Television Publics in South Asia: Mediated Politics and Culture
London; New York: Routledge (2023), xiii, 250 pp.
ISBN 978-1-000-96219-2 (pdf); 978-1-032-45597-6 (pbk)
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"Television has a prime role to play in the formation of discursive domains in the everyday life of South Asian publics. This book explores various television media practices, social processes, mediated political experiences and everyday cultural compositions from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. With the help of country-specific case studies, it captures a broad range of themes which foreground the publics and their real-life experiences of television in the region. The chapters in this book discuss gendered television spaces, women seeking solace from television in pandemic, the taboo in digital TV dramas, television viewership and localizing publics, changing viewership from television to OTT, news and public perception of death, redefining ‘the national’, theatrical television and post-truth television news, among other key issues." (Publisher description)
1 Introduction: Imagining South Asian Television Publics / S.M. Shameem Reza and Ratan Kumar Roy, 1
PART I: TELEVISION VIEWERSHIP AND LOCALIZING PUBLICS
2 Social Realms of Audiences: Women's Collective Viewing of Mega Teledramas in Sri Lanka / Shashini Gamage, 21
3 The Dramatic Escape From Pandemic Life: Everyday Experience of Watching Television During the Lockdowns / Rashmi Kumar, 38
4 Televised Sexuality and Public Perception: Voicing the Taboo in Pakistani TV Dramas / Wajiha Raza Rizvi and Maheen Imran, 51
5 Indian Television and the Rise of the Local: Televised Realities of Localized Sociocultural Experience / Raj Sony Jalarajan and Adith K. Suresh, 74
PART II: CONSUMPTION AND CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY
6 OTT-Based Digital Sociality: An Exploration of the Viewership Among Urban Youth in Bangladesh / Moiyen Zalal Chowdhury, 93
7 Television News and Public Perception of Death in India: Case of Covid-19 Pandemic / Deepu Pratheep, 111
8 Television Viewership and Engagement in Rural Kashmir: From Cathode Ray Tube to Smart TV / Syed Aadil Hussain and Ruheela Hassan, 123
9 Emergence of Television Publics in Nepal: Intense Participation of Audiences as News Sources, Critics and Fans / Harsha Man Maharjan, 137
PART III: MEDIATIZING POLITICS AND CONSTRUCTING PUBLICS
10 Live Public: Television and Mobilization in Post-Liberalization India / Abhijit Roy, 161
11 The Everyday Nation of Indian News Television / Maya Ranganathan, 178
12 Reproducing the Truth: Television News in Sri Lanka / Pradeep N' Weerasinghe, 195
13 From Public Turn to Publicness in Media: Notes on Media Public in India / Biswajit Das and Ridhi Kakkar, 220
PART I: TELEVISION VIEWERSHIP AND LOCALIZING PUBLICS
2 Social Realms of Audiences: Women's Collective Viewing of Mega Teledramas in Sri Lanka / Shashini Gamage, 21
3 The Dramatic Escape From Pandemic Life: Everyday Experience of Watching Television During the Lockdowns / Rashmi Kumar, 38
4 Televised Sexuality and Public Perception: Voicing the Taboo in Pakistani TV Dramas / Wajiha Raza Rizvi and Maheen Imran, 51
5 Indian Television and the Rise of the Local: Televised Realities of Localized Sociocultural Experience / Raj Sony Jalarajan and Adith K. Suresh, 74
PART II: CONSUMPTION AND CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY
6 OTT-Based Digital Sociality: An Exploration of the Viewership Among Urban Youth in Bangladesh / Moiyen Zalal Chowdhury, 93
7 Television News and Public Perception of Death in India: Case of Covid-19 Pandemic / Deepu Pratheep, 111
8 Television Viewership and Engagement in Rural Kashmir: From Cathode Ray Tube to Smart TV / Syed Aadil Hussain and Ruheela Hassan, 123
9 Emergence of Television Publics in Nepal: Intense Participation of Audiences as News Sources, Critics and Fans / Harsha Man Maharjan, 137
PART III: MEDIATIZING POLITICS AND CONSTRUCTING PUBLICS
10 Live Public: Television and Mobilization in Post-Liberalization India / Abhijit Roy, 161
11 The Everyday Nation of Indian News Television / Maya Ranganathan, 178
12 Reproducing the Truth: Television News in Sri Lanka / Pradeep N' Weerasinghe, 195
13 From Public Turn to Publicness in Media: Notes on Media Public in India / Biswajit Das and Ridhi Kakkar, 220
