With Camera in Hand: Citizen Journalism as Claim-Making in Rural India

• In Event: The Politics of Social Welfare in Electoral Democracies in the Global South

Abstract

Community media has been widely celebrated as a means to amplify citizen voices, and hence as channel through which to deepen local democracy. And yet its impact on local patterns of representation, participation, and government accountability remain unclear. This paper draws on accounts from India’s largest network of community journalists to explore the practice of video-making as form of claim-making practice. By filming entitlement violations and deficiencies in public services, resident journalists attempt both to mobilize other community members and to pressure public officials to solve local problems. Through a combination of in-depth interviews, process-tracing accounts, and survey data, I examine the strategies employed, and explore their consequences for local citizenship practice and the responsiveness of local officials. I find that citizen journalism can be both mobilizing and demobilizing in its effects on citizens and officials alike. The paper concludes by reflecting on the conditions under which community media is most likely to inspire citizen action and motivate bureaucratic responsiveness.

Author

• Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner, University of Virginia