This volume investigates mediated lives and media narratives during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Asia as a focus point. It shows how the pandemic has created an unprecedented situation in this globalized world marked by many disruptions in the social, economic, political and cultural lives of individuals and communities - creating a 'new normal'. It explores the different media vocabularies of fear, panic, social distancing, and contagion from across Asian nations. It focuses on the role media played as most nations faced lockdowns and unique challenges during this crisis. From healthcare workers to sex workers, from racism to nationalism, from the plight of migrant workers in news reporting to state propaganda, this book brings critical questions confronting media professionals into focus. The volume will be of critical interest to scholars and researchers of media and communication studies, politics, especially political communication, social and public policy, and Asian studies.

This volume investigates mediated lives and media narratives during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Asia as a focus point. It shows how the pandemic has created an unprecedented situation in this globalized world marked by many disruptions in the social, economic, political and cultural lives of individuals and communities — creating a ‘new normal’. It explores the different media vocabularies of fear, panic, social distancing, and contagion from across Asian nations. It focuses on the role media played as most nations faced lockdowns and unique challenges during this crisis. From healthcare workers to sex workers, from racism to nationalism, from the plight of migrant workers in news reporting to state propaganda, this book brings critical questions confronting media professionals into focus. The volume will be of critical interest to scholars and researchers of media and communication studies, politics, especially political communication, social and public policy, and Asian studies.

International Satellite Broadcasting in South Asia focuses on the increase in the popularity of television in India beginning with the entrance of Hong Kong Based STAR-TV in 1991. This television system, which initially carried mostly Western programs, radically changed the nature of entertainment communications in countries where communications were generally state-controlled. These essays address the political, economic, and cultural significance and impact of transnational satellite networks in India, questioning the cultural effects of Western media programs on the recipient non-Western countries. They contain a survey of STAR-TV and the state-controlled Doordarshan as well as explore issues such as media and identity, pro-social entertainment television and culture as a market force.