Chapter II

Evolution of Political Journalism in India: A

literature Review
The review of literature of pertaining to the present study is divided

into three parts. Part I traces the historical evolution of political

journalism in India, and Part II deals with the political events and the

press. Towards the end of the chapter, Part III presents a few studies

on elections and newspaper contents in various contexts are

presented.

Part I: Evolution of political journalism in India

The Indian press has evolved over 230 years back since the beginning

of the first newspaper, Hickey’s Gazette in 1780. But, Hickey’s Gazette

involved in the exposure of private lives of servants of the East India

Company and devoted considerable space to scurrilous attacks on the

Governor-general, Warren Hastings (Natarajan, 1997:5).The first

newspapers started by the disgruntled ex-employees of the company

aided the East India Company’s servants to further their personal

rivalries. Since the circulation of the newspapers was negligible, they

did not influence the public opinion (ibid). In a way, the Britishers did

not allow political journalism to flourish as it would affect their

administration (Thomas, 2010). ‘The Britishers tended to regard the

press as a collection of tribes and therefore, the press should be

controlled’ (Dhavan, 2009). Further he observed that ‘there were two

schools of thought about this in the British administration in the

63
nineteenth century. One school, led by Sir Thomas Munro, took the

view that the press was not to be trusted at all, and must be controlled

with great zest and in exacting detail. Another school, led by Sir

Charles Metcalfe, seemed to be of the view that the press should be

allowed to function freely, subject to some control with respect to

registration and the restraining effect of some penal offences’. With

the birth of Congress party in 1885, the political opinion in the

country was shaped and furthered by the existing newspapers and in

turn newspapers were moulded by the thriving political decisions

(Narain, 1970:280). In fact, there were 421 daily newspapers with a

circulation of 199825 and 340 periodicals with a circulation of

189486 by the end of 1885.The period between 1885 and 1905

witnessed the division among the existing newspapers and periodicals

in supporting the Congress party. Publications from Calcutta like the

Bengalee, the Amrit Bazaar Patrika, the Indian Mirror, and the Reis and

Ryat were supporting the Congress party while the Indian Daily and

the Statesman exposed the defects of the administration. Pioneer

published from Allahabad and the Civil and Military Gazette published

from Lahore (now in Pakistan) was opposing the Congress party.

During that period a few vernacular dailies were born, they were

edited by people who were less educated as compared to the English

dailies. Narain’s study (1970) of that period focused on the

relationship between the press and the politics. He noted that ‘the

64
English language papers even though edited by the Indians could not

be responsive to urges of the common man1, removed as the English-

educated Indian was far from his countrymen in ideas, emotions and

outlook; whereas the vernacular editor was in emotional sympathy

with the people and brought a fund of common sense and a practical

outlook on the problems which were agitating the people’.

Nevertheless, researchers who attempted the historical sketch of the

press in India dealt with the role of the press during the freedom

struggle (Natarajan, 1962; Krishnamurthy, 1966; Parthasarathy, 1991;

Subramanian, 1984). For example, Subramanian (1984) made an

elaborate study on the role of newspapers in South India during the

freedom struggle between 1905 and 1932. Most of these studies

focused on the British rulers’ attempt to muzzle the press because

they did not want the newspapers to mould the opinion of the people

against them. The year 1907 saw a series of arrests and prosecutions

of editors and journalists and the confiscation of printing presses

(Ramakrishna, 2001). The Indian Press had a missionary role during

the nineteenth and twentieth century till the country attained

Independence in 1947 (Krishna Murthy, 1966; Parthasarathy, 1991).

1In the words of Jawaharlal Nehru (2004) about the contents in the English
newspapers : I remember that when I was a boy the British-owned newspapers in
India were full of official news and utterances, of service news, transfers
promotions; of the doings of English society, of polo, races, dances, and amateur
theatricals. There was hardly a word about the people of India, about their political,
cultural, social, or economic life. Reading them one would hardly suspect that they
existed (p 319).

65
Gandhian era (1919-1947). As soon as Gandhi returned from South

Africa in 1915, he started his political life. However, he launched three

newspapers during 1919-20 defying the Indian Press Act. Although

the Act barred new publications, he boldly launched Satyagrahi (in

Hindi and Gujarati), Nava Jivan (Gujarati), and Young India (English).

Consequent upon the World War I and the massacre at Jullianwalla

bagh, B G Horniman, the English editor of the Bombay Chronicle, was

vehemently condemning the British administration for the atrocities

and supported the National Movement. As a result, Horniman was

deported to Britain. The directors of the Bombay Chronicle who were

running the other journal, Young India requested Gandhi to take over

the journal. Gandhi agreed on the condition that the editorial office

would be shifted to Ahmedabad from Bombay as he set up an ashram

at Ahmedbad which would require his guidance. As he purchased a

printing press, Navajivan Publishing House to publish his monthly,

Navjivan, he would bring out Young India from Ahmedabad. He did not

accept advertisements and believed that the newspapers should

survive on the revenue from subscribers. The circulation of Young

India went up to 45000, and his articles were effective (Ramakrishna,

2001:21). However, Young India was closed in 1932 owing to

repressive acts of the British administration. The thought of having

another weekly was lingering in Gandhi’s mind when he was in prison

in Poona on account of Civil Disobedience Movement (Bhattacharya,

2002:94). Though he was in prison, he established Harijan Sevak

Sangh and asked the Sangh to publish Harijan. On February 11, 1933

66
Harijan was published as a weekly, at the request of Gandhi which

carried, ‘Gandhi’s views on untouchability, village sanitation, rural

reconstruction through village industries, women’s education,

women’s rehabilitation, basic education, and the upliftment of all

(sarvodaya) through employment for every able bodied person

(Vilanilam; 2005: 81). With such educative contents, the print order of

the weekly was 10000. However, in response to the censorship

imposed on the newspapers, Gandhi suspended the publication of

Harijan in November 1940 with an article, “good-bye”, and within a

gap of one year, he resumed the publication in January 1942. In eight

months of its resumption of publication, Gandhi went to prison on

August 8, 1942, and immediately the administration closed down the

weekly. But it came back to life after a lapse of three and half years on

February 10, 1946 (Bhattacharya, 2002:200). As Gandhi was upright

in his attitude, he wrote in Harijan in July 1947: ‘Perhaps we may have

to close the Harijan. My mind rebels against many things that our

leaders are doing. Yet I do not feel like actively opposing them. But

how can I avoid it if I am running a paper? Further, he wrote: Sardar, I

feel that Harijan should now be closed. It does not seem to me to be

right to give contrary guidance to the country’ (Bhattacharya, 2002:

