ADVERTISING & WOMEN - INDIA

The portrayal of women in advertising has received a great deal of attention through the years. Gender stereotyping has varied little over time. Advertising has been criticized for stereotyping women and failing to recognize the changing role of women in our society.

Different forms of media e.g. Television, film, music, etc, communicate strong gender stereotypes. e.g. blonde women are commonly stereotyped as being beautiful and fun loving but dumb. Women are shown as lacking intelligence and credibility.

Advertisements also portray idealized, sexist and racist images of women - women are mostly depicted as sex objects. The behavior of women in advertising makes them appear subordinate and available for men. Even in advertisements aimed at children, one can see gender stereotypes. Boys are shown as being more knowledgeable, active, aggressive than girls. Dominance and control are strongly associated with boys than girls.

Television which is the most pervasive and persuasive medium still continues to show women in stereotypical roles. Research shows that the more television children watch, the more likely they are to hold sexist notions about traditional male and female roles and these images shape the notions children have about male and female roles in real life.

Popular culture - greeting cards, books, songs, films, etc, communicate images representing the cultural ideals of womanhood and manhood.

While sexism and stereotyping still exist, advertising's portrayal of women is improving in many areas. Many advertisers have begun to recognize the importance of portraying women realistically. The increase in the number of working women has resulted not only in women having more influence at family decision making but also in more single-female households, which means more independent purchasers.

Women have now crossed the boundary from the domestic sphere to the professional arena, expectations and representations of women have changed as well. Many advertisements are now depicting women in a diverse set of roles that reflect their changing place in society. In many advertisements, the stereotypical traits attributed to women have shifted from weak and dependent to strong and independent.

INDIA - NEW ECONOMIC POLICIES

The new economic policies were on two levels

 1  Liberalization measures which is further divided into

a. New Industrial Policy
b. New Trade Policy

2. Macroeconomic reforms and structural adjustments

I   LIBERALIZATION MEASURES

1. New Industrial Policy (NIP) - Under the New Industrial Policy there was:
       a.  Liberalization of industrial licensing which resulted in
            -licensing
            -decontrol
            -deregulation
            -broad banding
            -abolition of registration

       b.  FERA liberalization. The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act liberalized foreign                    
            investments and technology imports
      
       c.   MRTP liberalization  The Monopolies Restrictive Trade Practices was removed and                           threshold asset limit was abolished and clearance for expansions, mergers were not needed                                                                                                
       d.  Curtailment of public sector.
            Several industries previously reserved for public sector opened up to the private sector. Only               eight core industries remain reserved for the public sector

2.    New Trade Policy (NTP)
       Under this policy there were seven reforms as follows:

       a. Lowering of import tariffs
       b. Import licences were abolished
       c. The exim regime was more open
       d. The rupee was made convertible
       e.  Exports were encouraged
       f.   India’s economy was to be integrated with global economy


II      MACROECONOMIC REFORMS AND STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTS

1    Macroeconomic reforms: There were three types of reforms:

      a.   fiscal and monetary reforms which included
            -reduction of fiscal deficits
            -reform of tax systems
            -interest rate reforms
            -inflation control

      b.   banking sector reforms included the following
            -banks to operate as commercial institutions
            -priority sector lending to be phased out
            -deposit interest rates deregulation
            -operational freedom in lending rates
            -norms on capital adequacy to be kept up
            -disinvestment in public sector banks
            -permission for new private sector banks

       c.   capital market reforms were;
            -abolition of CCI (Controller of Capital Issues)
            -strengthening of SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India)
            -opening of Indian capital markets of FII (Foreign Institutional Investors)
            -allowing foreign brokers in Indian capital markets
            -private sectors allowed into mutual funds
            -allowing Indian firms to raise capital abroad

2.    Structural adjustments were

       a.   market driven price and dismantling of price controls
             -phasing out of subsidies
             -dismantling price controls
             -abolishing fertilizer, sugar, export and petro-product subsidy
             -partial decontrol & parallel marketing of kerosene and LPG
             - steel price decontrol

        b   public sector restructuring and disinvestment  
             -no new public sector units or expansion with government equity
             -budgetary support for PSU to be phased out
             -disinvestment of government equity in PSUs

        c.   exit policy
             -support to VRS
             -creation of NRF(National Retail Federation)  

ADVERTISING AND POPULAR CULTURE

Popular culture refers to beliefs and practices and the objects through which they are organised that are widely shared amongst a population. It is the ideas, perspectives, attitudes and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of any given culture. Heavily influenced by mass media, popular culture permeates the everyday lives of the society. It includes everything from ‘common culture’ to ‘folk culture’ to ‘mass culture’.

Popular culture is the expressive content that is produced and consumed. It is light entertainment that is delivered through the channels of mass media and finally absorbed voluntarily, to be interpreted by the individual who receives it. Information then goes back in the form of ratings or sales figure that will influence the subsequent round of offerings.

Popular culture consists of symbols, for e.g., television serials, films, comic books, music etc. Popular culture gives pleasure upon reception and this pleasure giving feature is a central aspect of the popular culture experience.

Advertising on the other hand refers to the paid-for messages that attempts to transfer symbols into commodities to increase the possibilities of its purchase. For this reason advertising may be looked at warily. Although advertising comes in many forms, the main mediums focused on are television, radio and magazines.

Advertising is seen as a means of communication and aims at changing behaviour (forces individuals to purchase advertised goods). Popular culture  however aims to give pleasure and not to change viewers behaviour.

Advertising is almost always briefer than instances of popular culture (30 sec of a commercial against 30 minutes of popular culture) Media and space is expensive and advertisers have to work within budgets.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ADVERTISING AND POPULAR CULTURE

Both are products of culture industries and are to be understood as artistic products.
Both pay great attention to style.
Both share the use of same mass media method.
Both are approached as economic entities as well as symbolic entities

Advertising and popular culture have come to occupy central positions with a global economic growth.

Popular culture is more welcome than advertising.

Thus advertisers use Popular culture to create attractive messages for consumers. Advertisers appropriate popular culture material such as celebrities, music, comedy styles and anything else that can be used as accepted and as enhanced symbols for their products
.
To communicate with consumers, advertisers comedies, music and celebrities, all part of popular culture. Music has the ability to stimulate extraordinary emotional feelings. Adult consumers derive emotional benefit from popular music. It is this appeal that advertisers try to exploit to stimulate consumer’s interest in their products.

