ABSTRACT
Part 8 explores the relationship between media (newspapers), readers and the victims of witch accusations, and how reporting these incidents reflects changing political and legal landscapes. Indians are avid newspaper readers and a single copy is known to pass through many hands. Heralding the newspaper revolution, vernacular newspapers report local news, in local languages and informal styles of speaking. However, the increased ‘publics’ brought about by the newspaper revolutions does not automatically create a more enlightened or progressive citizenry. Above all, women’s issues, when the media turns its attention to such matters, are often made light of, inaccurate and/or embellished. Indeed, over time numbers or measurements have come to stand in for ‘facts’ around witch accusations, and accused women literally disappear from the text. Attention is given to the ways that readers do not merely consume witch accusations provided by the press, nor are readers easily influenced by the details. The effects of media are unpredictable, and three stories are charted to show they emerge with a life of their own.