201).Though Gandhi viewed that the duty of the newspapers was only

to serve the people, he used Young India to resist the Britishers boldly

in not compromising with any aspect related to the freedom of India,

and also the freedom of the press. In the face of mounting hostility

against the British administration, the government brought in the

67
Press Act of 1910 which imposed heavy security deposit to open a

printing press, and thereby muzzle the freedom of the press. However,

Gandhi stood firmly for the freedom of the press( Bhattacharyya,

1965), and two cases illustrated how Mahatma argued his cases

related to contempt of court, and sedition which he accepted

eventually to go to jail.

As a journalist, Gandhi never shirked from the responsibility of

carrying the burden of proof, and he favoured objectivity in the news

reports and also exhorted the newspapers to abide by objectivity

instead of favouring other methods to escape the law. He boldly

published a letter against the judge to express the truth. He stood by

his conviction in questioning the judge’s attitude. He was prepared to

face the consequences of violating the rule, and in the face of tough

stance of the judge, he firmly argued his case to resist contempt of

court. In the two issues of Young India, he published articles which

attracted the law of contempt. On March 10, 1920, in Young India,

contempt of case proceedings were reported with a heading, ‘Was it

contempt of court? Proceedings against Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Mahadeo

H Desai’. Two judges Marten, and Hayward Kajiji were hearing the

contempt case against Editor Gandhi and Publisher Desai of Young

India for publication of a letter addressed by Kennedy, District Judge

of Ahmedabad to the Registrar of the High Court complaining of the

conduct of certain Satyagrahi lawyers of Ahmedabad. In April 1919,

Judge Kennedy found that certain lawyers in Ahmedabad had signed

68
the Satyagraha pledge, and he asked them to explain why their

Sanads( licence for a lawyer to practice in a court of law) should not

be cancelled for their having signed the pledge. He did not consider

their explanation satisfactory and hence addressed a letter to the

Registrar of the High Court on April 22, 1919. In consequence, two

notices were issued by the High Court to the lawyers concerned. A

copy of Mr. Kennedy’s letter was given by the Registrar to Divetia,

pleader for one of the lawyers, who handed the same to Mr Kalidas J

Jhaveri, one of the Satyagrahi lawyers, who in turn handed it to Mr

Gandhi. On August 6, 1919 the letter was published in Young India

with a heading “O’Dwyerism in Ahmedabad” along with an article

commenting on the letter with a heading “Shaking Civil Resisters”. As

soon as the proceedings were completed, the Registrar addressed a

letter to Mr. Gandhi directing him to appear before the Chief Justice’s

Chamber to give an explanation as regards the publication of the

letter. Mr. Gandhi replied by telegram explaining his inability to attend

on the appointed date as he was going to Punjab. The Registrar replied

saying that the chief Justice did not wish to interfere with Mr. Gandhi’s

appointment and that a written explanation would do. Gandhi was

asked to publish an apology in the paper, which was refused by

Gandhi. Following his refusal, the judge declared the publication of the

letter would come under the contempt of court. On the judgment of

the High Court, Gandhi stood firmly on the ground saying he would

honour the independence of the journalist and would go to any extent

to undergo punishment.

69
The other case was sedition. Gandhi published three articles in Young

India dated September 29, 1921 with a heading ‘Tampering with

Loyalty’, another article on December 15, 1921 with a heading “the

puzzle and solution’, and the third article on February 23, 1923 with a

heading ‘ Shaking the Manes”. In these articles, he severely criticized

the British administration, and asked the people to rebel against the

government, and in particular the Indian sepoy to rebel against the

government. Because of these writings, a case of sedition was

registered against the editor, M K Gandhi and the publisher,

Shankarlal Ghelabai Banker on March 18, 1922 in the district and

sessions court, Ahmedabad. The charges were “bringing or attempting

to excite disaffection towards his Majesty’s Government established

by law in British India, and thereby committing offences punishable

under section 124A of the Indian Penal Code”. When the charges were

read out in the court, the judge, C N Broomfield called upon the

accused to plead to the charges. He asked Gandhi whether he pleaded

guilty or claimed to be tried. Gandhi pleaded guilty to the charges and

Banker too pleaded guilty to the charges. The judge wished to give his

verdict immediately, but the advocate-general, J T Strangaman

insisted that the due process of law must be followed. The advocate-

general requested the judge to take into account the occurrences in

Bombay, Malabar and Chauri Chauri, leading to rioting and murder”.

In respect of Banker, the advocate-general said that the second

accused, the offence was lesser as he published them, and did not

70
write them. Therefore, the advocate-general asked for a substantial

fine in addition to imprisonment as might be possible. However, the

judge asked Gandhi that “would he like to make a statement”. Gandhi

agreed to give a statement, and the judge asked for a written

statement to be recorded. Gandhi made an oral statement, which was

followed by a written statement (Fischer, 1994).

The two cases reported above illustrate that Mahatma Gandhi never

compromised on the principles he enunciated throughout his life.

Gandhi considered journalism as a by-product of his activities, and

newspaper was a vehicle for him to propagate his views. He firmly

asserted that he was writing these articles only to awaken the Indians

and to rouse desirable sentiments in them against the British rule

while engaging more number of people with nationalism. The press

also played a key-role in national development during that period.

During Independence, the press was an effective medium in the hands

of nationalists as well as social reform groups (Murthy, 2004). They

exposed social evils like casteism, child marriages, ban on remarriage

of widows, social, legal, and other inequalities for which women were

subjected. It also helped them in carrying out a massive campaign to

educate the people on the eradication of untouchability (Krishna

Murthy, 1966; Desai, 1993:237; Yadav, 1985, Bhatt, 1997).