Advertisers choose leading entertainers as spokespeople, as opposed to lesser known individuals, as it helps build audiences attention and the brand ambassador helps increase the brand status and ensures product success.

The utility of music is acknowledged within the advertising industry. Background music can set up a mood with targeted consumers and lend an emotional dimension to a brand. Although much of the music in advertising is original an increasing proportion of it consists of reused popular cultural hits.

Advertising does not deplete or obliterate popular culture. The interpenetration of advertising and popular culture is recognized and highlights from one adds luster to the other. The target audience are always on the lookout for symbols and meanings which reverberate back and forth between the two domains. Popular culture can even aid in the creation of new norms.

To communicate with consumers, advertisers have an ample stock of purchasable symbolic material to draw upon. Advertisers turn to popular culture that is pleasurable, emotional and non-coercive. Popular culture is the seat belt of the stars who can command general recognition from a diverse population. The stars are likely to deliver the emotional material the spectator is looking for. For e.g. the popular song ‘Dhoom Machale’ became a part of the day to day lingo of  youngsters. Advertisers who used ‘Dhoom Macha Diya’ below their visual reported increase in sales.
                         
Cultures are dynamic and change occurs when resistance slowly yields to acceptance. Gradually there comes an awareness of the need for change. Once the need is recognized, acceptance cannot be prevented. .

WEB PAGES

We live in an information age where the most important means of communication and mass media are web pages. Web Pages are an innovative way to get in touch with people around the world thus playing an important role in globalization. It helps bring the world together thus promoting global unity.

When we travel to a foreign country or remote town, we find some information about the place, but through a web page all information can be found sitting at one's desk.

Web pages are not only available to those involved in mass media but are available to all without having to go through the extended traditional method of print publishers.

Finding information about almost anything has been made easy through web pages. One can research, exchange ideas, discover friends world wide, communicate with like minded people, etc., through the web.

Most pages on the web are either self published or published by small/large businesses in order to promote a point of view or for goods and services marketing.

Typical web pages provide hypertext that include a navigation bar or a sidebar menu which helps link you to other web pages via hyperlinks.

TYPES OF WEB PAGES
1. Informative
2. Personal
3. Interest Groups or Political
4. Marketing Oriented
5. Entertainment Oriented

All types of web pages cater to different audiences and different audience needs. They have something to offer to everyone.

WEB PAGES AND WEBSITES HELP:
- Fuel the imagination
- Encourage people to interact with information
- Consumers get an opportunity to interact with brands
- One can communicate and have a conversation
- One can even book tickets, purchase and sell goods online.

This has led to opportunities not only for business houses but also for individual entrepreneurs.

Web pages for premium brands help
-Make consumers appreciate the uniqueness of the product
-Keep users up-to-date
-build brand image and ensures price clarity

CHARACTERISTICS OF WEB PAGES
- Only form of media where other media are also available... e.g. All newspapers are available online and are thus easy to access and allows fro a variety of information
- Web pages are revolutionary in the thought process of media, however they are not checked for accuracy. Personal opinions on certain issues need not necessarily be facts. One can find both points of view online.
- Web pages are an interactive source of information and the user can not only question but can also give his/her won inputs if required
- Web pages have a hierarchical structure in the sense that an individual can easily find what he/she is looking for by putting in the right search words.

DRAWBACKS OF WEB PAGES
-It can be difficult to differentiate between advertising information and actual facts
-Illiterate people, or people without access to computers or smart phones may not be able to access information
-the site creator may not be easily identified
- Credibility is not guaranteed
- Research may be difficult as websites may contain loads of information but sometimes the user may not be able to access the same.

CONCLUSION
It must be accepted that the internet and its components form the most interactive medium for those seeking information and has definitely promoted global unity. It is not only a new tool of communication but has also created an impact on the lives of many individuals including professionals and students. 

Vinobha Bhave - Bhudan Movement

Vinobha Bhave – Bhudan Movement

Vinoba Bhave was one of the great spiritual leaders & reformers of modern India, whose work & personal example moved the hearts of countless Indians.

Born in 1895, at the tender age of ten, Vinoba took a vow life-long celibacy & selfless service to others.

Vinoba discovered Gandhi, & joined in Gandhi’s work for the regeneration & freedom of India.

In 1940 Gandhi chose Vinoba to be the first Satyagrahi i.e. non-violent resister, to offer non-violent resistance to the British regime.

Vinoba’s social activism was founded on a lifetime’s study of the other major world religions. Vinoba’s life reveals the harmony of the inner & outer life of a great man, who had an unwavering commitment to the practice of non-violence, to an engaged spirituality, & to the universal power of love.

After India won independence, Vinoba started out on his extraordinary & unprecedented in recorded history, the Bhoodan (Land-Gift) Movement.

Over a period of twenty years, Vinoba walked through the length & breadth of India persuading land-owners & land-lords to give their poor & downtrodden neighbours a total of four million acres of land.

The Bhoodan-Gramdan movement initiated inspired by Vinoba brought Vinoba to the international scene.

For Vinoba the future of India was essentially a contest between the fundamental creeds of Gandhi & Marx. In coming to Hyderabad, Vinoba & other Gandhians were confronting a challenge & testing their faith in non-violence.

Pochampalli gave Vinoba a warm welcome. Vinoba went to visit the Harijan (the Untouchables) colony there. By early afternoon villagers began to gather around Vinoba at Vinoba’s cottage. The Harijans asked for eighty acres of land, forty wet, forty dry for forty families that would be enough. Then Vinoba asked,”If it is not possible to get land from the government, is there not something villagers themselves could do?” To everyone’s surprise, Ram Chandra Reddy, the local landlord, got up & said in a rather excited voice: “I will give you 100 acres for these people.” At his evening prayer meeting, Ram Chandra Reddy got up & repeated his promise to offer 100 acres of land to the Harijans. This incident neither planned nor imagined was the very genesis of the Bhoodan movement & it made Vinoba think that therein lay the potentiality of solving the land problem of India. This movement later on developed into a village gift or Gramdan movement.

The movement passed through several stages in regard to both momentum & allied programmes. In October 1951, Vinoba was led to demand fifty million acres of land for the landless from the whole of India by 1957. Thus a personal initiative assumed the form of a mass movement, reminding the people of Gandhi’s mass movements. This was indeed a very remarkable achievement for a constructive work movement. The enthusiasm for the movement lasted till 1957 & thereafter it began to wane.

