A new book looks at the complexities of media in India and China, the impact of mass media on society and politics, and how complex media systems interact with each other and affect international relations.
In "Media at Work in China and India: Discovering and Dissecting", its editors Robin Jeffrey and Ronojoy Sen are also of the view that the structure of India's media world is probably changing more rapidly and fundamentally than China's. In China, party control is unlikely to change radically, says the book, which has articles by 18 contributors and published by Sage India.
In India, however, the absence of a powerful government presence in media and the reality of corporations suggest a keen struggle to control the riches and the messages of the digital revolution, it says.
"The result is likely to be a loss of ownership diversity and a consolidation of Indian media, including telecommunications, in the hands of a few great corporations," it claims.
The book also says that even more than in China, the driving forces will be the audiences, advertising and profit.
The book seeks to understand the commercially driven structures of mass media in China and India, how practitioners go about their work, how mass media influences society and politics, and how these complex media systems interact with each other and affect international relations.
"Today, the significance of media in China and India is clear... Mass media in both countries play a pivotal role in domestic politics, and as part of that role, they may tell provocative nationalist stories," it says.
The editors say that the idea for the book grew out of workshops beginning in 2009 that brought together Chinese and Indian media analysts and practitioners.
"Anyone who visits India or China will puzzle over their vast media systems. Though they exercise immense influence, the world knows very little about the media landscape in the two countries," they say.
The book is organised in four parts. The four chapters in the first part "Structures" provide an overview of media institutions in the two countries.
In Part II "Reporters", four chapters zoom down to the level of individual journalists and what they do, both in their own countries and when they work as foreign correspondents.
The third part "Practices" discusses the way media organisations go about their work today and in the past. The final section "Dissections" contrasts disaster reporting in the two countries and compares aspects of burgeoning social media.
