Journal Articles by Dhiman Chattopadhyay
Communicator, 2019
A textual analysis of Gandhi's autobiography "The story of my experiments with truth" to expolore... more A textual analysis of Gandhi's autobiography "The story of my experiments with truth" to expolore the different communication strategies utilized by him to spread his message of non-violence reistance
Asian Communication Research, 2019
Previous studies have found the presence of colorism, especially a bias toward fair-skinned women... more Previous studies have found the presence of colorism, especially a bias toward fair-skinned women in India's newspaper matrimonial advertisements where fair-complexioned women are considered more beautiful than those with a darker skin complexion. Most matrimonial advertisements in newspapers are posted by family elders such as parents of prospective brides. This study explored if the rise of online matrimonial portals has empowered marginalized members of families such as prospective brides by giving them greater access to, and control over, posting matrimonial ads, and whether who posts these ads has made a difference to how women are projected in the online ads. Textual analysis of 150 online matrimonial ads indicated that younger women such as would-be brides posted more ads in online media, compared to older family members. Further, irrespective of who posted the ads, there was less overt focus on physical attributes of women such as fairness of skin, but colorism was present in more subtle forms. Finally, the online ads posted by both prospective brides, and their parents, were unable to entirely break free from shackles of socially constructed patriarchal norms where women's physical attributes such as fair skin are considered critical qualities. Findings were consistent with the tenets of Critical Race Theory that colorism is an ingrained feature of social systems and is constantly negotiated based on a group's own social interests.
APA CITATION: Chattopadhyay, D., & Chattopadhyay, S. (2019). Colorism and Love for Fair Skin: Exploring Digitization’s Effect on India’s Arranged Marriage Matrimonial Advertisements. Asian Communication Research, 16(1), 105-138.
Communicator, 2019
Resistance to change and innovation at the workplace is not a new phenomenon. Scholars of organiz... more Resistance to change and innovation at the workplace is not a new phenomenon. Scholars of organizational communication, however, have traditionally studied such developments from a top-down perspective, where resistance is presumed to be a necessarily negative force. This study attempts instead to understand why employees in a news organization, in this case journalists, resisted change at the workplace, how they used sense-making as a tool to negotiate meanings and resolve conflicts, and the role of effective change-communication in the journey from resistance to adaption. Findings indicate sense-making was used as a tool by journalists to both increase and resolve conflict. Further, quality of change communication and participatory communication or participation in decision making had a positive impact on reducing strategic, structural, and job-related uncertainties during change process. Most organizational communication research studies change from a management perspective. Findings of this study offer new insights in to how journalists as employees view change process and the role of change communication and sense-making in resolving newsroom crises.
Global Media Journal, 2018
Gender bias in sports news coverage is not a new phenomenon. Recent studies in the United States ... more Gender bias in sports news coverage is not a new phenomenon. Recent studies in the United States and European context have found continued evidence of such bias and the framing of women athletes as second-class citizens. However, globally, mass communication scholars have largely ignored studying how news media in India, the world's largest democracy that also boasts of one of the largest news media industries in the world, covers sporting events and how such coverage speaks to media ethics. This study conducts a content analysis of two leading English language newspapers in India and their coverage of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. Consistent with findings in studies conducted in USA and Europe, findings indicate that women are framed as second class citizens, as less deserving of coverage than male counterparts and when they are covered, such coverage often highlights them in feminine, glamorous and off-the-field avatars rather than as hardened athletes. Implications and scope for future studies are discussed.
Journal of Graphic Novels & Comics, 2018
This paper explores the role of comic book narratives in creating awareness and influencing attit... more This paper explores the role of comic book narratives in creating awareness and influencing attitudes about how society treats rape victims, specifically in the Indian context. The gang rape of a young woman in New Delhi in 2012 inspired an Indian-American filmmaker to author the comic book Priya's Shakti, which was launched at the Mumbai Comicon in December 2014. Within the next three months it received a special award from UN Women, was bought or downloaded over 300,000 times and received many other recognitions. This print as well as Augmented Reality comic book addresses attitudes and beliefs about rape and rape victims prevalent among several communities and groups in India cutting across economic or regional boundaries. It uses the idea of feminine power and the superior hierarchical position of female goddesses in Hindu mythology in its narrative to call for a change in existing belief systems.
In order to best understand how those who are immersed in work to create awareness about rape victims and change social attitude towards rape victims, themselves perceive the role comics such as Priya's Shakti can play in affecting popular awareness and attitudes towards rape victims in India, six in-depth interviews were conducted with Indian men and women who author comic books, work in organizations that help victims of sexual abuse or write on issues of gender and crime – and are acknowledged experts on the subject.
