HEADLINES FROM THE HEARTLAND: Reinventing the Hindi Public Sphere

Headlines From the Heartland: Reinventing the Hindi Public Sphere is the first in-depth study of the ongoing newspaper revolution in the Hindi-speaking states of India. With improved literacy levels, communications and purchasing power, the circulation of Hindi newspapers has grown rapidly in small towns and rural areas. By focusing their content to serve a local readership, some multi-edition Hindi newspapers have risen to the top of the national readership charts. Against the backdrop of the relationship between press and society, author Sevanti Ninan describes the emergence of a local public sphere; reinvention of the public sphere by the new non-elite readership; the effect on politics, administration, and social activism; the consequences of making newspapers reader rather than editor-led; the democratization of the Hindi press with the advent of village-level citizen journalists; and the impact of caste and communalism on the Hindi press.

Based on over 150 interviews with journalists, readers, publishers, politicians, administrators, and activists, as well as expert content analysis, this book tells the ongoing story of the press in the Hindi heartland.

Praise for the book:

‘Sevanti Ninan’s remarkable book draws readers deep into the media revolution that is changing India… This is a book for everyone interested in modern India, and in how print and capitalism shape societies.‘ – Robin Jeffrey

‘This is a fascinating and richly textured study of the rise to influence and power of the Hindi press. Basing herself on a huge amount of original research, yet wearing her learning lightly, Sevanti Ninan deftly links the world of the journal (and journalist) to wider trends in politics and economics.‘ – Ramachandra Guha

‘Sevanti’s book braids together painstakingly gathered journalistic information with the history of post-Independence India.’- Mrinal Pande