Meanwhile the Bhoodan Movement had been transformed from a land-gift movement to a village-gift or Gramdan movement, in which the whole or a major part of a village land was to be donated by not less than 75% of the villagers who were required to relinquish their right of owner-ship over their lands in favour of the entire village, with power to equitably redistribute the total land among village’s families with a proviso for revision after some intervals.

The Programme of individual land-gifts was still there, but henceforth became a neglected activity.

The Gramdan idea did not prove popular in the non-tribal areas & this partly accounted for the decline of the movement at the end of the 1950s.

The movement directly influenced the life-style of the co-workers, especially the life-long co-workers & through them many workers & associates or fellow-seekers. By adopting Gandhi’s ideas to the solution of the basic economic problem of land collection & equitable redistribution among the landless, the Movement kept Gandhi’s ideas of socioeconomic reconstruction alive at a period when the tendency of the educated elite was to overlook, if not to reject Gandhi’s ideas as irrelevant. The Movement kindled interest in the individuals to study Gandhi’s ideas & to assess their relevance. Jayaprakash Narayan, a renowned Marxist, and a Socialist, & one of the fore-most leaders in politics, before & after India’s Independence, came to be more & more intimately associated with the movement & realized that it was a superb endeavor to bring about revolution in human relations founded on on the Gandhian philosophy of non-violence. Ultimately Jayaprakash devoted his entire life to the construction of a Sarvodaya society.

Arthur Koestler, in 1959 wrote in London Observer, that the Bhoodan Movement presented an Indian alternative to the Nehruvian model of Western development.

Maharishi D. K. Karve

The nineteenth century was a period when the emancipation of women became a matter of prime concern for socio-religious reformers. Over the years, women were exploited, kept backward and were made victims of many degrading customs like sati, female infanticide, purdah, child marriage, polygamy, etc. The reformers saw these customs to be perverted practices born of ignorance and fear and blind acceptance. Since women were denied education, they also lacked awareness of their rights.
Thus the change is women’s status is the most important symbol of social change.

By the second half of the nineteenth century individual activists as well as reform groups focused on women related issues and their activities provided stimulus and an atmosphere to improve the status of the Indian women. One such champion of the cause of women’s emancipation was Maharishi D. K. Karve  worked relentlessly for the cause of women. He encouraged widow remarriage and founded schools for girls and widow homes in Pune. He also founded the first Indian Women’s University in 1916 which later came to be known as SNDT Women’s Univeristy.

In 1891, he started teaching mathematics in Fergusson College and continued teaching for the next twenty-three years. He established the Vidhawa Vivah Pratibandh Nivarak Mandali, a society to encourage widow remarriage. The interest received on the society’s fund, collected through donations, was used to financially help widows who wished to remarry.

Karve constructed a small house at Hingane village near Pune in 1900 for the school and started his mission for women’s education from this house.

He founded the Mahila Vidyalaya  (Women’s School) in 1907. Here, women were taught such subjects like child development, health, home science etc. Karve later on modified the courses to match changing requirements and times.

Reputed leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sawarkar and Pandit Nehru visited the institute and praised Karve for his efforts.

After his retirement from Fergusson College in 1914, he devoted all his time in developing the Mahila Vidyalaya.

In 1916 he founded a university for women. This is considered to be the first University for women in India. Karve became the first Principal of a college affiliated to this university. In the next year, a teacher’s training college was added. This college was later named as Shrimati Nathibai Damodar Thackersi College. The medium of instruction in this college was Marathi. However, other specialized courses were also conducted like English, the language of knowledge, nurses training etc.

Deciding to give more attention towards educating women in rural areas, he founded the Maharashtra Gram Prathamik Shikshan Mandal (Society for elementary education in rural Maharashtra).

The Banaras Hindu University felicitated him with an honorary degree in 1942. He was honoured with the title of Padma Vibhushan in 1955 and the Bharat Ratna in 1958 at the age of 100, by the Indian Government.

Maharshi Karve was also known in Maharashtra by the nickname  Anna (Eldest Brother). Anna spent a dedicated lifetime of 105 years in social service.

Baba Amte

Dr Murlidhar Devidas Amte popularly known as Baba Amte, was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of poor people suffering from leprosy.

Baba Amte was born in Maharashtra to a wealthy family.

Trained in law, he developed a successful legal practice at Wardha. He soon got involved in the Indian struggle for freedom from the British Raj, and started acting as a defense lawyer for leaders of the Indian freedom movement whom the British authorities had imprisoned in the 1942 Quit India movement.

He spent some time at Sevagram ashram of Mahatma Gandhi, and became a follower of Gandhism for the rest of his life. He followed Gandhism, including yarn spinning using a charkha and wearing khadi.

In those days, leprosy was associated with social stigma and the society disowned people suffering from leprosy. There was also a widespread misbelief that leprosy was contagious. Amte strove to dispel the misbelief and once allowed bacilli from a leprosy patient to be injected into him while participating in an experimental test aimed at proving that leprosy was not contagious.

Amte founded three ashrams for treatment and rehabilitation of leprosy patients, disabled people, and people from marginalized sections of the society in Maharashtra, India.

On 15 August 1949, he started a hospital in Anandwan under a tree. Today,  Anandwan and Hemalkasa village have one hospital, each. Anandwan has a university, an orphanage, and schools for the blind and the deaf. Currently, the self-sufficient Anandwan ashram has over 5,000 residents. The community development project at Anandwan in Maharashtra is recognized around the world.

Amte followed Gandhi's way of living and led a spartan life. He wore khadi clothes made from the looms at Anandwan. He believed in Gandhi's concept of a self-sufficient village industry that empowers seemingly helpless people, and successfully brought his ideas into practice at Anandwan.

Amte also used Gandhian principles to fight against corruption, mismanagement, and poor, shortsighted planning in the government. Thus, he used non-violent means to fight the Indian government in the fight of independence.

Amte devoted his life to many other social causes, the most notable among which were generating public awareness towards importance of ecological balance, wildlife preservation, and the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

Baba Amte received many awards for his work. Some of them are : Padma Shri, 1971, Ramon Magsaysay Award, 1985, Padma Vibhushan, 1986, Gandhi Peace Prize, 1999 etc.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS – 1949

Human Rights are those minimal rights that individuals need to have against the state or other public authority by virtue of their being members of the human family, irrespective of any other consideration.

The history of mankind is marked by efforts to ensure respect for the dignity of human beings. The concept of human rights was introduced and developed by thinkers from various cultural and religious traditions.

However, it was only in the second half of the twentieth century that a comprehensive international system of human rights promotion and protection was set up.

