social Change involves people's action whereas people's action requires an ideological guideline. Ideological guideline requires critique or critical analysis and critical analysis finally requires a mainstream description of event. Description of event needs an event to occur. Does then social change depend upon mainstream description of event? it is not dependence but critical analysis needs something to oppose.

Media also do social change. Does it mean media houses observe everything critically? No. Media houses oppose establishment and traditionally ruling mechanisms. They follow their own mechanism to create a new condition what we call social change. It is not really people but media that can disturb existing social conditions whatever the condition is.

Slide #2: What is social change?

·         About social change, the common idea tells us about two prototypes of transformations:

o   Totalist transformation/change; when social change leads to a complete upside down of a social structure; e.g. governmental-ideological change

o   Micro transformation/change; that leads to certain change in a certain time and space;

Slide #3: Journalism causes Social Change

o   There are many such examples around the world where journalism rather investigative reportage open up many conspiracies/scandals; Watergate scandal by two Washington Post Journalists; Bofors scandal Story; 2G Spectrum story; Coal Block scandal story etc.

o   The above reports caused a massive outbreak doubtlessly but how many of them caused a real social change, are of something to reestablish.

Slide #4: Your Arguments

·         Your letter of invitation has however mentioned very interestingly that “newspapers today influence us in our cultural practices, political decision making, economy, consumer habit, social aspects so on so forth…Journalistic practice and format of newspapers have been going through colossal alterations…observed in printing method and over all presentation. All these aspects together thrive a significant effect on society both in short and long term conditions and stand as a key factor behind any massive social change”.

·         Now as you said about “massive social change”, which sounds a bit totalist change too, is a massive political affair whereas micro changes are no less political and revolutionary in nature.

Slide #5: Micro and Macro social conditions

·         The points you have already noticed like political decision making, consumer habit are those areas of micro social change whereas economy is a mother principle on which a nation or a system runs and to change that the strength of newspapers is not enough; a strong political-ideological backup is necessary.

·         It's therefore better to concentrate on micro social changes. Now if it does really, as you think, my job here is to establish 'how it does or whether it does at all'.

Slide #6: What is a Newspaper or Mass Media?

·         So what is a newspaper? Let us now not react as common people would usually prefer to, like newspaper is a mass medium, mirror of society etc. etc. The today's topic again helps me to conceive that newspaper is a changing agent and not just a medium as commonly being taught.

·         A Newspaper or a medium can perpetrate social change not just by its penetrative or repititive power but its creative or narrative power.

Slide #7: Newspaper as Interface

·         So it is always better to define newspaper critically. Newspaper is a manifestation or say interface of an establishment;

·         What does it manifest? It manifests views, opinions, information, order/action, even no less than a format or presentation; rather it produces all of them.

Slide #8: Newspaper functions

·         The manifestation finally legitimizes the process of representation; i.e. newspapers represent many things in its appearance.      

                It represents events through news;

                It endorses other views also, through features and articles/columns.

                It creates opinion i.e. its own views in editorial;

                It now reinforces its own opinion;

                It creates an ideology or line of action through the above representation praxis;

                It stimulates audience' action in the short run; and finally

                It finally moulds/changes people's behaviour in the long run;

Slide #9: REORIAC Axis...Political Economy

·         Newspapers' action can then be chronically summarized as 'Representation-Endorsement-Opinion-Reinforce-Ideology-Action-Change';

·         This is basically a political-ideological axis in which a newspaper functions. From the colonial period newspapers particularly in India follow the REORIAC axis;

·         Now the political economy of newspaper promotes both corporate or establishment aspects and manifestation/interface aspects of newspaper;

·         Now the dual faces of the political economy of newspapers/media ensure the process of media production.

Slide #10: Does media production lead to social change?

·         Now, the question appears whether newspapers/media production can lead to any social change. Whatever it does, is not the matter of concern now. The problem is to explore how does it perpetrate social change? Normally we see that newspapers or other media print/publish or broadcast whatever they produce. We also see some very interesting effects too in terms of subsequent reflexive opinions and actions among the audience. But unless established, there is no reason to term it as newspapers' effect.

Slide #11: Toward Social Change

·         Now our job is to establish that newspapers do organize social change. But before doing anything let us agree with the reality that "newspapers cannot lead to any social change cumulatively" because they don't work together. So they can only usher micro changes individually as they are in competitive relationship with each other.

