Indian Media, the WTO and the Neoliberal Agenda

Abstract

The media are an integral aspect of the society and their influence on our lives cannot be denied. Gradually, as the international media have become highly concentrated and integrated, this hold has increased manifold. The media have a unique position; not only are they hyper-commercial enterprises but they are also dispensers of information and carriers of corporate propaganda. This research paper argues that the media have exploited this unique status to support and assist the spread of global capitalism. They are the missionaries of capitalism in the 21st century. An important development in this regard has also been the formation of the World Trade Organization, a global organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. The combined power of a global media and international organizations like the WTO has had wide-reaching effects on the international economy, polity and civil society. As a study of contemporary media, among other things this paper discusses the political economy of the international media and media filters that shape the news content. Finally, through a qualitative media analysis of two Indian newspapers and an emphasis on the WTO, it examines where the Indian media stand vis-a-vis such discourses of globalization, capitalism and media monopoly.