Dalit in Print Media: Politics of Representation in The Rising Nepal and The Republica

Abstract

This research sheds light on the representation of Dalit in print media in Nepal. It focuses on the politics of representation of the government and private sectors during the course of giving space to the issues related to Dalit groups of people. Twenty newspaper articles from the English national dallies The Rising Nepal and The Republica that cover the duration from the January 2014 to March 2018 have been selected to analyze the politics of representation from the perspective of Subaltern Studies. Antonio Gramsci’s notion of ‘hegemony’ and Stuart Hall’s idea of ‘representation’ are the key concepts put into key consideration while analyzing the selected texts. The study also concentrates on the stereotypical concept regarding Dalit community that has been deeply rooted in Hindu society which has been changing gradually; but Media has been playing role to continue the traditional convention that suppress the real voices of the Subaltern subtly, that is Dalit groups of people in Nepalese context rather than playing role of deconstruct the hegemonic structures. It contributes to unveil how the state and private media represents Dalit issues in derogatory form in the print media as the role of The Rising Nepal seems to serve and become the manifesto of the government and The Republica is helping more to the elite power center while heading on the way to collect the capital. These print media thus fail to represent the liberation consciousness of the Dalits by not giving sufficient space to Dalit groups of people and their subtle issues even in the Republican period of new Nepal. The key concern of this research is on how the Dalits and their issues are being represented in mainstream media in Nepal and how representing them with stereotypes continues with reference to the two broad sheets in English, The Ring Nepal and The Republica.