Television, Political Imagery, and Elections in India

Abstract

Since the independence movement in India, beginning in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the country’s political history has been closely linked with media, as this played an active role in mobilizing and unifying the masses against the British. Independent India believed in a democracy and subsequently held elections every five years to elect its quasi-federal government. Today, there are several active, dominant players at the regional or provincial level. That media and politics interlink is shown by the fact that every political party either owns or operates a television channel to propagate its ideology or eulogize its party leaders. Even those belonging to businesses have strong allegiances to a political party. With more than 800 channels operating in India, television has a far reach compared to any other medium of communication. This chapter focuses on the effectiveness of 24-hour news television channels to sway a majority of the electorate and create larger-than-life images of politicians, overpowering reality. Though charges of corruption and nepotism exist, politicians make innovative use of news channels and cultivate a specific picture, having the luxury of time and space on the channels to which they have access, and going on to win elections. This chapter explores the phenomenon of media influence in the context of India with case studies of national and regional/state leaders who utilized television to obfuscate their shortcomings and provide a theatrical experience to win over the electorate.