Freedom of the press and political journalism

The practices of political journalism in India incurred the wrath of the

administration during the three tenures of the Prime ministers –

71
Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-64), Indira Gandhi (1969-1977, 1980-1984)

and Rajiv Gandhi (1984-89). Incidentally, the three prime ministers

belong to a family which involved in the freedom movement. They

ruled the country after Independence for a long time and political

journalism naturally focused on them, and they adopted different

means to control the press.

Nehru era (1947-1964). As soon as the country gained freedom, the

newspapers cooperated with the new national government which was

faced with a deluge of problems plunging the country into strife and

bloodshed and instability (Natarajan, 1997). Yet, a section of the

newspapers indulged in fanning communal passions and hatred and in

scurrilous writing. ‘Sensational journalism became a fashion with

some and the country’s interests ceased to be paramount

(Parthasarathiy, 2009). Parthasarathy recorded as

A Bengali editor is quoted by a writer as having

confessed that he adopted a communal policy “because
playing down riots and disturbances curbed his sales.”
Even the newsboys, the editor is quoted as having said,
refuse to touch my paper if my rivals report a larger
number of deaths than I do. The leaders who were
running the government and who had established
complete rapport with the press during freedom
struggle were saddened as the press as a whole was
not with them in meeting the challenges faced by the
new-born government. They seemed to behave, the
leaders thought, as an opposition force as they did
during the British regime when the need was to play a
constructive role” (p 169)

72
When the constitution of India came into existence on January 26,

1950, the Constitution of India was vague in defining the freedom of

the press as Article 19 (1) (a) and Article 19 (2) enunciated freedom of

speech and expression with reasonable restrictions (Bhattacharjee,

1972; Ahuja, 1984: 329). The Supreme Court and High Court

judgments led to the amendment of Article 19 (2) which imposed

reasonable restrictions on the press freedom, and the press opposed

it. The reference to the ‘criticism of the friendly states is not allowed’

in the article was criticized by the press as the government was

curbing its freedom to write on India‘s foreign policy. The press also

thought that the government was further muzzling the press by

enacting another law, the Press (Objectionable Matters) Act. The

newspapers in protest suspended publications for a day and editorials

were written objecting the government measures.

Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the earliest in the government to voice

his ‘displeasure against the press.’ He had a dig at editors when

addressing the All-Indian Newspapers Editors Conference in 1952, he

said: “Of course, it is hardly proper to use the word ‘wise’ in

connection with newspapers. There is no reason why newspapers

should not have at least some small bit of leisured thinking and

wisdom hidden away in a corner is not in the leading article always.”

Nehru asked: “For whom do we want press freedom – for the writer or

for the owner to coerce his employee to write against his conscience?”

Seven years later, in 1959, in speeches in Chandigarh and Bombay,

73
Nehru again criticized the press, questioning the bona fides of the

editors. ‘He said it had been taken for granted that editors of Indian

newspapers could not be expected to realize or speak the truth when

discussing certain aspects of state policy. In another speech in Delhi

Nehru described the press as both the product and symbol of private

enterprise as editors as it champions against state control and

regulation’ (Parthasarathy, 2009: 169).

Indira era (1971-1977, 1980-1984). The years between 1971 and

1977 were turbulent in the history of the freedom of the press in India

(Ramakrishna, 2001). But the study of the freedom of the press could

not be viewed independently but was intertwined with political

developments in the country. Significantly, the ascent of Mrs. Indira

Gandhi to the pinnacle of power was very important in the study.

Political observers like Mankekar (1977), Nayar(1978),

Narasimhan(1977), Selbourne (1977) and Carras (1980) observed

that Mrs. Gandhi’s ambition to retain power led to many undemocratic

ways of holding to it. Obviously, important and historical facts

compelled Mrs. Gandhi to take an extreme step of imposing

Emergency on June 25, 19752. The darkest chapter in the freedom of

2
On June 25, 1975 at 11-45pm, the President of India issued a proclamation saying
‘A grave Emergency exists where by security of India is threatened by internal
disturbance…” The press became the first casualty (Carras, 1980). The President of
India, by an order suspended not only the right to freedom of speech and
expression, but also suspended the right of any person to move the court for the
enforcement of right conferred under Article 19 of the Constitution. Not only was
this, all proceedings pending in courts for the enforcement of these rights
suspended. The right of freedom of the press which is implicit in the right to
freedom of speech and expression in the Constitution was drastically cut. Many

74
the press inter alia in India occurred during the 19-month period of

Emergency. The reasons for the imposition of the Emergency were the

events that took place in the country like rebellion in the Congress

party, the corruption charges against Mrs. Gandhi, the growing

discontentment, among the people, the political events in Gujarat and

Bihar particularly the student agitation, the defeat of the Congress

party in the Gujarat elections and the movement of Jaiprakash

Narayan (Nayar, 1978). All these events further helped political

journalism to thrive, and newspapers were critical of the government.

Commenting on these events, Narasimhan (1977), the chief editor in

Indian Express wrote, “It was not certainly a single act of political

aberration by an authoritarian leader entrenched in the seat of power.

It was the culmination of a process which had begun in 1973; if not

earlier. One of the dominant factors in this process was the emergence

of Jaiprakash Narayan into active politics with the name of Total

Revolution.” On the morning of June 26, 1975, censorship was

imposed on all press writings relating to internal situation related to

political events (Nayar, 1977). As a consequence of pre-censorship3

opposition leaders including Jaiprakash Narayan and Morarji Desai (who later
became Prime Minister of India) were arrested.