Foundation of United Nations and Declaration of Human Rights were the two important landmarks / turning points in the human rights movement.

The United Nations (1945) described human rights as: ‘those rights which are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot live as human beings’.

The horrors of the Second World War (1939 – 1945) confirmed and strengthened the belief that ‘the recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world’. This provision was inscribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which has become the cornerstone of international human rights law emerging in subsequent years.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the basic international pronouncement of the inalienable and inviolable rights of all members of the human family. This may be the first contemporary landmark in the development of the concept of human rights.

The U.N. General Assembly adopted it on the 10th of December 1948, at its meeting in Paris, as a common goal, realizing them for all people, all nations and every individual and every group in society. This declaration was constantly kept in mind to strive and provide for these rights and freedoms by teaching and education, and by progressive measures, national and international.

At this time the United Nations was dominated by the Western powers, yet even then the absence of consensus on human rights was evident in the abstention of eight countries, including the Soviet Union, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. However, forty eight states voted in favor of the declaration and none voted against it. The adoption of the declaration by a big majority without any direct opposition was a remarkable achievement. It was the first occasion on which an organized community of nations had made a declaration of Human rights and Fundamental Freedom.

While this declaration articulated a set of principles and is not a treaty, it has been hailed as embodying the aspirations of a world committed to respecting the rights and dignity of human beings.

The adoption and declaration of Human Rights promoted a respect of human rights and an international concern of primary importance.

According to Buergenthal, “because of its moral status and the legal and political importance it has acquired over the years, the declaration ranks with the Magna Carta, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the American Declaration of Independence, as a milestone is mankind’s struggle for freedom and human dignity."

The Declaration consists of a preamble and 30 articles spelling out the human rights and freedom to which all human beings in the world are entitled.

In its Preamble, the Declaration defines human rights as the ‘rights derived from the inherent dignity of the human person.’

The Preamble refers to the faith in fundamental Human Rights in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women, which the people of the UN have reaffirmed in the UN Charter.

The provisions can be classified into 4 (four) categories:-
1. General (Arts1 and 2)
2. Civil and Political Rights (Art 3 – 21)
3. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Art 22 – 27)
4. Concluding (Arts 28 – 30)

Articles 1 and 2 are general proclaiming that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitle to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration, without distinction of any kind.

Many of the rights proclaimed in the declaration are as below:-
Article 3 - The right to life, liberty and security of person
Article 4 - Freedom from slavery
Article 5 - Freedom from torture
Article 6 - Right to legal recognition
Article 7 - The right to freedom from discrimination and to the equal protection of the law
Article 8 - Right to remedy
Article 9 - Prohibition of arbitrary arrest, detention or exile
Article 10 - Right to fair trial
Article 11 – the presumption of innocence until proved guilty
Article 12 – Right to privacy
Article 13 – Right to freedom of movement
Article 14 – Right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum (refuge/protection) from persecution
Article 15 – Right to a nationality and to change his nationality
Article 16 – Right to marry and found a family
Article 17 – Right to own property
Article 18 – The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion
Article 19 – the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Article 20 – the freedom of peaceful assembly / association
Article 21 – Right to vote, to stand in election and to hold public office

But the UDHR differs from classical catalogues of human rights because it deals not only with the traditional civil and political rights but also with economic, social and cultural rights.

The declaration goes on to provide for the right to social security (Article 22)
Article 23 – the right to work and equal pay for equal work
Article 24 – Right to just conditions of work
Article 25 – the right to an adequate standard of living
Article 26 – the right to education
Article 27 – the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits and the right to protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author
Article 28 – declares that everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedom set forth in this declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29 – presupposes an existence of duties for the existence of these rights.
Article 30 – says that the Declaration in no circumstances should be used as a pretext for violating rights.

In spite of being a remarkable achievement for the UN in the area of Human Rights, the Universal Declaration made some glaring omissions. Nothing was mentioned in regard to protection of minorities, nor the right to petition at the national level. Even so it has become a yardstick or standard of respect for Human Rights.

It may be noted that the declaration is not a treaty. It was adopted by the General Assembly as a resolution having no force of law. Therefore it was not considered a legally binding document. This point was emphasized time and again by States when discussing the Declaration prior to its adoption.
It is appropriate to ask, “What, then, is the significance of the U.D.? How can we estimate its value to us?” Estimating its value is a difficult exercise. But nevertheless, there are a number of categorical statements that can be made about the UD because there are at least three areas in which the effect of the Declaration has been felt and can be measured:
1. Decisions made by the United Nations: Ever since the promulgation of the Declaration, it has been used as a standard of conduct and as a basis for appeals in urging governments to take measures to observe human rights.

2. Treaties: A number of global and regional treaties have been prepared to transform the UD into international conventional law.

3. National Constitutions, legislation, and court decisions: the domestic law of many states has shown the marked influence of the UD.

As a consequence it can justifiably be said that influence of the UD has been profound. Many scholars claim that the principles contained in the Declaration are now part of customary international law, binding upon all states.

Whatever may be the legal status and significance of the declaration, to date it remains the most important document in the field of Human Rights and a perennial source of inspiration to promote and protect fundamental freedom.

Human Rights

Definition: Human Rights are ‘those conditions of social life without which no human being can seek in general to be himself at his best’ – Harold Laski in the Grammar of Politics. Thus, Human Rights are those moral rights which are owed to each man and woman solely by reason of being human.

Human rights are those basic rights enjoyed by every human being, irrespective of caste, creed, sex, nationality and so on. These are privileges, which are inherent in every human being and imply a certain amount of dignity. In this sense, the human being is the central subject of human rights, which are universal and social.

Human rights are individual: Human rights are the rights of individuals to meet the needs and purposes of individuals.

Human rights are paramount: something of which no one can be deprived of without grave affront to justice. They are inalienable – minimum strong moral rights of which no man or woman can be deprived by government or society whether by arbitrary fiat or by law.

Human rights are never absolute and it is essential that every person who enjoys the rights allow others to enjoy them as well. In this sense. Human rights reflect the philosophy of universal love and compassion – ‘Live and let live’.

Human rights are dynamic in nature and keep expanding with socio-economic and cultural developments.

Human rights are a basis of a democratic society: Democracy is impossible without human rights since a democratic society is supposed to be a free society with each person choosing his / her own way of life. In a democracy, State is a welfare state guaranteeing basic rights like equality before the law, right to life and liberty, equality of opportunity and absence of discrimination.

Human rights are enforceable by the International community.

