Caste groups control media access through business-linked advertising revenue
Evidence
The Untouchables have no Press. The Congress Press is closed to them and is determined not to give them the slightest publicity. They cannot have their own Press and for obvious reasons. No paper can survive without advertisement revenue. Advertisement revenue can come only from business and in India all business, both high and small, is attached to the Congress and will not favour any Non-Congress organisation. The staff of the Associated Press in India, which is the main news distributing agency in India, is entirely drawn from the Madras Brahmins—indeed the whole of the Press in India is in their hands—and they, for well-known reasons, are entirely pro-Congress and will not allow any news hostile to the Congress to get publicity. These are reasons beyond the control of the Untouchables. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 67
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- XREF: Ambedkar’s 1945 analysis of press exclusion anticipates modern arguments about media ownership and representation — connects to communications/media scholarship the reader may know.
Related
- Untouchables could not found newspapers because advertising and press distribution were Congress-Brahmin controlled. (similarity 0.92)
- Untouchables had no press access because Congress-aligned Brahmin journalists controlled media (similarity 0.85)
- Indian news press was Brahmin-controlled and barred Untouchable grievances (similarity 0.82)