Digital Media and Social Theory: The View from Xi’s China and Modi’s India

Abstract The social sciences, and especially theories about communication and digital media, have been dominated by the Global North. This paper attempts to redress this imbalance by reference to two major countries that have also been models in other parts of the world, India and China. In both countries, the autonomy of the public sphere of media is constrained, though less so in India’s half-democracy than in China’s authoritarian party state. Still, a lively and diverse online part of the public sphere which lacks the gatekeeping function of traditional news can contribute to the autonomy of media. Media reflect society imperfectly, but there is much to learn from two countries where the un-gatekept online public sphere is relatively more important than the traditional gatekept public sphere.