3In protest against the pre-censorship of newspapers, several leading dailies in the
country left blank spaces and some other papers published extracts from famous
poems of Rabindranath Tagore in the editorial on the June 28. Shukla convened a
meeting of the editors on the June 28, 1975 and told them that the Government was
not pleased with the editors’ performance. He warned them not to leave blank
spaces nor quote any passages from Jawaharlal Nehru or Rabindranth Tagore.
Criticizing the pre-censorship, Jaiprakash Narayanan (1975: 82) said,…it is still
doubtful if the emergency, the sweeping arrests the suppression of the press, if these

75
leading dailies from New Delhi on June 27 appeared with blanks in

editorial space. Justifying censorship, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

told the National Union of Journalists that ‘a section of the press was

not concerned with the national interests and that it was helping build

up a vicious atmosphere in the country. It was necessary to prevent

incitement of the people to defy laws. The then Minister of State for

Information and Broadcasting I.K.Gujral, also criticized the

newspapers and said they were becoming ‘views papers’. Vidya

Charan Shukla, who succeeded Mr.Gujral, as Minister, accused

newspapers of irresponsible behavior. He said: “For healthy

journalism it is necessary that papers should be responsible and

accountable” (Iyer and Sethi, 1996).

Rajiv Gandhi era (1984-89). The governments in power tried to

stifle the freedom of expression (freedom of the press) when

newspapers exposed the misdeeds of the governments. It is very

significant to note that the freedom of the press was affected much

during the period when the Congress party headed by Pandit

Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-64), Indira Gandhi (1969-1977, 1980-84) and

Rajiv Gandhi(1984-89). During the time of Rajiv Gandhi, he tried to

muzzle the press. The press, particularly, a section of newspapers in

the name of investigative journalism brought out many corruption

and many other things done since June 26 last, have saved Indian democracy. I am
strongly persuaded that these measures have dealt a grievous blow to our
democracy from which it will take long to recover.”

76
charges against individuals or ministers in Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet. The

cases pertaining to the Bofors gun deal, West German submarine deal,

came out accusing the Prime Minister of having received bribes in the

deals (Parthasarathy, 2009). Two newspapers which were in the

forefront exposing alleged corrupt deals by the Government were the

‘Indian Express’ and ‘The Hindu’. ‘The Statesman joined them latter

with the story of kickbacks paid to an Indian by a Japanese firm in a

deal with the Oil and Natural Gas Commission. Day after day, these

papers unearthed new material relating to the deals and put the

Government and the Prime Minister in an embarrassing position’

(Verghese, 2005). A Parliamentary Committee was appointed to go

into the Bofors deal and find out the truth about the allegations of

kickbacks but its report which cleared the Government of any

malpractice was ridiculed and characterized as partisan by the

newspapers and opposition parties. And the credibility of the

Government continued to be questioned. There were demands that

Rajiv Gandhi should resign and opposition parties who were

vociferous in their demand were supported by a section of the press.

Veteran journalist and media historian Rangaswami Parthsarathy,

(1991; 304) commented that ‘the phenomenon of trial by the press

was witnessed in Indian Journalism for the first time on a large scale’.

It was in this context that the Government decided to curb the

freedom of the press by introducing the Defamation Bill, 1988 in the

77
Lok Sabha on August 29, 19884. Reacting to the Government’s attempt

to bring in amendments to the Defamation Law in India, newspapers

opposed it vehemently. The main objections to the bill were section 8,

section 12, section 13, and section 15. The Statesman in its editorial,

‘Outlawing Democracy?’ on September 1, 1988, said:

…By trying to suppress public debate that seeks to

make the Government accountable for its misdeeds,
Mr.Rajiv Gandhi had reclaimed the dubious inheritance
that the people of India consigned to the dustbin of
history in 1977. But some indication of authority’s
moves and methods can be read into this repugnant
measure. By seeking to amend the law whereby the
“onus of establishing that the imputation is true and for
the public good…shall be on the accused”, the
Government has let it be known in no uncertain terms
that the official machinery will not be used to bring
evidence of political misdemeanors to public attention…

4 The bill aimed at making publication of imputations falsely alleging commission of

offences by a person. The bill also provided punishment in the case of a first offence
with imprisonment for a term up to two years or a fine which may extend to
Rs.2,000 or both and in the case of a second or subsequent offence with
imprisonment up to five years or with fine which extend up to Rs.5,000 or both.
Where the offence has been committed by publishing an imputation in newspapers,
the court convicting the offender may further order that its judgment shall be
published in whole or in part in such newspaper and in such a manner as it may
specify. The cost of such publication shall be recovered from the convicted person as
if it were a fine. The bill provided that where any matter and which is grossly
indecent or scurrilous or is intended for blackmail is published in any newspaper or
periodical or circular, the author of such matter the printer, published and editor of
such newspaper, periodical or circular shall, in the case of first offence, be
punishable with imprisonment for term which may extend up to two years or with
fine which may go up to Rs,2000 or with both and in the case of second or
subsequent offence, with imprisonment which may extend up to five years and fine
which may go up to Rs.5,000 or both. When a person pleads unintentional
defamation claiming that the objectionable matter was published innocently and
makes an offer of amends, the bill provided that the offer of amends shall be (a) in
writing; b) expressed to be made for the purposes of the section under which he is
charged; c) affirm that the person who has published the matter in question
published the matter innocently in relation to the party aggrieved; d) include an
offer to publish or join in the publication of a suitable correction of matter
complained of a sufficient apology. The correction and apology shall be published in
the same manner and with the same prominence as the matter alleged to be
defamatory was published.

78
The Indian Express also opposed the bill in its editorial dated

September 1, 1988, ‘Fight it’ said:

...By alleging that its critics had converted the

freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution into
licence, the Government had sought to throttle by
intimidation criticism and dissent by saying that it was
necessary to shield “the office of the Prime Minister”
from being defamed and denigrated. That was during
the Emergency. Clearly that restricted protection will
not do today…

In the same vein The Hindu also wrote an editorial, “Withdraw the

Defamation Bill”, dated September 3, 1988 said:

The entire Press in India—a many voiced, historically

mature and vigorously independent institution for all its
shortcomings and superficialities—has been aroused to
an intellectual and professional revolt against the
thinking, the approach, the content and the timing that
has resulted in the Defamation Bill, 1988. It was an
insult to the collective intelligence of the press, and to
the democratic instincts of the people of India, that the
authors of the atrociously draconian and unenlightened
attempt to change the law of criminal defamation
misjudged the mood as to imagine that they could sneak
this in and get away with the coup…

Journalists, politicians and lawyers all over the country opposed the

Bill. Journalists in New Delhi held an impressive demonstration on

September 5, 1988 and a nationwide newspaper strike was conducted

on September 6, 1988 against the Bill. Sensing the mood of the press,

the Government called for discussion with prominent editors, and the

newspapers refused to hold discussions with the Government. The

journalists argued that the intention of the Bill was to suppress

political journalism as it was exposing the politicians. The then Prime

Minister Rajiv Gandhi said that the arguments put forward by the
79
press for the withdrawal of the defamation bill were not strong

enough and asked the press to come and convince him. (The Indian

Express, September 17, 1988). Reacting to the Prime Minister’s

announcement that there should be a dialogue on the bill between the

Government and the press, prominent editor Arun Shourie (1988)

wrote an article in Indian Express criticizing the Prime Minister.