Today, human rights have become a burning topic of the day drawing global attention because of the efforts of NGOs and human rights activists. At the same time, humans, who are rational beings indulge in ruthless and merciless violation of human rights and there is no country, which does not have a record of human rights violation. It is very essential that a general awareness be created about human rights through mass media.

Intellectual Property and New Media

'Intellectual Porperty' relates to the ownership of 'intangible' property such as ideas, various forms of literary and artistic expression, broadcasting and the mass media, folklore, and new media (any mode of expression which has commercial value)

The law encompasses four distinct types of intangible property:
1. Patents
2. Copyright
3. Trademarks or Tradenames
4. Others such as industrial designs, trade secrets and confidential information.

The above collectively are referred to as 'intellectual property'. Of these, Copyright directly applies to mass media.

'Copyright' is generally defined as an 'exclusive right granted to the owner of an original work (i.e. lyrics, movies, computer programs, paintings, designs logos) for a limited period of time'.

Copyright offers a legal protection granted to an artist or creative writer to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform and display the work publicly.

Developments in new technologies such as cable and satellite TV as well as the internet have made the protection of 'intellectual property' more complicated.

An area of concern for authors, film makers, music composers, playwrights and other creative artists is the 'broadcasting of their work on a host of delivery platforms: radio, television, internet, mobile phones, etc. The gap between high priced media goods and low price pirated good has resulted in piracy.

Piracy is the illegal or unauthorised reproduction of copyrighted books, recordings, television programmes, softwares, movies etc.

With the dawn of globalization, India saw the entrance of piracy. Earlier piracy was confined to audio cassettes and books sold on the street. today it is in the form of:

1. Media windowing: Duplicating of content in the digital medium enables pirate to disrupt the chances of maximizing profits for distributors. While the cost of reproducing every duplicate decreases, the quality of the content remains constant.

2. Torrents: Bit Torrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used for distributing large amounts of data. These have been controversial since their inception. However, youngsters continue to download free games, software, movies etc via peer-to-peer file sharing / torrents.

Anti Piracy Enforcement: Media companies and anti-piracy groups have been lobbying for change in laws and stricter enforcement of laws. With cheaper technologies for circulation of media, this is a tough struggle.

Business Software Alliance (BSA) has been creating information on software piracy and assisting the police in conducting raids on pirates around India. In Bombay, the Social Services Wing, the Indian Music Industry (IMI) and major producers like Reliance Entertainment, and distributors such as United Television have driven anti-piracy efforts with the film industry.

Apart from enforcement efforts, anti-piracy lobbies have been instrumental in creating literature and annual statistical publication to demonstrate losses caused by piracy. Consultancy firms such as KPMG, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Ernst & Young have published piracy estimates.

Piracy is not a problem that can be eradicated overnight. New amendments but more importantly educating the masses will play an important role in making a difference in the future.

SAMYUKTA MAHARASHTRA MOVEMENT

Formation of state: SAMYUKTA MAHARASHTRA ANDOLAN

The Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti (United Maharashtra Committee) was an organisation that spearheaded the demand, in the 1950s, for the creation of a separate Marathi-speaking state out of the (then bilingual) State of Bombay in western India, with the city of Bombay (now known as Mumbai) as its capital.

The organisation was founded on February 6, 1956, under the leadership of Keshavrao Jedhe in Pune. Prominent activists of Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti were Acharya Atre, Prabodhankar Thackeray, Senapati Bapat and Shahir Amar Shaikh.

The Indian National Congress had pledged to linguistic states prior to Independence. In 1956, the SRC (States Re-organisation Committee) under pressure from Nehru/Patel recommended creation of linguistic states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, but recommended a bi-lingual state for Maharashtra-Gujarat, with Bombay (Mumbai) as its capital. To add insult to injury (for Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti), they recommended creation of Vidharba state to unite the Marathi speaking people of former Hyderabad state with Holkar's Nagpur state. This led to the creation of Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti which was previously called Samyuka Maharashtra Parishad. Its inauguration on November 1, 1956, caused a great political stir and, under the leadership of Keshavrao Jedhe, an all-party meeting was held in Pune and Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti was founded on February 6, 1956.

The Marathi press, along with a long standing tradition for standing up against social and political oppression, was an active supporter of the movement. The prominent litterateur Acharya Atre, founder of Maratha and Navayug was a major proponent, as were others in the press corps, notably Prabodhankar Thackeray, S.A. Dange, founder of the Socialist, and Shahir Shaikh. The Samyukta Maharashtra Andolan was thus sustained by activists of varied ideological persuasion.

S.M. Joshi, S.A. Dange, N.G. Gore and P.K. Atre fought relentlessly for Samyukta Maharashtra, even at the cost of sacrificing the lives of several people and finally succeeded in convincing Congress leaders that Maharashtra should form a separate state.

In January 1956, demonstrators were fired upon by the police at Flora Fountain in the capital city of Mumbai. Flora Fountain was subsequently renamed Hutatma Chowk or "Martyr's Crossroads" in their memory. Morarji Desai, who was the then chief minister of Bombay state was later removed and replaced by Y.B. Chawan as a result of criticism related to this incident.

The Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti achieved its goal on May 1, 1960 when the State of Bombay was partitioned into the Marathi-speaking State of Maharashtra and the Gujarati-speaking State of Gujarat.

GLASNOST AND PERESTROIKA

Glasnost: Glasnost means intellectual openness. Gorbachev adopted the policy of Glasnost to relax the restrictive policies that prevented freedom of speech and dissemination (spread) of ideas. It allowed public debate and political issues and therefore encouraged criticism of Soviet policies and society.The aim of the policy was to create an internal debate among Soviet citizens, and to encourage a positive attitude and enthusiasm for the reform of the Soviet Union. The media was allowed greater freedom to express opinions that would have been condemned previously.Failures of Soviet government were allowed to be revealed, such as the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl. This was soon seen in areas such as human rights and cultural affairs. Several political prisoners were released.

In matters of culture and the media in general, there were some startling developments. in May 1986, both the Union of Soviet Film-Makers and the Union of Writers were allowed to sack their reactionary heads and elect more independent minded leaders. Long-banned anti-Stalin films and novels were shown and published.

There was new freedom in news reporting. in April 1986, for example, when a nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in Ukraine exploded, killing hundreds of people and releasing a massive radioactive cloud, which drifted over most of Europe, the disaster was discussed with unprecedented frankness. The aim of this new approach was to use media to publicize the inefficiency and corruption, which the government was so anxious to stamp out; educate public opinion and mobilize support for the new policies. Glasnost was encouraged provided nobody criticised the party itself. However, the policy developed a momentum of its own as people became more confident in speaking out while the failings of Soviet society became apparent and the economic reform programme failed.

