Media activism and issues of development: a perspective through the lens of communication theories

Media activism has been playing a significant role to bring forth several keys issues such as sexual abuse, rape, female feticide, communal riots, etc. in the recent past. Media deserves a fair share of appreciation for mirroring societal, cultural and political issues to the forefront of our society from time to time. Perhaps, in the absence of proactive media such issues may not have come to the cognizance of the public. However, there are instances of media over emphasizing less important issues or extending more publicity to trivial issues or ignoring verification of facts. The proposed chapter will focus on selected case studies to identify, understand and explain the significance, applicability and effect of different communication theories in respect to media activism. The chapter includes relevant and authentic secondary information available in public domain such as newspaper and magazine articles, blogs, social media posts, etc. The qualitative analysis technique incorporates 16 cases of media activism for discussion and result. The cases –Save Tigers (1973), Assam Movement (1979-1985), Sikh Riots (1984), Kargil War (1999) , Jessica Lal Murder (1999),Gujarat Riots (2002), Greenathon (2008), Anti-Corruption Movement by Anna Hazare(2011), Nirbhaya Movement (2012), Loksabha Elections (2014), #Selfie with daughter (2015), #Metoocampaign (2018, in India), Anti CAA-Protest (2019), #RightToBreathe (2020) ,SSR Case (2020) and Farmers Protest (2020) are included for the study. The outcome of the study is expected to throw some lights to comprehend the media strategies and techniques applied and the effect of dissemination of information on the targeted audience from the perspective of communication theories. The result of study may help to identify and understand the extent of the effectiveness of media to nourish the society.