India’s journey of development in post-independence phase is closely related to the role of media in taking the issues of marginalised sections or neglecting them. Media is considered one of the four pillars of democratic system and plays the important role of opinion making. It also keeps checks and balance on other fundamental institutions of democratic set up such as legislature, executive and judiciary. The critical theory tradition under Marcus and Adorno highlights the nature of media content and pointed towards the monotony of thoughts which media tend to generate. The marginal communities of India, especially have very scanty presence in the Indian media industry, they are more concentrated in the news collector segment and other logistics job in the media industry. They are not news creator in mainstream media. Their marginalised position in media affected the coverage and presentation of the issues of marginalised communities by mainstream media. The marginalised communities and discourses created the domain of alternative media to counter the mainstream and hegemonic discourse propagated by the elite class of a society. Different medium at different period have played the role of the alternative media to marginalised community of that period. The emergence of internet-based platforms in last three decades have opened new window of opportunities for marginalised communities to utilise this domain as alternative media. The Dalits in Indian public sphere in this digital age harnessing these opportunities through various endeavours with the objectives of social emancipation. This research paper strives to examines the various dimensions of new media entrepreneurships by Dalit journalists with socio-political objectives.

Dushbir Singh (Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of Culture & Media Studies, School of Social Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer)

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