Media at Work in China and India
Discovering and Dissecting
- Robin Jeffrey - La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia
- Ronojoy Sen - National University of Singapore, Singapore
Communication Theory
Anyone who visits India or China will puzzle over their vast media systems. Though they exercise immense influence, the world knows very little about the media landscape in the two countries. The world’s two most populous countries, comprising close to 40 per cent of the global population, have disputed boundaries and the legacy of the 1962 war. Mass media in both countries plays a pivotal role in domestic politics and is capable of telling provocative nationalist stories.
This book helps readers to understand the complexities of media in India and China, and their similarities and differences. It introduces the two media systems, the people who work in them, the work they produce and the pressures that influence their work. It analyses how economic forces drive media, how newsrooms work and how governments in each country manage the coverage of disasters. Media at Work in China and India fosters greater reflection, curiosity and, perhaps, even wisdom, about fast-changing media in these 21st century powerhouses.
For two neighbouring giants which had relations for two thousand years, the contemporary knowledge of the peoples of China and India about each other is abysmal. The slender media coverage between the two is also alleged to have largely reproduced stereotypes about the other. A number of meetings between representatives of the media and media scholars in the two countries were held in the “neutral space” of Singapore. Jeffrey and Sen have captured the results of these frank and free exchanges to produce a comprehensive view of India– China “media work” and the way forward.
Despite the much-touted neologism “Chindia,” genuine comparisons between India and China’s media and communication industries are rare and difficult to undertake. Till this day, we do not have much indepth empirical material that draws on first-hand experience of media practitioners from these countries. Still less do we know how Chinese and Indian media organizations and journalists perceive each other. This book showcases novel approaches to the study of media in the world’s two most populous countries and makes a welcome contribution towards filling these gaps.
Media revolutions ferment in Asia’s two giants, as power-hungry business tycoons play media magnate in India, propagandists in China are told to chase audiences and advertisers, and a billion-plus netizens and mobile phone users are empowered. Behind Himalayan levels of mutual ignorance, spurious stories—a naval clash, a Chinese plot to “Balkanize” India—take off and stereotypes prevail. This book is a timely exploration of an explosive subject.
As the media institutions in China and India gain greater reach and influence, Jeffrey and Sen offer unarguably the best comparative perspective so far. Looking beyond the binary of “Chinese state media versus the free Indian press,” the chapters in this book delve deep into the similarities and differences between the two. In probing their incapacity to facilitate a better popular understanding of each other, the book reveals the structural weaknesses of the Chinese and Indian media.
A good book to get into the subject. It’s structure works to get over the biggest issue that reporting or writing on China involves—access to data, knowledge or insights and the language barrier…it uses 17 essays from writers across India and China to tackle the structure of the two markets, how reporters working there view them, the practices and a section that dissects the media worlds in these two countries…. For someone thirsty to know more about Chinese media this book answers so many questions.
A rare comparison between India and China in the same breath, this anthology of essays on media is a welcome one… [The book] is about the changing dynamics of media in both the countries, with essays by distinguished journalists, media practitioners and scholars in China, India and the West, offering the long and short of structures, practices and practitioners in political orders as vastly different as India and China.
“...Showcases novel approaches to the study of media in the world’s two most populous countries and makes a welcome contribution towards filling these gaps”
This book brings together insightful contributions by experienced media analysts and practitioners from India, China and the West…the book offers deep insights into politics, language and culture in the two countries against the backdrop of media transformation…this makes for a fascinating read.