Results indicated that respondents believe comics can play a significant role in creating awareness, especially among the younger audience but that changing attitudes is a more complex issue. The dominant view that emerged from the data suggested reaching out to children in schools and to rural audiences via multiple communication methods to create greater awareness and impact attitudes.
This article examines how media scholars’ attributes affect ratings of Journalism and Mass Commun... more This article examines how media scholars’ attributes affect ratings of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ), based on the 2014 JMCQ readership survey. It compares the impacts of these attributes on five different types of subjective journal ratings. For instance, importance of journal impact factor in the respondent’s institution only affects the rating of the journal’s standing in the field. Attributes such as use and knowledge of the journal, research recognition received in the field, doctoral institution affiliation, and ethnicity consistently predict the rating of the journal’s standing in the field, overall ratings, and relevance to the respondents; but
other attributes predict the ratings of the journal in serving the association members well and author-friendliness.
Louisa Ha, Chen Yang, Ling Fang, Tao Zhang,
Dhiman Chattopadhyay, and Fang Wang
Conference Presentations by Dhiman Chattopadhyay
This paper is part of a larger project that examines Indian journalists' perceptions of social me... more This paper is part of a larger project that examines Indian journalists' perceptions of social media as a credible and useful tool for sourcing and promoting breaking news, to understand how social media affects journalistic practices and what this means for journalism in India. A survey of Indian journalists indicated only two of the five Hierarchy of Influences affected journalistic decisions to uploaded breaking news on official websites, while none of the levels influenced decisions to source from or promote such news on social media. Interviews with editors sought to understand how mainstream media can best utilize social media in their fight to retain public trust.
AEJMC, 2016
Resistance to change in the newsroom: The How journalists use sense-making and respond to change-... more Resistance to change in the newsroom: The How journalists use sense-making and respond to change-management during workplace innovations Abstract Resistance to change and innovation at the workplace is not a new phenomenon. Scholars of organizational communication however, have traditionally studied such developments from a top-down perspective, where resistance is presumed to be a necessarily negative force. This study attempts instead to understand why employees, specifically journalists resist change at the workplace, how they use sense-making as a tool to negotiate meanings and resolve conflicts and the role that change-communication plays in the process. Findings indicate sense-making may be used as a tool by various stakeholders to both heighten the crisis and resolve the conflict. Further, quality of change communication and participation in decision making have a positive impact on reducing strategic, structural and job-related uncertainties during change processes. RQ1: What were the key uncertainties that led to journalists resisting the change? RQ2: What role did sense-making play in negotiating and mediating uncertainties? RQ3: How did Change Communication impact the process of conflict resolution?
This exploratory study examines the twitter feed of influential Indian journalists' during a spec... more This exploratory study examines the twitter feed of influential Indian journalists' during a specific event of national importance to understand what type of tweets attracted greater follower engagement. Further, the study also examines whether followers engaged more with congruent or incongruent messages and if engaging directly with journalists had any effect on how they engaged with a message. Analysis of tweets on a specific event from 10 editors revealed that these influential journalists mostly tweeted personal opinions, and this type of tweet also attracted most follower engagement (likes and comments). Analysis of follower comments on most commented upon tweets of each editor revealed that followers seemed to engage more actively with incongruent messages than with messages they agreed with. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
This paper conducts a textual analysis of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's autobiography, My Experime... more This paper conducts a textual analysis of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's autobiography, My Experiments with Truth, to explore the communication strategies used by him to spread his philosophical and political doctrines across the world and influence audiences. Findings indicate Gandhi used his past experiences and various agenda building techniques to make optimal use of different media and that his audience determined his communication strategy. Findings have implications for scholars studying effective ways to communicate messages to diverse audiences today
Presented at the 8th annual summit of the International Association for Communication & Sport (IA... more Presented at the 8th annual summit of the International Association for Communication & Sport (IACS) in Charlotte, NC; March 15, 2015.
The paper is a content analysis of 155 reports and 189 photograph that appeared in 2 Indian newspapers during the 19 days of the 2014 Asian Games to study possible gender bias in sports coverage. The quantitative part of the analysis looked at the number of articles, photographs and lines dedicated to events concerning Indian men, women or ones categorized as 'mixed' . A more qualitative analysis looked at subtle subtexts of bias in the same articles/photographs. The results showed not just a clear quantitative bias towards Indian male athletes and men's sports both visually and textually (even though the women earned as many medals as the men) but also subtle qualitative bias. Female athletes were categorized and presented as 'emotional', 'family-oriented' and 'fashionable/glamorous' as opposed to being 'sporty', 'strong/powerful' and 'ambitious' even when they won gold medals.
