Those who assume that “media activism” is a recent phenomenon forget the spirited role the Indian print media played in the freedom struggle. Remember that famous couplet by Akbar Allahabadi who lived through the 1857 War of Independence?
Na talwar nikalo;
Jab top mukabil ho,
To akhbar nikalo!
(Do not pull out the bowstring or the sword; when faced with the cannon ball, bring out a newspaper).
Media in colonial times
And that is what our freedom fighters did to spread the message against colonial rule beginning from the 1840s onwards itself. An impressive number of regular publications in almost every Indian language came out. Every region in India has its history of such heroic efforts. Usually, the owner editor was also the most prolific writer and often the vendor-distributor too, right until the late-19th century. Almost all of them suffered economic losses and imprisonment when their “offices” were raided, material and printing presses seized and they were fined heavily under the various laws like the Official Secrets Act, Incitement of Offences Act, and Vernacular Press Act etc. Given the low literacy rates, the number and range of these publications were truly remarkable and the target audience was the literate and the opinion makers who were expected to read out to the others.
Three catalytic trends
This is not the place to go into the old debate about the virtues (or not) of “objectivity” in mainstream journalism. Suffice to say that two trends (in India these number three) got together to give rise to the media activism that has become familiar worldwide since 2011. One, mainstream media (more so in India) began becoming more and more selective in its coverage, often leaving out events and happenings that were detrimental to the financial interests of its owners. Two, with the popularity of television news channels and later digital technology, the print media had to become more attractive with more visually content, eye catching headlines and “simple” language. It was argued that readers were impatient with long, thought provoking articles, wanted easily digestible news items (as short as possible) and racy infotainment. Three, the mind boggling spread of instantly accessible social media knocked the mainstream media, including television, off its pedestal.
These three trends led to a number of effects. More and more, people’s protests and actions which affected vested interests found little space in the mainstream media and the “alternative” media—but still traditional like the print media—became the only other outlet for such news. So you had non-governmental organisations (NGOs) bringing out publications which took up various causes: the rights of tribals, the disabled, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (lgbt) sexual minorities, issues of privatisation of medical services and so on. Soon, these NGOs went a step further and began training the poor including tribals, women and lower castes, to effectively use community radio, the video camera and also bring out publications. Readers interested in this phenomenon must look up the example of Khabar Lehriya published in Bundeli and Avhadi by 40 rural women journalists. In the south of the country too, there are a large number of examples given the higher literacy rates among all sections of society.
Soon, citizen journalism became popular and the NGO CGnet Swara with its extremely innovative and creative campaigns comes to mind immediately. There is also merinews.com, one of the largest citizen journalism media platform. While these two have been mentioned, there are many others which are doing a commendable job though within the journalistic community the debate still rages about the “authenticity” of citizen journalism.
International reach
Media activism, as we speak of it now, almost always brings to mind the two most famous international examples: Occupy Wall Street movement and the Arab Spring movement. The former was initiated by anti-corporate globalisation activists to protest against the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle, US. They used digital technology generously and widely to mobilise protestors, build networks of members and sympathisers and even reach out to the mainstream media. Almost anyone could interactively use the online fora, post reports and videos and reach out to the farthest corners of the world. It was a huge breakthrough, not least because opinions which the mainstream media shied away from even mentioning could be liberally propagated. Similarly, the Arab Spring took the rest of the world by storm, catching the imagination of young people from every part of the world. In China, not even the tight governmental control over access to the Internet and its censorship, have succeeded fully in restraining Chinese netizens from reaching out. Similarly, in a host of other countries where authoritarian regimes of whatever political hues managed to repress dissent, digital technology is now playing a stellar role in letting the rest of the world in.
As of now, it is a totally familiar phenomenon to have websites and blogs advocating the rights of every conceivable group under the sun. What is more, there are courses offering to teach people how to use digital technology to advocate a cause or rights group that they are keen on. Social media like Facebook and Twitter have completely revolutionised perceptions and even long held practices. As readers would be well aware, the longest and most keenly fought polls that India just passed through in May were dominated by the use of social media. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been extensively quoted emphasising the significance and importance of the social media. Of course, the flip side of a “new” phenomenon is also the raging controversies and embarrassments and retractions that we are witness too when impulsive public personalities obsessively tweet their response to any and everything.
Many political and media observers are convinced that the responses to Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, the anti-rape or Nirbhaya protests and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would not have been what we witnessed, had it not been for the power of the social media (backed of course by content-hungry television channels).
It would not be an exaggeration to say that digital technology has had tremendous impact on the world as we knew it even 10 years ago. Completely new words have entered languages (memes comes to mind immediately though there are so many more), perceptions have altered and more significantly, so have expectations.
Dealing with the fallout
But there are apprehensions too. One is the very nature of the ‘net and social media that allows tremendous leeway to communicate and which can be and is being used dangerously. Take the latest violence in Pune (Maharashtra) over Facebook postings which were clearly mischievous in nature and the murder of an innocent young Muslim man that it all led to. The use of Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act to arrest or cow down people who post on Facebook and other social media has not been without controversy however as a number of events from the time the law came into force have shown.
Again, the very idea of “activism” has almost turned on its head. Traditionally, grassroots leadership and activism meant hard and long campaigning to mobilise people physically as well as ideologically. It meant actually moving among the sections of people you wanted to convince to your way of thinking. Critics now point out sarcastically that pressing the ‘like’ button is not enough, you have to get out there and do the hard work of meeting people, convincing them, knowing how to face criticism and debate your stances. All of which seem to be short circuited by social media.
Be that as it may the Internet and the social media are here to stay for better or for worse. As with every other modern phenomena to make it a good servant and not give it the power of an unbridled master, is entirely up to us.
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Lina Mathias
The writer is senior assistant editor, Economic and Political Weekly.[/column]