The Press since 1990s

Apart from being sensational (Goswami, 1994), the Indian

newspapers became polarised on important issues in the country.

With the onset of coalition politics in the early 1990s, the political

polarization was predominant, and the political parties searched for

issues to gain political mileage. A few studies taken up to analyse the

nexus between the media and political parties focused on the

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and its focus on specific issues. Jeffrey

(2007), Manchanda (2007) and Rajgopal (2009) dealt with the rise of

BJP and the support extended to the party by the select media outlets.

In the north India, two newspapers lent support to Hinduvata from

two perspectives: to sell more number of copies and influence the

voters. Three issues pertaining to the rise of BJP were discussed in the

media: Ram Janma Bhoomi movement, the Pokhran II (blasting

nuclear bomb), and the Kargil war (India–Pak conflict). Manchanda

(2007) observed that ‘distorted terminologies and phrases have been

naturalised in the mainline media. For example, the media played a

vital role in the construction of a public discourse in which the four-

hundred-year old Babri Masjid was converted into a ‘disputed

80
structure’, quietly fulfilling the BJP’s task of convincing the vast

majority of Indians that what was being demolished was not a mosque

in the constitutional sense, but a disputed structure in ultra-

constitutional sense’. Further, Rajgopal (2009) too examined the

influence of newspapers on the reader in dividing the public into two

groups: elite and non-elite groups. Specifically, Friedlnder et al (2009)

found that

… The effects of the newspaper revolution permeate

Indian politics of the 1980s and 1990s. The flourishing
of Hindu chauvinist politics in north India, the inability
of any political party to win a national majority since
1989, the vitality of the locally-based political parties,
the difficulty of most state governments to win
consecutive terms in office - all are related to the
growth of newspaper consumption. The localizing of
newspapers has brought pleasure, outrage, and
participation of millions of people for the first time.

With the proliferation of television channels in India crossing a

number of 800, the print media is increasingly affected in terms of

content. The print content focuses on gossip and politics. Obviously,

the Indian press is known for its wide coverage of political news

(Murthy, 2000), sensationalism (Ninan, 2010a, Philipose, 2010,

Thukkaren, 2010), and gossip combined with entertainment (Ninan,

2010b). Writer, Amrit Shah (2010) finds that ‘news media has been

dumbing down, embracing trivialization with a vengeance’. Thakurta

(2010) candidly wrote that ‘ in recent times, however, corruption in

the Indian media has gone way beyond individuals and specific media

organizations–from planting information and spinning views in lieu of

81
favours received in cash or kind to institutionalized and organized

forms of corruption wherein newspapers and TV channels receive

funds for publishing or broadcasting information that is sought to be

disguised as ‘news’ – but are actually designed to favour particular

individuals, corporate entities, representatives of political parties or

cash-rich candidates contesting elections’. Thakurta’s comments were

significant in the context of political journalism that was practiced by a

section of newspapers which indulged in ‘paid news’ concept. The

newspapers slanted news in favour of the select politicians who paid

money to the newspapers during the Maharastra and Andhra Pradesh

elections in 2009 (Sainath, 2009). The ‘paid news’ concept further

continued in 2014 elections.

Part II: Political events and the Press

Since 1980s, the process of politicisation of events and issues has

increasingly played a significant role in India. The return of Mrs Indira

Gandhi to power in 1980 and the emergence of regional parties in

various states have further given impetus to some of the issues or

events which received significant media attention. Here, in the

following pages, an attempt is made to review some research studies

that are pertinent to the present study. Indeed, these studies are

classified into seven categories for the purpose of understanding the

relationship between political parties and the media. They are: social

trends, particular events, activities of interest groups, politicians’

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rhetoric, government decisions, language and the press, and content

analysis of newspapers for political issues or parties.

Social trends

Normal social issues though are important are politicized on account

of the involvement of the politicians and non-governmental

organisations. Though liquor consumption is considered to be a social

issue because of its fallout on the domestic life, it has assumed a

significant place in Andhra Pradesh and it has become a social

movement like anti-arrack movement. Because any social movement,

according to Ross (1998), originates depending on four factors: 1) a

spontaneous collective response to rising expectations, 2) efforts to

mobilise resources, 3) the effects of changes in social structure and

political processes, and 4) charismatic leadership.

Further, Gitlin (1994) observed that ‘the mass media define the public

significance of movement or events or, by blanking them out, actively

deprive them of larger significance. Media images also become

implicated in a movement’s self-image; media certify leaders and

officially noteworthy “personalities”, indeed, they are able to convert

leadership into celebrity, something quite different. The forms of

coverage accrete into systematic framing, and this framing, much

amplified helps determine the movement’s fate’. Thus, in the anti-

arrack movement, media played a significant role. Eenadu in 1992

supported the anti-arrack movement initiated by the women of the

Andhra Pradesh. A spontaneous collective response to rising

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expectations, is observed when an elected government permits the

sale of liquor, it has been opposed by women, resulting in the anti-

arrack movement in which the newspaper, Eenadu played a crucial

role in giving coverage to the movement. The protest movement began

when Rosamma of Dubagunta village in Nellore district launched a

campaign against consuming liquor. She was inspired by a story,

Seethamma katha narrated in an adult education class. Jeffrey

(2003:14) wrote:

The real story began in May 1992 at Dubagunta , a

village in Nellore district, where three drunkard
labourers lost their way and were drowned in the
village tank. The women of the village marched to the
arrack shop and forced its closure. Obviously,
Seethamma katha, an important lesson that they learnt
in the adult literacy class, was at the back of their minds.

