DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2017.v05i12.011

Pages: 1829-1840

Indian mass media, in the modern age, was dominated by the prints; in postmodern era television became the prominent medium whereas in contemporary post-postmodern time social media is tightening severe grip on public opinion and agenda setting. Post-postmodernism or digimodernism, the terms got popularized around a decade ago, reflect the technological control over human mind where ‘the truth’ is ‘manufactured’ in a virtual space and disseminated to digitally connected society. Digitally constructed or manipulated ideas are able to distract the attention of middle class from the real issues of poverty, environmental hazards, and infrastructure development. Post-truth, the latest repercussion of Post-postmodernism is a new term; widely used to understand the contemporary socio-political situation, have an impact on the landscape of mass media, in India, too. The mainstream media, newspapers, radio and TV channels are facing grave challenges to retain their audiences and capability to influence the politics and culture. Social media have accelerated the falsification and distortion of facts, simultaneously, with advancement in techniques of image sharing, extensive feedbacks, and live videos. This paper will analyze the tussle between the mainstream and social media of contemporary India under the post-postmodern conditions and comment upon the media landscape emerging out of it.