Perestroika: Perestroika means 'restructuring'. It was the term used by Gorbachev for economic reform in the Soviet Union in the late 1980's. It was intended to be a systematized programme and concrete strategy for the country's further development. The programme reached into all areas of the Soviet system: science and technology, economy and changes in investment policy. The aim was to base the system on local autonomy and self-management. Small scale private enterprise such as family businesses were encouraged. Workers cooperatives were set up with a maximum of fifty workers.This helped provide competition to the slow and inefficient services provided by the state. There was also a need to reduce alcoholism and absenteeism among the workforce. The Law on State Enterprises was enacted.

Uses and Gratification

By the nineteen fifties and sixties, communication researchers began to fine tune their theories and research methods. These thinkers turned their attention to how audiences used the media to live out their fantasy lives and to seek out other gratifications, or even to inform and educate themselves about the world and its people.

Uses and Gratification Theory emerged in the 1970's as a reaction to traditional Mass Communication Research.

Most theories discuss how media had an impact on people. This theory explains how people use media for their need and gratification.

According to this theory, Media is used for

1. Diversion - Escape from everyday problems and routines.

2. Personal Relationship - Emotional other interaction e.g. substituting soap operas for family life

3. Personal Identity - Find yourself reflected in texts, learning behavior and values

4. Surveillance - Information could be useful for living - weather reports, financial news, etc.

Therefore, users play an active part in the communication process and are goal oriented in their media use.

Users seek out a media source that best fulfills their needs.

Thus Uses and Gratification has a humanistic approach.

Media consumers have free will to decide how they will use media and how it will affect them.

Three Objectives

1. To explain how individuals use mass communication to gratify their needs.

2. To discover underlying motives for individuals media use

3. To identify positive and negative consequences of individual media use.

Five Basic Assumptions:

1. "The audience is conceived as active" - Viewers are goal oriented and attempt to achieve their goal through the media source.

2. "In the mass communication process much initiative in linking needs, gratification and media choice lies with the audience member" - Viewers use media to their advantage rather than media uses viewers. The receiver decides what is to be absorbed and does not allow media to influence him.

3. "The media competes with other sources of need satisfaction" - Each individual has several needs and a wide range of choices to fulfill these needs. Strongest rival to media based sources include face to face communication as this helps individual cope with circumstances surrounding them most effectively. Thus, Mass media must compete with non media related sources and help create a need for itself as well as a proper balance between the two.

4. "Many of the goals media use can be derived from data supplied by individual audience members themselves" - Individuals are aware of their motives and choices and are able to explain them verbally if necessary.

5. "Value judgments about cultural significance of mass communication should be suspended while audience operations are explored on their own terms" - Individuals decide which media to view. Thus, Individuals place value on the media by their individual decision to view it.

These assumptions provide a framework for understanding the corelation between media and the viewers. It also provides a distinction between how the audience is more or less active and the consequences of their involvement in the media as a whole.

A medium will be used more when the existing motives to use the medium leads to more satisfaction.

This is the most widely used theoretical concept in communication research.


Additional Information
Thus media 'effects' were related to the needs and activities of audiences. The theory was largely concerned with the selection, reception and nature of response of audiences to the media, the assumption being that individual members in an audience made conscious and motivated selection of channels and programmes.

According to the studies done by researchers, it was found that daily soap operas (esp in the noon slots) were patronized by women who found role models in the leading female characters (ideal mothers, daughters and daughters-in-law). This brought about a catharsis of emotions in female viewers as this provided them moments of joy and tears.

On conducting research on newspapers, it was found that newspapers were not only a source of information but also shaped the daily routine of the individual. It gave the individual a sense of belonging that he was not the only individual reading the newspaper but many others shared this activity. This gave him a sense of belonging to a larger audience.

The thinkers felt that the reasons for use of this media was mainly social interaction, entertainment, understanding the environment around them and developing an identity along with shared decision making. Thus by reading sports pages or reading about their favorite personalities, individuals found social companionship. Thus it was a means to escape the hardships and realities of life.

Uses and gratification applies this principle of diversion to media content and explains that these media transport the audience into a romantic world where they can escape painful realities of life. For e.g., Watching a movie or a television program transports the individual to the story thus enabling the individual to temporarily forget his problems and experience the fantasy world portrayed in the movie or television program.

Agenda-setting

News plays an important role in shaping political reality. The amount of time spent on an issue and information relayed in the news story along with story’s position determine how much a reader learns.

Mass communication creates mass culture.

Agenda setting is the ability of media to determine through a cognitive process called ‘accessibility’, which is the process of retrieving an issue in the memory. Agenda setting is also influenced by a person’s perception to certain beliefs. For e.g. If a person is highly sensitive to cultural issues, then cultural news is most important.

Agenda setting happens after gatekeeping where the news is edited before it reaches the audiences.

In 1998 Mc Combs gave the concept of ‘Framing’ which simply means, media can not only direct people on what to thing about but can also shape how to think about an issue.

2 basic assumptions to be considered under Agenda Setting

1.       Media and the press filter and shape reality rather than reflect it.

2.       When media focuses on just a few issues and subjects, the public tends to perceive those issues as important.

Positive aspects of Agenda Setting Theory

-          Explanatory power as it explains why people prioritize certain issues

-          Predictive power as it predicts priorities of media audience according to news media content

-          Economical theory that is easy to understand

-          Theoretical assumptions are balanced and unbiased

-          Theory provides new areas for further research

-          Theory has organizing power because it helps to organize existing knowledge of media effects on society.

Types of Agenda Setting

-          Public Agenda Setting where the public is the dependent variable

-          Media Agenda Setting where media is the dependent variable

-          Policy Agenda Setting where policy makers agenda is the dependent variable.

Criticism of Agenda Setting Theory

-          Agenda setting of any media or news article is difficult

-          Surveys and studies are very subjective and not very accurate as there are too many variables to consider

-          With the emergence of new media, people have varied options from which to read about the same story from different angles

-          Today media uses two way communication unlike when this theory was developed

-          Agenda setting has benefits as media influences public and public influences policy

-          People might not look at the details and may miss some important points resulting in misunderstanding.

-          Media effect does not work on people who have a set mindset.