Soon the movement spread all over the entire state (Ratnakumari and

Sailaja, 1997). The supporters of this movement started attacking the

arrack barracks, torched the toddy shops and chased the people who

were promoting and abetting this business. Eenadu supported anti-

arrack movement by highlighting the various programmes taken up

by the protesters and allocated a full page in the main edition for the

coverage. Anita (2008) analysed the coverage of incidents, review of

the movements, background stories, damage suffered by consumers

due to drinking in social, economic, law and order aspects and so on.

Experience of the people who participated in the movement was put

forth before the readers which ultimately encouraged the movement.

Opinions of intellectuals, people’s representatives, social experts, and

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film stars were also collected and published. From time to time

bureaucrats and politicians were also interviewed to ascertain their

perception of the issue. The paper engaged people from various

sections like intellectuals, common people, those related to social,

educational, and industrial units to support the movement. They were

invited to share a common platform to discuss about the implications

of the movement, the steps to be taken in guiding the agitators to

speed up the agitation. The Eenadu group also launched an audio

cassette Shankharavam to encourage those who are already in the

movement and send the message to the people about the evil effects of

consumption of the liquor and arrack. The movement began on April

15, 1992 and the paper allotted one full page under the banner

Saarapai samaram (war against liquor) and every day one slogan

received from the public was published (Krishna Reddy, 2009). So it is

the case with the pocket cartoon. During the movement, the paper

continued publishing cartoon under the caption Saaramsam (the

concept of liquor). Since a special page was published in the main

edition regularly, news items brought from all over the state were

given equal significance to all the districts. Further, the movement

sustained for long because the newspaper played a significant role in

taking up the campaign (Anita, 2008). Shaw and McCombs (1989) who

suggested the agenda-setting role for newspapers observed: The

agenda-setting role of the press is one of civic mobilization. The press

helps focus our attention on the key problems of the day. It sets an

agenda for action’. Specifically, this paper set an agenda for the

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government to announce the decision of banning liquor. The other

newspapers in the state covered the movement when incidents took

place, and did not take active interest like the Eenadu.

Thus, one significant point is the state government headed by the

Congress party liberalised the liquor policy and lifted prohibition after

three years of the movement. In the present case, Eenadu terminated

its coverage as soon as the movement came to a halt. In fact, the

movement became a political issue between two political parties in

the state - the Congress and the Telugu Desam because the Congress

party liberalised liquor consumption while the Telugu Desam

promised that the liquor would be banned as soon as the party would

come to power. ‘Eenadu, known for its’ support to the Telugu Desam

supported the movement in view of its considered opposition to the

Congress party’ (Krishna Reddy, 2009).

Particular events

Dissemination of information related to any conflict will play a vital

role in creating awareness among the participants and outsiders to

garner support to it, and the role of mass media is significant in this

regard. For example, the movement of Asian textile workers in Los

Angels for better working conditions was successful because of an ad

campaign (Delgado, 1996 cited in Ross, 1998). Because the mass

media and society are interdependent, they reflect each other in their

respective discourses. DeFleur and Ball - Rokeach (1989: 303) have

observed that ‘the mass media system is assumed to be an important

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part of the social fabric of modern society, and hence it is seen to have

relationships with individuals, groups, organizations and other social

systems’. These relationships may be conflict-ridden or cooperative

depending upon the mass media’s perception of an issue which will

influence the public opinion as seen in the Gulf crisis (Iyengar and

Simon, 1997). Conflict news occupies prime place in Indian

newspapers, the latter too perpetrate conflict between individuals,

groups, political parties and governments (Murthy, 2010: 39). Jeffrey

(2007) concluded that ‘since the early 1980s, two facts confront

anyone who deals with India. The first is the media revolution itself:

newspapers in India’s major languages have trebled their penetration,

and television has become a mass medium. Second, the Bharatiya

Janata Party which aims to make India a ‘Hindu State’ has trebled its’

vote in national elections and become the country’s governing party’.

In all these years, politicisation of events has gone to such an extent

that a gas tragedy, a liquor policy, a temple construction, provision of

government jobs on the basis of caste, the purchase of a gun and

liberalization of economy and so on have been viewed differently by

the political parties, and the role of media in all these issues became

critical and crucial to perpetuate politicization of particular events.

Interest groups
Interest group leaders often encourage social trends and try to

capitalize on particular events to instill their objectives in the political

world and bring them to the attention of the policymakers and public.

‘Interest groups are private organizations that attempt to influence

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decisions made by the public officials these organizations typically

represent a group of individuals with a common interest ,or

corporations with shared interests. Interest groups use political

communications to appeal to their members, the general public, and

political officials’ (Heldman, 2009: 340). Further, interest groups have

played a more prominent role in influencing public opinion, public

policy, and elections with the advent of mass communication and the

high price of contemporary elections. Since 1980s, caste mobilization

has been undertaken by the interest groups for the upliftment of

lower castes. Krishna Reddy (2010) observed that ‘politics and

political parties addressing social cleavages on caste lines have

become a quite legitimate way of representing and articulating the

interests of segments of people in the electoral arena’. Since the mid-

1980s a new wave of caste-based mobilization in north India brought

the Scheduled Castes (SCs) otherwise known as Dalits into politics in

Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)

founded by Kanshi Ram in Uttar Pradesh. The formation of the

government by the BSP combined with another political party

Samajwadi party in the early 1990s introduced the far-reaching

consequences in the politics of Uttar Pradesh and also the country

(Sudha Pai, 2001). While the BSP did have the support of Dalit

newspapers, it did not have the support of the television (Thomas,

2010:76). Loynd (2008:81-82) observed:

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 The BSP have found success by bypassing the
mainstream media and communicating directly with its
Dalit and MBC constituency. In doing so it has
disengaged from the mainstream media and instead
focused on the cultural messages, symbols and actions
familiar to Dalit communities. It has taken these Dalit
myths and icons and wrapped around them symbols of
equality, self-respect and rejection of the stigma to
empower Dalits and build political support for the
party.

