A Partition of The Public Sphere
Violence, State Repression and the Press in India and Pakistan, 1947–1949
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12604522 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Aritra Majumdar (0000-0003-0364-9078, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 368-383 |
| Publication date | 2022-05-20 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Media History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1368-8804 • E-ISSN: 1469-9729 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13688804.2022.2079479 |
| OpenAlex | W4280580873 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 7 |
Historians of Partition have focused upon the bitterly polarized yet vibrant public sphere of the last days of the British Raj, wherein newspapers representing Congress, Muslim League and Akali opinion vied for influence through increasingly hostile propaganda targeted at the ‘other/s’. Such studies’ focus on ideological battles and propaganda results in relatively less attention being given to what became of these papers once the British departed and the parties these papers espoused or opposed captured power. This paper will seek to revisit such assumptions by analyzing the trials and tribulations of the significant newspaper houses unfortunate enough to be located on the geographical frontlines of Partition and in major centres of communal conflagration. Through such analyses, I will seek to show that it was a combination of initial mob action, reinforced often by state repression and even popular reproach, that forced newspapers viewed as belonging to the ‘other’ party to move to safer (and greener) pastures. In the process, late-colonial India’s once pluralist public sphere came to be partitioned into sections that broadly conformed to the ideologies that the respective Dominions’ new rulers espoused. While aligning newspapers with the majoritarian public opinion, this Partition occasioned shifts of personnel and presses that would fundamentally alter the postcolonial press industry in West and East Pakistan, and to a lesser extent, in India
Colonialism · Ideology · League · Media studies · Newspaper · Partition (number theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Public opinion · Public sphere · Sociology · State (computer science · History · Law · South Asian Cinema and Culture · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · South Asian Studies and Diaspora
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |