Dr Prasun Sonwalkar

Programe Leader: MA Journalism
Research: The Journalism Policy and Practice Research Group

A journalist and academic, Prasun Sonwalkar is the Programme Leader for M.A.  Journalism and leads/contributes to journalism modules at the UG and PG levels.
 
His research interests include Global Journalism, Media in South Asia, Political Violence and Media, War and Media, Terrorism and Media, Media and the Asian Diaspora in Britain, Journalism Practice and Citizen Journalism. He supervises PhD students in these areas.

Prasun is a member of the editorial board of Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism (Sage), and referees articles for a range of journals, and funding proposals for ESRC.

As an international journalist, he penned more than 4,000 signed articles over 25 years, and worked at various levels mainly as a print journalist (UK Correspondent, Chief of Bureau, Special Correspondent, Chief Sub-Editor, Sports Editor, Senior Sub-Editor). He has a continuing commitment to journalism practice through regular contributions to Press Trust of India (PTI), South Asia’s largest news agency with an international subscriber base.

Prasun has reported South Asia and Europe extensively, including major political developments, insurgencies and conflicts, mainly for The Times of India, Business Standard, India Today, and the Indo-Asian News Service. These included the insurgencies and ethnic conflicts in north-east India, rise of pro-Hindu political forces, parliament, general elections, government departments, and British events/issues of interest to an Indian/Asian readership.

In 1994, he was Editor of India NewsNet – India’s first online newsletter produced by the Business India Group. He also contributed to several other international news organisations, including Doordarshan, STAR TV and All India Radio.

In 1999, as the Head of News at Zee News (India’s first 24-hour Hindi news channel), Prasun was responsible for all editorial content and management of the channel’s network of journalists across India, south Asia and Europe. He was also the Executive Producer of popular news and current affairs programmes on the channel.

Prasun was a Chevening Press Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, in 1995, and was awarded the Commonwealth Scholarship (1999-2002) for doctoral study at the Centre for Mass Communication Research, University of Leicester.

He contributes to the university’s international strategy in South Asia, including developing collaborative links with journalism institutions and professional organisations in India and other countries in South Asia.

Recent and forthcoming publications (academic):

Book:

• Nossek, H., Sreberny, A. & Sonwalkar, P. (eds) (2007) Media and Political Violence. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press; ISBN: 1-57273-729-8.

Book chapters:

• Sonwalkar, P. (2009) ‘Citizen Journalism in India: The Politics of Recognition’, in S. Allan & E. Thorsen (eds), Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives; 75-84. New York: Peter Lang.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2008) ‘Television in India: Growth Amidst A Regulatory Vacuum’, in D. Ward (ed.), Television and Public Policy: Change and Continuity in an Era of Global Liberalisation; 115-130. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum; ISBN: 0-8058-5645-5.
• Nossek, H., Sreberny, A. & Sonwalkar, P. (2007) ‘Introduction’, in H. Nossek, A. Sreberny & P. Sonwalkar (eds), Media and Political Violence; 1-22. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press; ISBN: 1-57273-729-8.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2007) ‘Disturbing the Banality of Journalism: Political Violence, Gujarat 2002, and the Indian News Media’, in H. Nossek, A. Sreberny & P. Sonwalkar (eds), Media and Political Violence; 247-268. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press; ISBN: 1-57273-729-8.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2006) ‘Cultural Hegemony as Journalism Practice: The Indian Experience’, in H. Xiaoming & S.K. Datta-Ray (eds), Issues and Challenges in Asian Journalism; 93-113. London & Singapore: Marshall Cavendish; ISBN: 981-210-294-9.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2006) ‘Shooting the Messenger? Political Violence, Gujarat 2002 and the Indian News Media’, in B. Cole (ed.), Conflict, Terrorism and the Media in Asia, 82-97. London and New York: Routledge; ISBN: 1-0-415-35198-7.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2005) ‘Banal Journalism: The Centrality of the Us-Them Binary in News Discourse’, in S. Allan (ed.), Journalism: Critical Issues; 261-274. Maidenhead & New York: Open University Press. ISBN: 0-335-21475-4.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2004) ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind? The Non-Reporting of Small Wars and Insurgencies’, in S. Allan & B. Zelizer (eds), Reporting War: Journalism in Wartime; 206-223. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN: 0-415-33997-9.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2004) ‘News Imperialism: Contra View from the South’, in C. Paterson & A. Sreberny (eds), International News in the 21st Century; 111-126. Eastleigh, Hants: John Libbey/University of Luton Press. ISBN: 1-86020-596-8.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2004) ‘A Murdoch in Dhoti: A Profile of Samir Jain’, in N. Gokhale (ed.), Love Them, Loathe Them; 55-72. New Delhi: imprintOne. ISBN: 81-88861-01-4.

