Description
SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd Headlines From The Heartland: Reinventing The Hindi Public Sphere by Sevanti Ninan
In the 1990s, a newspaper revolution began blowing across northern and central India. When literacy levels rose, communications expanded, and purchasing power climbed in these Hindi-speaking states, newspapers followedpicking up readers in small towns and villages. Even while these newspapers surged to the top of national readership charts, they localised furiously in the race for readers. But in this universe of local news, questions arose about what localisation was doing to regional identity and consciousness.
Using notes from her pioneering field-study in eight states, Sevanti Ninan brilliantly brings alive Indias ongoing Hindi newspaper revolution, and its impact on politics, administration and society. Set against the socio-economic and political changes in the countryside, it is a remarkable story of how journalism flowered in unexpected and unorthodox ways, and colourful media marketing unfurled in the Hindi heartland.