-          Media is not able to create information but is able to change the priority of information to public mindset

Additional Information:

The term 'agenda-setting' was coined by McCombs and Shaw to describe a phenomenon which had long been noticed and studied in the context of election campaigns.

The core idea is that news media indicate to the public what the main issues of the day are and this is reflected in what the public perceives as the main issues.

The agenda-setting hypothesis:
- Public debate is represented by a set of salient issues (an agenda for action)

- The agenda originates from public opinion and the proposals of political elite

- Competing interests seek to promote the salience of 'their' issues.

- Mass Media news selects issues for more or less attention according to several pressures, especially those from interested elite, public opinion and real-world events.

- The outcome in media (relative degree of prominence of issues) both gives public recognition to the current agenda and has further effects on opinion and the evaluation of the political scene.

- Agenda effects are peripheral and short term.

Agenda-setting has attracted Mass communication researchers because it seems to offer an alternative to the search for directional media effects on individual attitudes and behavior change.

Thus, Agenda-setting is the process of media influence (intended or unintended) by which the relative importance of news events, issues or personages in the public mind are affected by the order of presentation in news reports. It is Assumed that the more the media attention given to a topic, the greater is the importance attributed to it by the news audience. The media influence is not on the direction of opinion but only on what people think about. The concept has been mainly applied to political communication and election campaigns especially. Despite the near certainty that the process does occur as hypothesized, it is not easy to prove, because media take their priorities from public opinion as well as from politicians.

Ref: The above has been taken from Mc Quail's Mass Communication Theory.

Two-Step Flow Theory

The Two-Step Flow Theory was given by Paul Lazarsfeld.

According to the Two-Step Flow Theory, media does not directly affect people as there is no direct contact between them. Thus media effect is actually mediated by a third party which passes it on to the audience.

Lazarsfeld argued that human beings belong to two categories: Opinion leaders and Opinion followers. Opinion leaders are those who receive the media content first and interpret it in keeping with their beliefs and value systems. Then the recreated product is passed on to opinion followers (people who are not in direct contact with the media).

This theory states that content flow takes place in two steps. 
In the first step the media message reaches the opinion leaders. 
In the second step the media messages are passed on to the public. Thus we see that information comes first to the opinion leaders who then convey the subject to the common man. For instance, a large number of news stories reach news bureaus and newsrooms through their staff who are placed worldwide. However not every news item that is received is relayed or printed. The news editor decides what news is important and what needs to be published and it is this information that reaches the opinion followers.

This theory has been discredited by modern thinkers as the advent of 24 X 7 Television Channels have resulted in most people getting first-hand account of events, news etc. Now a days, TV audiences watch events at the same time as the mediators and thus are able to make their own judgments even before the opinion leaders.

An example of the Two Step Flow Theory and its influence today: 
Bloggers and Influencers play the role of Opinion Leaders convincing the audience to purchase/try products. This the influence of these bloggers and influencers on the minds of the target audience increases sales as the audience is convinced and makes the purchase.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND UPRISINGS

ARAB SPRING

Arab Spring refers to the democratic uprisings that arose independently and spread across the Arab world in 2011. The movement originated in Tunisia in December 2010 and quickly took hold in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

Arab Spring was a unique revolution where the revolutionaries utilized social media to inform the mass and promote revolutionary agenda. Thus, for the first time in the history of the twentieth and early twenty first centuries, social media was used to coordinate a revolution and gain people support.

Social media and YouTube were used to send real-time footage of conflicts that were taking place. Amateur clips of innocent civilians being gunned down by troops, and rebels seeking justice, forwarded to cell phones, emails and posted on Facebook reached the world audiences thus exposing the ruling regime as oppressive and inhuman. While the ruler could control traditional media, the rebels used social media, thus portraying the regime in negative light. Rapid dissemination of news through widespread messaging affected public opinion and thus gained international support.

To read more about the Arab Spring click here

TAHRIR SQUARE

Tahrir Square popularly known as ‘Martyr Square’ is a major public town square in Downtown Cairo Egypt. The high levels of protest led to the resignation of President Mubarak in 2011.

The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 also known as the January 25 Revolution began on 25^th January 2011. There were demonstrations, riots, nonviolent civilian resistance, strikes etc. millions of protesters from all walks of life demanded the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. This was because of various legal and political issues, like lack of free elections, control on freedom of speech, corruption, high rate of inflation, rise in unemployment and no increase in existing salaries. There was high level of production and dissemination of multimedia content in Egypt making it difficult to control information about protests. Protests began in Cairo and spread throughout the country.

Egypt’s Central Security Forces Police (loyal to Mubarak) were replaced by military troops. On 11 February 2011 Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak would resign as president. On 24^th May Mubarak was ordered to stand trial on charges of premeditated murder of peaceful protesters. On 2^nd June 2012, Mubarak was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, but the sentence was overturned on appeal and retrial ordered. Finally on 24^th June the State Election Commission stated that Islamist Mohamed Morsi had won the elections and he was appointed as president. On 3^rd July 2013, Morsi was deposed by a coup d’état led by General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on account of opposition protests on 30^th June.

  

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA (IN THESE UPRISINGS)

 For the first time in the history of the world social media played a vital role in bringing together masses to fight a revolution and in some cases overthrow the ruler. Social media affected public opinion and thus gained international support.

Social media gave individuals the power to not only disseminate information and news across the globe but also helped them gain the support of the masses and united the masses to fight for change. This was never seen or imagined previously.

Amateur video clips shot on cell phones and forwarded via social media like facebook, twitter, you tube, blackberry messenger, blogs etc. caused worldwide stir. Some rulers even tried to ban social media in their territories in order to curb the revolution. Internet services were disrupted for five days in Cairo to stymie the protesters. This was also considered a breech on freedom of speech and expression.

Thus social media has helped to facilitate information that can be used as a weapon to spread propaganda .Thus a new age of revolution through social media, phenomena never seen before, arose. Regimes, revolutionaries and counter revolutionaries now have in their hands a means of meeting their agendas through social media. Social media has thus provided the individual access to the world and has provided the world access to individuals!

MEDIA, POWER AND POLITICAL CULTURE

There are four factors of change that have affected media, power and political culture:

1.       The changing character of political publicity and news management: Contemporary television systems with added visual performance have made television a ‘theatre of political performance’. It is not only a ‘theatre of voices’ but also one of faces, bodies and actions.  Politicians and their aides work to get their actions and  their views into the news frame in the most positive possible way and try to limit the impact of opposing views or the damage that follows from reporting of ‘bad events’ that reflect negatively upon their policies and decisions. Television has become a crucial space within which aspects of the political contest become visible and heard by the general public.