Early on, caste politics began in Tamil nadu in the early 1940s under

the leadersip of E V Ramaswamy Naicker known as Periyar, attacking

the Brahmins and the religious symbols. He also raised an issue of

distinguishing people as Aryans and Dravidians for the purpose of

promoting political divide. Since then, Tamilnadu witnessed the rise of

political parties like Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, All India Anna

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam which fought in the elections to gain

political power on the basis of caste (Vaasanthi, 2006, Jacob, 2010).

Politicians’ rhetoric

The modern day politicians have realized the potential of media as

well as the publicity to influence the public mind. Many issues which

do not deserve much media attention become the locus and focus of

the media and subsequently acquire the national importance. Indeed

in this regard, the media’s role is critical and lends support to such

political parties or politicians. Corner (2003) categorized the functions

of the media in this respect: 1) First, there is political publicity which

projects politicians within the most favourble or unfavourable light

depending on its party origins, 2) There is the spectrum of interactive

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news-making where differing degrees of involvement, both politicians

cooperate in the production of news and comment, often for the pre-

selected outlets. And 3) journalistic revelation in which some cases

without any political cooperation at all and in others with support

from sectors of the political establishments at a point (leaked

documents), stories are developed that are critical of particular

revelations. These functions of the media are seen in an issue in India

about the construction of a temple in Ayodhya where the national

political parties particularly the BJP took advantage of the local issue

to gain political power.

The Ram Janma Bhoomi movement was aimed at constructing a

temple at the birth place of Lord Ram in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The

controversy received a nation-wide attention where the district judge

of Ayodhya on Feburary1, 1986 ordered that the locks of the shrine be

opened for the worship of the idols. Indeed, the shrine was located

inside a large mosque which was believed to have been constructed

way back in the 16th century by a general of the Mughal emperor

Babar and hence it was known as Babri Masjid (Ramchandra Guha,

2007:582). Moreover, the place was the birth place of Lord Ram

before the construction of Masjid. In fact, the Lucknow Bench of the

Allahabad High Court, in a judgment delivered on September 30, 2010

declared the place as the birthplace of Ram (The Hindu, October 1,

2010). The site was locally known as Rama Janma Bhoomi. Through

the 19th century, there were a series of clashes between the Hindus

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and Muslims, the British rulers then affected a compromise, whereby

the Muslims continued to worship inside the Mosque, while Hindus

made offerings on a raised platform outside. (Ramachandra Guha,

2007: 587). On December 22, 1949, an idol of Rama was kept inside

the mosque, and the next day, the district court ordered the closure of

the place. Since then the temple was closed, and in 1986, it was

opened because of the local court judgment. Meanwhile, the Viswa

Hindu Parishad began campaigning for the construction of the temple

at the place where the mosque was located. Further, researchers like

Raj Gopal (2009), Manchanda (2007), and Jeffrey (2007) pointed out

that the telecast of the Ramayan serial in Doordarshan, the national

television in 1986-87 fortified the people’s faith on Lord Ram. Jeffery

(2007) candidly noted that the events since 1984 with the

assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and

ascendancy of her son, Rajiv Gandhi to the post of the prime minister

changed the political situation. He further added Indira Gandhi used

religious symbols to cultivate votes and sympathy. Nevertheless, the

rise of BJP too could be attributed to the use of emotional issue like

temple at Ayodhya for its benefit. The party which was having only

two members of Parliament in 1984 obtained 86 seats in 1989

elections. Two issues need to be taken into consideration. The ‘identity

politics’ in the country were deep rooted at that time. First, the BJP

focused on the Ram Janma Bhoomi issue. Subramaniam (2010)

observed that the ‘parivar and the Jan Sangh (the associates of the

BJP) were by themselves too weak to carry the movement forward. As

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has been proved repeatedly, movements and conflicts die down

without political support. So too it was in Ayodhya where a deafening

quiet prevailed until the mid-1980s when the VHP and then a

resurgent BJP seized the issue, realising its enormous and electoral

potential’. The BJP politicians and their allies in various Hindu fronts

proclaimed that they would construct the temple in Ayodhya by

demolishing the mosque. Second, to counter the BJP effort to build the

temple was scuttled by the then Prime Minister VP Singh by declaring

27 per cent jobs for members of other backward castes in the

government. Outraged over the announcement of jobs to Other

Backward Castes, upper castes opposed the move. At that point of

time, LK Advani, the BJP leader started a Rath Yatra (Chariot Journey)

around India, and the journey would culminate at Ayodhya. Jeffrey

(2007) observed:

Advani’s ‘chariot journey’, a stroke of powerful

propaganda, drew on Gandhi’s Salt March of 1930 and
brought colour and excitement to towns across north
India. It assumed a central place in explanations of what
had happened in north India politics in what- appeared
to be less than a year.

The purpose of this BJP strategy was to stress on ‘Hinduness-

Hindutva- and to bring together all Hindus on one thread beyond their

self- identity such as caste, region and gender. This political rhetoric

was perpetuated in the media, particularly the newspapers. The

English language newspapers reflected these tendencies and also the

Hindi newspapers (Rajgopal, 2009). In the early 1990s, several studies

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analyzed the correlation between the mass media, the Ram

Janmabhoomi movement, the constitution of a Hindutva public, the

increase in communal violence, and the rise of the BJP (Manchanda,

2007).

Government decisions

The government decisions have wider ramifications on the public in

view of their importance and the media role in such decisions is

critical. The media tend to create hype in the public by trying to

influence the government decisions. Priest (1996) observed

The media affect public policies in a variety of ways.

Publicity may narrow the policy choices available to
public officials. It may engender government action
when no action might have taken place otherwise.
Alternatively, by mobilizing hostile public or intent
group opinions, the media may force a halt to ongoing
policies. Sometimes, media content and organizations
are also powerfully influenced by the types of
government, the social values, and cultural legacies of
the societies in which they arise.

