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Community mediation in multicultural India 415In 1998–2000, Star introduced Jai Mata Di, focusing on different avatars ofthe goddess Durga, and Sanskruti (Tradition) where the characters werederived from the Hindu god, Krishna.Star TV’s focus on Hindu themes may be a response to criticism by Indianmedia observers who denounced the corporation as a symbol of foreign challengers.During contractual disagreements with Zee, the latter lobbied for statesupport in fighting the transnational media. The press also aided by representingthe dispute as that of a small Indian corporation against a large transnationalcorporation (Chatterjee, 1997). Following the dissolution of thepartnership, Star undertook reorganization aimed at gaining acceptance fromthe state. New Delhi Television (NDTV), the news production house of StarTV till 2002, was directed to follow Doordarshan guidelines. 14 In this effort,Star also recruited staff previously employed by the state media. 15In 1995, MTV also changed its strategy toward localization. Viacom’sinitial reluctance to customize MTV for local audiences led to its separationfrom Star in 1994. MTV and Star’s contract ended when MTV refused tocomply with Star’s Indianization strategy. Subsequently, MTV struggled forthe next year to find a new route into Asia. In 1996, it re-established itself and,by 1997, reinvented itself as an Indian music television with an additionalobjective of providing Indians with western music. This reorganizationinstated a domestic office operated by management from India.Currently, up to 70 percent of MTV programs are Indian productions. Theobjective of the MTV strategy after 1999 was to “Indianize, humanize, andhumorize” its programming. 16 In 1999, MTV’s estimated reach was 10.3million households. 17 Reprogramming its software to include local hosts andslang, the channel was to re-establish itself as a pop cultural leader for a youngurban audience. In the 1998 national elections, MTV India launched thecampaign “Rock the Vote” to get young audiences to vote and participate insocial and environmental issues, including women’s rights and pollution.More recently, Indian outrage at MTV US’s portrayal of Mohandas Gandhi asa rock fan wearing an earring caused MTV India to claim it played no part inthe production which originated at its American headquarters. This demonstratesthat global media organizations might not be as cohesive as the previousgeneration of transnational media. 18Dennis McQuail and his associates present essential guidelines for delineatingthe structure of media development and the organizational frameworkof transnational media in the global context (McQuail et al., 1991: 17–19).They provide five indicators that help differentiate between ownership realityand the level of control. First, they state, the level at which the action occursis important in determining the organization’s relationship to its headquarters.Second, the type of actors that participate in the production deeply influencesthe process. Third, the location of decision-making may affect the nature of the