Institutions, Interventions, Transgressions: Glocal Media Policies and Praxis from South Asia

An IAMCR 2021 Side event
Sponsored by the Global Media Policy Working Group

July 10, 2021 --- 10h30 to 17h00 Indian Standard Time  (05h00 to 11h30 UTC)

This side event organised by the Global Media Policy Working Group presents a day-long engagement on media policies and practices from the South Asian region. The region itself has been under-studied in media policy research, and is underrepresented in studies on the interfacing of the global with the local. This side event seeks to not only contextualize recent work on media policies from the region within larger historical debates on media ownership and communication flows, but also seeks to open up possible conversations on research in global media policies from the South(s) and their amenability for comparative purposes.

Conveners:

• Dr. Preeti Raghunath, Co-Vice Chair, Global Media Policy Working Group
• Susan Koshy, PhD Candidate, Hong Kong Baptist University

Programme (all times are in Indian Standard Time | UTC +5:30)

OPENING SESSION – Introduction to the GMP Working Group (10.30 am to 10.45 am Indian Standard Time (IST))

SESSION 1: An Invitation to Understand Media Policies in South Asia (10.45 am to 11.15 am IST)

This (recorded) session will feature Dr. Paula Chakravartty (NYU, US) in a keynote dialogue.

SESSION 2: (Geo) Politics and Power in South Asia (11.15 am to 12.45 pm IST)

Chair: Dr. Claudia Padovani, Co-Chair, Global Media Policy Working Group

This session will uncover the different power structures that exist within the region both internally and across borders that are either reflected within media structures while also playing an important role determining these very structures.

• Anis Rahman (Bangladesh) --- South Asian Media in Flux: Power, Politics, and Policies
• Murali Shanmugavelan (South Asia) --- Casting Off Caste-Hate Speech: An Appraisal for Digital Media Policies
• Varun Ramdas (India)- An Analysis of State Media Policy from a Geo-political perspective

SESSION 3: Policy and Practice (1 pm to 3 pm IST)

Chaired by: Dr. Veronique Wavre, Co-Vice Chair, Global Media Policy Working Group

This session will carry forward the ideas set up in the previous session, with a focus on institutions, politics and the practice of policymaking. The session would feature four papers that would allow for rumination on this theme:

• Vibodh Parthasarathi (India) --- Institutions Constraints and Accordant Interests
• Harsha Man Maharjan (Nepal) --- "No Policy without Us": Dominant Stakeholders and Making of Media Policy Drafts in Nepal 
• Sachini Perera (Sri Lanka) --- South-based feminist visions for digital media policy
• Muhammad Shajjad Ahsan (Bangladesh) --- Selecting Technology for Digital Television Switchover in Bangladesh 

SESSION 4: Transgressions, Censorship and Surveillance (3.15 pm to 4.45 pm IST)

Chair: Dr. Arne Hintz, Co-Chair, Global Media Policy Working Group

This session will further deliberate on censorship and the surveillance state, in light of occurrences in South Asia. The session would pull together this line of thought as seen in three presentations:

• Azmat Rasul (Pakistan) --- “The politics of entertainment regulation: Evaluating the policy and regulatory role of government in Pakistan”
• Syed Irfan Ashraf, Azmat Khan (Pakistan-Afghanistan) --- Digital black-hole: Pakistan’s State undeclared Internet policy in the Pashtun periphery    
• Lisa Brooten (Myanmar) --- Populism, power plays and a pandemic: media policy and practice in Myanmar

CLOSING SESSION: Vote of Thanks; Overview of the WG’s conference sessions and Closing Note (4.45 pm to 5.00 pm IST)

REGISTRATION (open to first 100 participants to register)

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/up0lfumprD0jGtAoWK0w7Y7W3I_65bda3J4w

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.