Introduction to KashmirForum.org Blog

I launched the website and the Blog after having spoken to government officials, political analysts and security experts specializing in South Asian affairs from three continents. The feedback was uniformly consistent. The bottom line is that when Kashmiris are suffering and the world has its own set of priorities, we need to find ways to help each other. We must be realistic, go beyond polemics and demagoguery, and propose innovative ideas that will bring peace, justice and prosperity in all of Jammu and Kashmir.

The author had two reasons to create this blog. First, it was to address the question that was being asked repeatedly, especially, by journalists and other observers in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, inquiring whether the Kashmiri society was concerned about social, cultural and environmental challenges in the valley given that only political upheaval and violence were reported or highlighted by media.

Second, the author has covered the entire spectrum of societal issues and challenges facing Kashmiri people over an 8-year period with the exception of politics given that politics gets all the exposure at the expense of REAL CHALLENGES that will likely result in irreversible degradation in the quality of life and the standard of living for future generations of Kashmiris to come.

The author stopped adding additional material to the Blog once it was felt that most, if not all, concerns, challenges and issues facing the Kashmiri society are cataloged in the Blog. There are over 1900 entries in the Blog and most commentaries include short biographical sketches of authors to bring readers close to the essence of Kashmir. Unfortunately, the 8-year assessment also indicates that neither Kashmiri civil society, nor intellectuals or political leadership have any inclination or enthusiasm in pursuing issues that do not coincide with their vested political agendas. What it means for the future of Kashmiri children and their children is unfathomable. But the evidence is all laid out.

This Blog is a reality check on Kashmir. It is a historical record of how Kashmir lost its way.

Vijay Sazawal, Ph.D.
www.kashmirforum.org

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Power of Media

Peerzada discusses how far media infringes on daily lives

(Mr. Peerzada Aarif, 22, was born in Kalantara, Baramulla. He passed his 8th grade from the J & K Sainik School, Manasbal, and passed the 10+2 examination from the Government Higher Secondary School, Kachwamuqam, Baramulla. He completed my Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication & Video Production from the Degree College, Baramulla in 2010. In the same year he was ppointed as a teacher in the J&K School Education Department. Presently he is enrolled in the my B.Ed program of the University of Kashmir.)


Media and the Contemporary Society

In the last 50 years the media influence has grown exponentially with
the advance of technology,first there was the telegraph, then the
radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the internet.
We live in a society that depends on information and communication to
keep moving in the right direction and do our daily activities like
work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationships,
traveling and anything else that we have to do.

A common person in the city usually wakes up checks the tv news or
newspaper, goes to work, makes a few phone calls, eats with their
family when possible and makes his decisions basedon the information
that he has either from their co workers, news, tv, friends, family,
financial reports, etc.

What we need to be aware is that most of our decisions, beliefs and
values are based on what we know for a fact, our assumptions and our
own experience. In our work we usually know whatwe have to do based
on our experience and studies, however on our daily lives we rely on
the media to get the current news and facts about what is important
and what we should be aware of.

We have put our trust on the media as an authority to give us news,
entertainment and education. However, the influence of mass media on
our kids, teenagers and society is so big that we should know how it
really works.

Focusing on a particular media of your choice (eg. film, radio etc OR
a particular series or program etc) critically consider how this unit
of study has contributed to your sociological understanding of media
in contemporary society.

Media in our contemporary society affects the way we view the world.
No matter which way you look at it, everybody has been exposed and
influenced by media in some shape or form. Media's influence on
society is so great that it clearly has the ability to mould our world
through its distribution of information. In particular the print media
which completely changed the way society operated when it came into
existence with the invention of the printing press,and still to
today, it has such a great influence on the way the western world in
particular forms views on society. Through delving into many areas
regarding media in contemporary society and exposing different views
on the way it influences our social world, one can obtain a much
larger sociological understanding of the way the print media has
contributed to the construction of the world that we know today.

As technology increasingly becomes more and more involved through
media in the way society operates one tends to forget about many of
the established forms of the media. Yet the print media is still the
most influential type around and through an analysis of it many
different ideas are raised. When looking at the media through a
structurlists view, the whole notion of power becomes quite apparent.
Structalists believe that the print media has becomemore and more
controlled by a few powerful media tycoons.This in turn sees power
being placed in the hands of a few and allows them tocontrol what we
read and see. For example, In Australia, in 1923, there were 26
metropolitan daily newspapers, owned by 21 companies. By 1993, there
were 8 metropolitan daily newspapers owned by 3 companies. With this,
Rupret Murdoch's, News Corp controls 67% of all metropolitan newspaper
sales in Australia and combine that with Fairfax, then those two
companies alone own 98% of Australia's newspaper sales.The power given
to a select few in the print media in turn creates this notion which
Chomsky exposes, that media in contemporary society has a set function
in order to serve the interests of big business and this comes at the
expense of the general interest of society.The waythe print media
discourses its information is in a way that misinforms the majority of
the consumers so as it can privilege the select few media.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Grt done mr. Perzada arif
keep it up!