India: Makings of Little Cultural/Media Imperialism?

Abstract

An efflorescence of the media in India during the 1990s, mainly in television, has revolutionized the South Asian mediascape. After the novelty of foreign channels wore off in the early 1990s, Indian channels consolidated their position, recorded the highest audience ratings and forced foreign channels to adopt local programming in a big way. The late 1990s added a new dimension with language-/region-specific channels displacing pan-Indian networks in localized markets, and also reaching out to the large diaspora across continents. Besides, Indian media products are increasingly being viewed in terms of cultural imperialism within South Asia along the same lines that western products were during the 1960s-70s. India's media strengths and vibrancy appear to pose some challenge to the trope of media imperialism. This article argues that the Indian media situation has the makings of `little cultural/media imperialism', and calls for a multi-centric perspective, as opposed to a linear West-centric perspective, to register the rapidity of changes in this age of globalization.