What Makes Hindi Journalism Tick

I picked up Per Stahlberg’s book, or rather, his doctoral thesis, Writing Society through Media: Ethnography of a Hindi Daily with a lot of interest. A keen look into what makes Hindi journalism tick, especially seen through the lens of a journalist working in the Hindi heartland) is a fascinating topic. I used to work in a newspaper myself, have travelled in Uttar Pradesh, and been for a few media conferences with Hindi journalists from the state, and heard from them their opinions on the condition of journalism, the increasing trend of paid news and concerns over caste equations in the offices. From that point of departure, the book didn’t present new material to me personally, though I did enjoy revisiting media theory and some of Stahlberg’s observations about the nature of Indian journalism, and Indians in general.