·         Secondly, not just newspapers, no mass medium alone can lead to any social change except any very unusual exclusive is done that may create huge uproar in any social format. Nowadays no mass medium operates on its own without having any collaboration with other media of different genres particularly electronic and online. At least in India the situation shows a massive conglomeration of media houses where in every case there is international finance capital invested in terms of media-capital.

·         So in any situation the impact of newspapers is difficult to note in India without its collaboration and so the impact of newspapers cumulatively even if tried hard.

Slide #12: Gerbner's Model and Social Change

·         Let us start with George Gerbner's famous Cultivation model where he had mistakenly established media's specially cumulative or general effect on audience. Yet Gerbner's model is useful here in a sense that at least he concluded in the last horizontal segment where mediation is done between media's production SE [structure of the produced] and audience's reception SE₁ [structure of the received]. So it at least concluded that media lead to a change in audience behaviour toward finally the social change i.e. social action.

·        

·         But he did not mention how it was done. But as said that we get one assurance of media's influence over the audience both in short and long run, as your summary mentions.

·         Now our job left is to explore how media do it.

Slide #13 and #14: Encoding Decoding Model

·         Noted British Cultural Theorist Stuart Hall in his Encoding-Decoding formulation explained that whatever produced in media is decoded by the audience differently.

·         He established an ideological gap between what is encoded by the media and decoded by the audience. In this model Hall's argument went on establishing that audience is strong enough to formulate their own views and so your point appears to be wrong. But another connotation of his argument may also be like 'media cannot influence the whole of audience'.

·         So media has a 'limited effect' capability as many US theorists are of opinion. Does then your introductory piece stand at all? A big question indeed.

Slide #15: Understanding Media Power

·         But it was our promise to establish that whatever limited or massive effect media have in audience psyche, it is for sure that they must have the power to influence the audience.

·         What kind of power it is that influences the audience and where does it stay in media? Along with capital power, coercive (social) power, mass media exert a new power i.e. symbolic power. Mass media can make anything symbolic. So what newspapers or other media do is making their perceptions of events more and more symbolic.

·         As mentioned earlier, through all REORIAC stages of action media create such symbolic power which people are supposed to "use or re-use" in every social action. And people do it every time for every media content.

·         This is how media as you have said help or dominate or mould political decision making, consumer habits etc.

·         [Now I would take up one book for reference that covers all possible aspects of 21st century Journalism to exemplify how media do it.]

Slide #16: More Reality Narrative

·         Now the symbolic power of every media creation or production not only represents the particular media house but also reinforces the events with 'more reality' narrative. This more reality narrative is most likely to initiate a line of action i.e. an ideology and immediately turns into social action.

·         The social action as reinforced by the media with more reality often causes social change in terms of public action.

·         What kind of media practice or journalism are we talking about? It is as conceived the latest form of journalistic practice Narrative Journalism that completes the story with full incorporation of journalist's perception about the event.

Slide #17: Social Action requires Audience to perform

·         Now, to get the social change of any dimension done the mediation process, above mentioned, requires audience to accomplish the action and change.

·         So, to talk about the audience, let's bring back the age old debate whether audience/readers is active or not in the 21st century.

·         Let's not get into the details of the debate now except conclude that we still do not know us.

·         We still go by the age old identities like class, caste, ethnicity, reservation, urbanity and many other situational considerations.

·         So newspaper's or media's REORIAC action only make them audience from people earlier.

·         Audience has also become a new abstraction like earlier class/ethnicity blah...blah...blah.

Slide #18: Audience and the question of subordination

·         As the social authorities endorse or better say promote all its social identities usually subordinated, so media authorities too want its audience enough in its ideological control, dumb and heavy viewing creature and finally consented.

Slide #19: Is Social Change Fantasy?

·         So then, is social change a mere media compulsion? Is so called people's upsurge a mere fantasy now?

·         Basically social change, as you have mentioned, occurs — people give mandate too — but somehow at the cost of their "independence".

·         "People" identity in the 21st century is now in crisis; we all have become audience not by choice but by compulsion.

Slide #20: Media-Authority Narrative

·         Media-Civil Society-Political Authority combination is quite evident both in national and regional situations in India.

·         This combination is the ideological source of Narrative Journalism both Print and Electronic media.

·         Narrative Journalism is therefore media's that extension of audience orientation alongside all other forms of media action.

·         No specific newspaper related phenomenon is now available — Narrative Journalism covers both objective journalism and the semiotic extension of entertainment.

Reading B.G. Verghese would clarify or you may say certify the situation

·         If the concluding remark sounds too much negative, I am helpless. I can't really stand by saying that how newspapers or media keep us aware of the global information. We all know that. Let's get it critically now.