Annual Convention
Presented at the 98th Annual Convention of AEJMC in San Francisco in August , 2015 (International... more Presented at the 98th Annual Convention of AEJMC in San Francisco in August , 2015 (International Communication Division).
This study explores how rapes are reported in Indian news media, especially in the English media, by conducting a cross-sectional content analysis of 25 breaking news reports that covered the rape of a 25-year-old woman in Delhi on February 27, 2015. All 25 reports appeared on the websites of different English media outlets in India in a 24-hour period following the rape. All of them were an incident report and covered the same stage of the incident and investigation process. Recurring themes in the reports were coded to find out how the act of rape was represented, how the central characters were framed and what attributes of the incident were found to be most important by the media. The results showed that a majority of the news media framed both the victim and the accused in terms of their marital status, ethnic origin and profession and made a connection between these attributes and the incident. The study contributes to the growing recent literature on media framing of rapes in India, specifically about how gender stereotypes
Universities are important organizational sites for the promotion of diversity and inclusion. Dra... more Universities are important organizational sites for the promotion of diversity and inclusion. Drawing from systems theory and intergroup contact theory, this study explains how institutional, interpersonal, and individual factors affect college students' attitudes about diversity and organizational belongingness. Survey results from 120 college students from a predominantly white institution indicated that organizational policies and resources, along with interpersonal interactions with international faculty and students, were predictive of diversity attitude, while organizational policies and interethnic contact were predictive of university belongingness.
Select Journalistic Publications by Dhiman Chattopadhyay
This article looks at India's biggest corporate scam and the communication strategies used to by ... more This article looks at India's biggest corporate scam and the communication strategies used to by those entrusted with turning the company around, to achieve the successful revival. To answer my questions, I did in-depth interviews with the Chief Financial Officer who led the turnaround as well as with both senior and junior employees who survived the scam, dealt with the stigma and lived to tell the tale -- to understand how they perceived the fall and rise of Satyam. Disclaimer: This was written as a journalistic piece & not an academic/scholarly piece
This is the first part of a two-part work that first appeared as the cover feature in Business To... more This is the first part of a two-part work that first appeared as the cover feature in Business Today magazine's March 2010 issue. The authors conducted in-depth interviews of insiders and close associates of the star, and used ethnographic field-notes taken during many on-site film shooting sessions as tools to develop their understanding of the issue. The second part of the feature (links given within uploaded article) was an in-depth interview of Shah Rukh Khan to understand the same issues from his own perspectives. This was written as a journalistic piece and not an academic one
This article is essentially one in a series of in-depth interviews with individuals and groups of... more This article is essentially one in a series of in-depth interviews with individuals and groups of people whose stated aim is to empower the under privileged, give a voice to the voiceless and reach out to a global audience in order to achieve their goals. This is one of the several interviews through which I seek to understand why such individuals/groups do the work that they do and how they perceive and construct their role in society
This article uses in-depth interviews and a narrative style to explore why a blind man decided to... more This article uses in-depth interviews and a narrative style to explore why a blind man decided to spend his life empowering fellow visually challenged individuals - and how he perceives his role in bringing about a what he calls a small but significant socio-economic change. I also conduct short interviews with people who say they have benefited from Abraham's efforts to understand how they define benefit" and "empowerment"
This article combines in-depth interviews and archival research to explore how sports teams and s... more This article combines in-depth interviews and archival research to explore how sports teams and sporting tournaments are the next big business in India and why some of India’s biggest entrepreneurs are shelling out big bucks to buy up sports teams and spend small fortunes of public relation campaigns
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Journal Articles by Dhiman Chattopadhyay
APA CITATION: Chattopadhyay, D., & Chattopadhyay, S. (2019). Colorism and Love for Fair Skin: Exploring Digitization’s Effect on India’s Arranged Marriage Matrimonial Advertisements. Asian Communication Research, 16(1), 105-138.
In order to best understand how those who are immersed in work to create awareness about rape victims and change social attitude towards rape victims, themselves perceive the role comics such as Priya's Shakti can play in affecting popular awareness and attitudes towards rape victims in India, six in-depth interviews were conducted with Indian men and women who author comic books, work in organizations that help victims of sexual abuse or write on issues of gender and crime – and are acknowledged experts on the subject.
Results indicated that respondents believe comics can play a significant role in creating awareness, especially among the younger audience but that changing attitudes is a more complex issue. The dominant view that emerged from the data suggested reaching out to children in schools and to rural audiences via multiple communication methods to create greater awareness and impact attitudes.
other attributes predict the ratings of the journal in serving the association members well and author-friendliness.
