Integration, the Indian state and STAR TV: Policy and theory issues

Abstract

Since the advent of STAR TV, television programming in India has transformed significantly. Television is no longer under strict government control. What are the implications for the government's national integration project? Will it strengthen or weaken the govern ment's capacity for social control? Will it undermine the government's elaboration of a national identity? The paper addresses these questions. We begin by identifying the social forces that have shaped the turbulent career of the national integration project. The role of the changing television environment is then examined in relation to these forces. The analysis suggests that it is the growing unrest within civil society which poses the real danger to this integration project - not transborder satellite channels. It is argued that democracy can be furthered only by welding together disparate groups in civil society into a bloc that can force concessions from governing elites. Media scholars need to ask how media can play a role in this task.

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