2.       The changing profile and tone of political journalism within a changed media economy: Political mediation, including that through journalism, is reflecting some of the broader changes in the media industry, as it becomes more market-driven, competitive and linked to the provision of entertainment. As there is increased emphasis on political personality, there is also increased scope for stories of scandal and flow of political gossip. Combinations of traditional ‘hard’ and new ‘soft’ stories and the extensive use of Internet-based sources, together with email linkage, greatly increases the number of informal routes through which a story can develop. Thus, the relationship between publicity and journalism is an interactive one involving uncertainty and struggle in contributing to relative power, benefit and concession.

3.       Shifts in the nature of ‘citizenship’, in the way that people relate to their rights and obligations within the political system and use the media in this relation: Due to economic development and shifts in social structure and popular culture, the relationship of ordinary people to the official political process has changed in many democratic countries. The increasing emphasis on consumer identity, purchase of goods and services, are significant. The ‘citizen’ role and the ‘consumer’ role have been brought into new kinds of alignment or convergence due to changes in the economic character of everyday life. This has led to a stronger emphasis on ‘consumer identity’.

4.       The consequences of new communications technology: New media technology like television, with its multi-channel system, the internet, etc, play a vital role in the propagation of politics. e.g. Today bloggers have wider independent use of information and commentary to their story building. The broad idea of ‘political culture’ is a useful one for relating different elements in the complex politics-media-people pattern. It gives emphasis to questions of value and meaning and to the baselines of popular experience that the activities of politics and of the media help form and from which they also take their cues and fashion their appeals.

Ref: Media, Power and Political Culture – John Corner in Media Studies – Eoin Devereux,  Sage Publication, 2007.

PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE & TREATY OF VERSAILLES

PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE

The First World War came to an end with the Paris Peace Conference (1919). The representatives of almost all the countries of Europe met at Paris to draw up the peace treaty, but in reality, everything was monopolized by the representatives of the four powers, England, France, Italy and America. President Wilson of America, Prime Minister Clemenceau of France, Lloyd George, Prime Minister of England and Orlando of Italy were the big four of the Peace Conference.

The Paris Peace Conference was made up of five treaties. These were:

The treaty of Versailles – between the Allies and Germany.

The treaty of St.Germaine – between the Allies and Austria.

The treaty of Trianon – between the Allies and Hungary.

The treaty of Neuilly – between the Allies and Bulgaria.

The treaty of Sevres – between the Allies and Turks.

TREATY OF VERSAILLES

The treaty of Versailles is the longest on record. It was signed by Germany on the 28^th of June 1919, in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. The terms of the treaty were dictated. The German delegation was not allowed to discuss it with the allies. They were simply called to receive it and sign it. The chief provisions of the treaty were as follows:

-        Germany was subjected to a huge war reparation of 300 crore dollars.

-        Germany lost the territories of Alsace and Lorraine to France

-        A lot of territories were taken away from her

-        Germany lost all her colonies. These were distributed among the allies

-        The main aim of the allies was to destroy the military strength of the Germans so the German army was to be reduced to 1-lakh men and officers.

-        The number of guns and battleships were reduced and no submarines to be built

-        The German navy was destroyed

-        German industries were destroyed

-        Germany was charged with war guilt

-        As a guarantee to the fulfillment of the treaty, the Allies were to occupy the left bank of Rhine for a period of fifteen years.

CRITICISM OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES

-        The terms of the treaty of Versailles were very severe.

-        There was no representative from the defeated nations. So there were no negotiations.

-        The treaty of Versailles humiliated the Germans. As this treaty was forced on her she started nursing a feeling of revenge, which later leads to the rise of Nazism.

-        The treaty sowed the seeds of the Second World War.

MEDIA & DIASPORA

A diaspora (comes from the Greek word ‘diaspeirein’ which means ‘scattering of seeds’) is a scattered population with a common origin in a smaller geographic area. Diasporas are viewed as comprising members of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious groups who reside in a number of countries to which they or their ancestors migrated. The identities of these groups are formed over time by complex historical, social, and cultural relationships within the group and with other groups. It is characterized by practice of ancestral customs, language, religious practices and marriage patterns and ease of communication between various parts of the dispersed community.

Communities scattered around the world establish contact with each other and the homeland. Various modes of communication such as postal services, telephone, radio, email, internet, film, television etc have been used over time by diasporic members to keep in touch.

Ethnic Media – While some migrants lost touch with their homeland others almost completely assimilated into larger societies into which they settled. With the development of communication technology, even members of earlier generations who had lost touch with their diasporas now revived relations with the help of new media. Thus they maintained aspects of their ancestral customs and traditions, forms of music and art and at the same time began to integrate into their new settlements.

Newspapers are the most common form of ethnic media with large variations in the form, quality and frequency. Some have well established dailies that compete with mainstream papers; these print media usually have full-scale production facilities and strong advertising revenues.  A good example of this is Diasporic Chinese newspapers such as Ming Pao, Sing Tao and The World Journal. There are estimated to be 55 million ‘overseas Chinese’ living outside China and they are well served in Chinese languages by a variety of media, such as, newspapers, radio, television, film, music and the internet.

Satellite television provides remarkable opportunities for diasporic communities. Al Jazeera has in recent years turned out to be a popular transnational Arabic-language broadcaster. The commercial success of ‘Bollywood’ (Mumbai’s Film Industry) has become known for annually producing the largest number of films in the world. It has responded by including storylines and characters that reflect Indian diaspora. Strong diasporic subscriber bases exist for competing channels such as Zee, Sony, Star Plus and B4U, all of which carry material from ‘Bollywood’. Cable and satellite television providers around the world have realized the viability of ethnic channels and are making them an integral part of their services.

Internet based media suits the needs of diasporic communities the best. Apart from the increasing numbers of linguistic fonts that can be accommodated through developments in software, the structures of electronic systems are able to support ongoing communication in the widely-separated transnational groups. The contents of diasporic electronic communications largely consist of cultural heritage, genealogical, religious, and institutional information.

Thus we can say that print media, satellite television and the internet have provided unique opportunities for inter-continental communities to develop worldwide communication networks. Diasporic connections have become integral to the networks of transnational trade and thus become an intrinsic feature of contemporary international relations and key participants in the contemporary unfolding of modernity.

Reference: Media and Diaspora by Karim H. Karim in Media Studies by Eoin Devereux, Sage Publications Ltd,