Louisa Ha, Chen Yang, Ling Fang, Tao Zhang,
Dhiman Chattopadhyay, and Fang Wang
Conference Presentations by Dhiman Chattopadhyay
The paper is a content analysis of 155 reports and 189 photograph that appeared in 2 Indian newspapers during the 19 days of the 2014 Asian Games to study possible gender bias in sports coverage. The quantitative part of the analysis looked at the number of articles, photographs and lines dedicated to events concerning Indian men, women or ones categorized as 'mixed' . A more qualitative analysis looked at subtle subtexts of bias in the same articles/photographs. The results showed not just a clear quantitative bias towards Indian male athletes and men's sports both visually and textually (even though the women earned as many medals as the men) but also subtle qualitative bias. Female athletes were categorized and presented as 'emotional', 'family-oriented' and 'fashionable/glamorous' as opposed to being 'sporty', 'strong/powerful' and 'ambitious' even when they won gold medals.
This study explores how rapes are reported in Indian news media, especially in the English media, by conducting a cross-sectional content analysis of 25 breaking news reports that covered the rape of a 25-year-old woman in Delhi on February 27, 2015. All 25 reports appeared on the websites of different English media outlets in India in a 24-hour period following the rape. All of them were an incident report and covered the same stage of the incident and investigation process. Recurring themes in the reports were coded to find out how the act of rape was represented, how the central characters were framed and what attributes of the incident were found to be most important by the media. The results showed that a majority of the news media framed both the victim and the accused in terms of their marital status, ethnic origin and profession and made a connection between these attributes and the incident. The study contributes to the growing recent literature on media framing of rapes in India, specifically about how gender stereotypes
Select Journalistic Publications by Dhiman Chattopadhyay
APA CITATION: Chattopadhyay, D., & Chattopadhyay, S. (2019). Colorism and Love for Fair Skin: Exploring Digitization’s Effect on India’s Arranged Marriage Matrimonial Advertisements. Asian Communication Research, 16(1), 105-138.
In order to best understand how those who are immersed in work to create awareness about rape victims and change social attitude towards rape victims, themselves perceive the role comics such as Priya's Shakti can play in affecting popular awareness and attitudes towards rape victims in India, six in-depth interviews were conducted with Indian men and women who author comic books, work in organizations that help victims of sexual abuse or write on issues of gender and crime – and are acknowledged experts on the subject.
Results indicated that respondents believe comics can play a significant role in creating awareness, especially among the younger audience but that changing attitudes is a more complex issue. The dominant view that emerged from the data suggested reaching out to children in schools and to rural audiences via multiple communication methods to create greater awareness and impact attitudes.
other attributes predict the ratings of the journal in serving the association members well and author-friendliness.
Louisa Ha, Chen Yang, Ling Fang, Tao Zhang,
Dhiman Chattopadhyay, and Fang Wang
The paper is a content analysis of 155 reports and 189 photograph that appeared in 2 Indian newspapers during the 19 days of the 2014 Asian Games to study possible gender bias in sports coverage. The quantitative part of the analysis looked at the number of articles, photographs and lines dedicated to events concerning Indian men, women or ones categorized as 'mixed' . A more qualitative analysis looked at subtle subtexts of bias in the same articles/photographs. The results showed not just a clear quantitative bias towards Indian male athletes and men's sports both visually and textually (even though the women earned as many medals as the men) but also subtle qualitative bias. Female athletes were categorized and presented as 'emotional', 'family-oriented' and 'fashionable/glamorous' as opposed to being 'sporty', 'strong/powerful' and 'ambitious' even when they won gold medals.
This study explores how rapes are reported in Indian news media, especially in the English media, by conducting a cross-sectional content analysis of 25 breaking news reports that covered the rape of a 25-year-old woman in Delhi on February 27, 2015. All 25 reports appeared on the websites of different English media outlets in India in a 24-hour period following the rape. All of them were an incident report and covered the same stage of the incident and investigation process. Recurring themes in the reports were coded to find out how the act of rape was represented, how the central characters were framed and what attributes of the incident were found to be most important by the media. The results showed that a majority of the news media framed both the victim and the accused in terms of their marital status, ethnic origin and profession and made a connection between these attributes and the incident. The study contributes to the growing recent literature on media framing of rapes in India, specifically about how gender stereotypes
This chapter explores how media outlets frame news on issues such as rapes, LGBT rights, female athletes and sexual harassment, what various editors feel about this trend, and the way forward they visualize.
This essay is based on a series of face-to-face and online interviews, as well as anecdotal case studies. I also dive liberally into my own two decades of experience as a newspaper/magazine/web editor in India, to analyze this critical issue.