Journal articles:

• Sonwalkar, P. (2009) Byte by Byte: Journalism’s Growing Potential to Reflect the Idea of India’, Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism; Vol. 20, No. 378-380.
• Sonwalkar, P. and Allan, S. (2007) ‘Citizen Journalism and Human Rights in North-East India,’ Media Development, 54 (3): 31-35.
• Allan, S., Sonwalkar, P. & Carter, C. (2007) ‘Bearing Witness: Citizen Journalism and Human Rights Issues’, Globalisation, Societies and Education, Volume 5, Number 3; 373-389.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2005) ‘Towards the “Foxification” of Indian TV News’, Critique: A Review of Indian Journalism, Vol. 5, No. 9, November-December, pp. 7-10.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2004) ‘South Asia: Stirrings of Cultural Imperialism From India’, Communicator: Journal of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Vol. 32, September, pp. 5-25.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2004) ‘Mediating Otherness: The English-Language National Press and Northeast India’, Contemporary South Asia, Volume 13, No. 4, pp. 389-402. ISSN: 0958-4935.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2002) ‘Murdochization of the Indian Press: From By-line to Bottom-line’, Media, Culture & Society, Volume 24, Number 6, pp. 821-834. ISSN: 0163-4437.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2001) ‘Opposition to the Entry of the Foreign Press in India, 1991-1995: The Hidden Agenda’, Modern Asian Studies, Volume 35, Part 3, pp. 743-763. ISSN: 0026-749x.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2001) ‘India: Makings of Little Cultural/Media Imperialism?’ Gazette, Volume 63, Number 6, pp. 505-519. ISSN: 0016-5492.
• Sonwalkar, P. (1996) ‘Whose Information Society?’, Critique: A Review of Indian Journalism, Vol.2, No.6, pp. 43-48.
• Sonwalkar, P. (1996) ‘Mass Culture in the Age of Post-Modernism’, Critique: A Review of Indian Journalism, Vol.2, No.7, pp. 41-46.
• Sonwalkar, P. (1996) ‘An Indian Newsman’s Critical View of the British Press’, Cambridge; No. 38, 119-122.

Published conference contribution:

• Sonwalkar, P. (2003) ‘Violence as Non-Communication: The News Differential of Kashmir and Northeast Conflicts in the Indian National Press’, Violence and Media: Resources and Discourses. Barcelona: Universitat Ramon Llull; conference collection, 9-10 May, 2003, pp. 225-239. ISSN: 1138-3305.

Report for external body:

• Sreberny, A. & Sonwalkar, P. (2003) ‘Media, Violence and Terrorism in Europe’, in S. T. Kwame Boafo & S. Coudray (eds), Media, Violence and Terrorism, pp. 107-114. Paris: UNESCO.

Encyclopaedia essay:

• Sonwalkar, P. (2008) ‘Communication Technologies and Terrorism’, in W. Donsbach (ed.), The International Encyclopaedia of Communication; 5117-5121. Oxford and Boston: Blackwell.

Book reviews:

• Sonwalkar, P. (2007) review of E. Poole and J.E. Richardson (eds), Muslims and the News Media (London: I B Tauris), for European Journal of Communication; 22 (1).
• Sonwalkar, P. (2006) review of N. Rajan (ed.), Practising Journalism: Values, Constraints, Implications (London: Sage), for Asian Journal of Communication, 16(3).
• Sonwalkar, P. (2004) review of A. Sinha, Goa Indica: A Critical Portrait of Postcolonial Goa (New Delhi: Bibliophile South Asia) for Contemporary South Asia, 13 (4).
• Sonwalkar, P. (2002) review of I. Talbot, Inventing the Nation: India & Pakistan (London: Arnold) for Contemporary South Asia, 11 (2), pp. 251-252.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2002) review of V. Damodaran & M. Unnithan-Kumar (eds), Postcolonial India: History, Politics and Culture (New Delhi: Manohar) for Contemporary South Asia, 11 (3), pp. 361-362.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2001) review of U. Butalia, The Other Side of Silence: Voices From the Partition of India (London: Hurst & Co.) and S. Alter, Amritsar to Lahore: A Journey Across the India-Pakistan Border (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press) for Contemporary South Asia, 10 (1), pp. 154-156.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2001) review of From Surprise to Reckoning: The Kargil Committee Report (Delhi: Sage) for Contemporary South Asia, 10 (1), pp. 166-167.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2001) review of G.P. Chapman, The Geopolitics of South Asia: From Early Empires to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (Aldershot: Ashgate) for Contemporary South Asia, 10 (2), pp. 281-282.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2001) review of P. Ronald de Souza, Contemporary India: Transitions (London: Sage) for Contemporary South Asia, 10 (3), pp. 421-422.
• Sonwalkar, P. (2000) review of S.K. Chaube, Hill Politics in Northeast India (London: Sangam Books), for Contemporary South Asia, 9 (3), pp.371-372.

Recent conference papers:

• ‘Do Something, Now: Reporting Political Violence in India’, Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Chicago, 21-25 May 2009.
• ‘Online Journalism and the Other: Creating New Spaces for Human Rights Issues in India’ (co-authored with Stuart Allan), Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, San Francisco, 24-28 May, 2007.
• ‘Caught in the Crossfire: Professional Hazards of Covering Small Wars in India’, Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Dresden, Germany; 19-23 June, 2006.
• ‘State of the News Media in India’, News for Sale: Information in the Age of Market Driven Journalism, Friends of Le Monde Diplomatique, London, 12 March, 2005.
• ‘Violence as Non-Communication: The News Differential of Kashmir and North-East Conflicts in the Indian National Press’, Research Seminar Series, Media and Film Studies Programme, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, London, 19 January 2005.
• ‘Assamese Chauvinism and the Political Dynamics of North-East India’, Annual Workshop of the British Association of South Asian Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol, 13 November, 2004.
• ‘Mediating Otherness: The English-Language National Press and Northeast India’, Annual Conference of the British Association of South Asian Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 5-7 April, 2004.
• ‘Violence as Non-Communication: The News Differential of Kashmir and North-East Conflicts in the Indian National Press’, Violence and Media: Resources and Discourses, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona, 9-10 May, 2003.

Prasun.Sonwalkar@uwe.ac.uk

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