Organized by: Giri Institute of Development Studies
Dear friends,
As some reports that monitored news coverage of political parties around Lok Sabha elections 2014 have shown, BJP got a lion’s share of news coverage compared to other major political parties. Smaller political parties or independent candidates often got negligible coverage.
One such report was done by Socialist Party (India), when its intern Shrey Singh, a student of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore, looked at 5 major newspapers in Lucknow during 16-30 April 2014. When data was analyzed by Shrey with help from Socialist Party (India) team members, disproportionate and unbalanced news coverage of different political parties became evident. This report is online at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/230774927/Frontpage-Content-Analysis-of-5-Newspapers-During-Lok-Sabha-Elections-2014 (Front-page content analysis of 5 newspapers in Lucknow during Lok Sabha elections 2014).
Not only reasons for which some political parties got more news coverage than others need investigation, but also use of money, directly, indirectly or surrogately (in the garb of ‘election package’ etc), needs to be determined.
If all candidates get balanced and proportionate news coverage through different forms of media, and Election Commission can strictly watch that candidates of big parties are not allowed to be “more equal than others”, then we believe that use of black money in elections can also be checked. More importantly, unpartisan, fair and balanced news coverage is what differentiates a “registered newspaper” from a “newsletter or pamphlet”.
SEMINAR INVITE
We invite you to a seminar to discuss some of these issues at:
GIRI INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES,
Sector – O, Aliganj Housing Scheme, Lucknow
(next to City Montessori School of Aliganj Sector O)
Phones: 94154-02311 (Girish ji), 9839990966 (Rahul)
TIME: 3:30 – 5pm
DATE: Thursday, 26th JUNE 2014
Looking forward to your participation
Dr Surinder Kumar
Director, Giri Institute of Development Studies
Sector-O, Aliganj, Lucknow.
Phones: (0522) 2321860, 2325021
