Cultural imperialism or vernacular modernity? Hindi newspapers in a globalizing India

Negotiating the transformation in the larger social, political and economic landscape, Hindi newspapers have reconfigured themselves and adapted their content by appropriating the language of modernity, once exclusively claimed by English-language newspapers. By using Western technology and adhering to indigenous cultural values and resources, Hindi newspapers are providing hybrid content to their readers in a hyper-competitive media environment. This has enabled them to present and sustain an alternative discourse in the public arena which is parallel to the elite discourse mediated through English-language news media. The study shows that local news-making practices and the people who produce them have an initiative, autonomy and presentation style - a 'vernacular modernity' - that undermines any crude theory of 'cultural imperialism'.