ABSTRACT
The media, sometimes defined as a ‘fourth estate’, has become an integral part of how ‘big capital’ effects takeovers. In this chapter, Sudhir Pattnaik, editor of Samadrusti magazine in Bhubaneswar, outlines the pattern of pro-corporate interpretations propagated by the mainstream media, which tend to sideline Adivasi movements and voices, or depict them falsely as ‘Maoist’, even when movements have taken care to avoid any collusion with the extremists. Aggressive media slants on events in Adivasi regions facilitate the entry of private capital into resource-rich regions, further marginalising Adivasi rights and viewpoints. The dichotomy between rights offered and rights realised by Adivasis is, according to Pattnaik, widening at an unprecedented rate. The role of the media, and of journalists who take risks to bring out Adivasi perspectives, is therefore crucial. While exploring various examples to identify media as an agent of the big capital, Sudhir Pattnaik suggests that the role of non-corporate media should keep hope alive for the rights of Adivasis to minimise their exclusion in the process of globalisation.