The central governments exerted control over the media’s reach

through direct and indirect means. ‘Tight control over the newsprint

because it was imported through a state-controlled corporation, high-

level of taxes on imported printing machinery and a wage tribunal that

mandated salaries for media personnel were among the means used

(Rodgrigues,2010)

In 1991, the Central government through the State Trading

Corporation, which imports newsprint and supplies, to newspapers

increased the cost of newsprint on the ground that the newsprint was
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being bought on extended credit. The outstanding credit amounted to

Rs 60 crores (India Today, August 3, 1991). The newsprint hike was

above Rs 4000 in that year. As a result, the Illustrated Weekly of India

scrapped its colour magazine, which was printed on glazed newsprint

and instead was sticking to its broadsheet format, which was printed

on standard newsprint. The Economic Times increased its cover price

from Rs 4 to Rs 5. The Hindustan Times cut back on its 24-page edition

by anything between 4-8 pages daily. The Indian Express pulled out its

Saturday colour supplement. The reason for the increase of newsprint

price was that the government in power was facing the hostile press in

the wake of it’s decision to implement the 27 per cent reservation for

Other Backward Castes in the government and the disputes in the

government on the handling of the Ayodhya issue and so on. The press

argued that it was a threat to freedom of the speech and expression5.

The Central government or State governments tried to muzzle the

press through their political decisions. Although the Constitution

guarantees freedom of the press, the governments in power enacted

5 The Hindu, in its editorial, ‘Press freedom and Indian situation ` dated January 13,
1990 asked the National Front government headed by V.P.Singh to lift certain
restrictions on the import of newsprint while suggesting other things to the
government. The paper pointed out that ‘the press freedom could be guaranteed
partially if the Government fostered it, and the other half, “equally important and
crucial is the physical and monetary wherewithal that publishers and editors need to
discharge their responsibilities effectively. Particularly the paper suggested two
measures for this purpose: 1) Newsprint imported as well as domestic, should be
available in the quality and quantities required - the commitment being with respect
to the comprehensiveness of readership reach and quality of production. Glazed
newsprint should be supplied to newspapers, besides magazines, to attain
international excellence in printing, 2) Import duty on newsprint should be
abolished. Customs and excise duties on printing machinery, components, and raw
materials (other than newsprint) should be reduced gradually, if it is thought
unrealistic to eliminate them. It should be useful to remember that, in pre-
Independence India, the rate of duty was less than 10 per cent’.

94
laws to curb the press freedom in the early 1980s. ‘On July 31, 1982

the Bihar Assembly passed the Bihar Press Bill despite opposition to

the bill from the newspapers all over the country. The government

planned to amend the Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code

by making scurrilous writing as non-bailable offence, punishable with

severe imprisonment’ (Parthasarathy, 2009). The bill made the

vendor of the newspaper could be found to be guilty along with the

editor and printer of the offending newspaper. However, the bill was

withdrawn with the intervention of the Central government.

The Jammu & Kashmir government in order to discipline the press in

writing against it, in 1989 attempted to bring out a bill, The J & K

Special Powers (Press) bill. The bill laid emphasis on preventive

measures and pre-censorship while confiscating the property of the

offending newspaper. The press council of India examined the bill and

asked the state government to withdraw it. More over, the Central

government made a desperate attempt to bring a Defamation Bill in

1988 when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister. With stiff resistance

to the Bill from journalists all over the country, the Bill was withdrawn

on September 6, 1988. Always, there is a rift between the government

and the press, and the press is under strain on many occasions

(Mankekar, 1977). Studies (Ramakrishna, 2001) done by research

scholars analyzed the government-press conflict in India.

The other issue was the government decision to allow foreign direct

investment in the print media. With an important decision, the

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government radically changed the newspaper policy by allowing the

foreign newspaper ventures in India with limited equity. On June 25,

2002, the Union cabinet (when the BJP was in power) approved the

recommendations of Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s

standing committee to allow 26 percent of equity by foreign

companies in the Indian newspaper industry and 74 percent of foreign

investment in scientific/technical/ medical journals 6. The Congress

and Left parties opposed the move on the ground that foreign powers

might take over the reigns in the newspaper business, thereby

influencing the readers mind as per their needs. This is despite foreign

investment being allowed in most sectors including TV broadcasting

and Internet business, and the overall easy access to any material

from the foreign press through Internet. The government however

brought safeguards7 to ensure that management and editorial control

remain in Indian hands (Economic Times, June 26, 2002).

6 The Union Government’s decision overruled the 1955 Cabinet resolution during
Nehru‘s prime ministership. On September 18, 1955 the Cabinet passed a resolution
with two operative sentences: No foreign owned newspaper or periodical should in
future be permitted to be published in India. And foreign newspapers and
periodicals, which deal mainly with news and current affairs, should not be allowed
to bring out Indian editions. As early as 1959, the Supreme Court ruled that a non-
citizen running a newspaper is not entitled to lay claim to freedom of the press as his
fundamental right. This, question, however, is linked with the issue whether only
individual citizens or corporations can claim freedom of the press and companies
can also claim it. The apex court ruled that while a corporation or a company was
not citizen and was not guaranteed press freedom, its editor, directors, and
shareholders as citizens could claim that right. So, if a foreigner is run as a joint
enterprise with an innovating Indian newspaper or a group of newspapers, its
directors, shareholders, and the editor (whatever his nomenclature- chief editor,
chief-in-editor, executive editor or any other) can seek the protection of the court
while foreign collaborators would sit back and reap the benefits accruing to the
publication in terms of press freedom (Bhatt, 1997). Despite the court judgment and
the 1955 cabinet resolution, the government went ahead of modifying the
newspaper policy.
7 The safeguards are: 1)A single largest Indian shareholder must hold significantly
higher stakes (of over 26%), 2) Also, if the share holding pattern was to be changed,

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On the issue of FDI, the newspapers were divided into two groups:

pro-FDI group and anti-FDI group. The pro-group included Business

Standard, Indian Express, The Asian Age, The Pioneer, Deccan

Chronicle, Business India, Mid-Day, Dainik Jagran, Gujarat Samachar,

India Today, Ananda Bazar Patrika, and Rashtriya Sahara. The anti-FDI

group includes; The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu,

Malayala Manorama and Eenadu. Murthy (2004) analyzed the impact

of FDI decision on the newspaper industry. He divided these

newspapers into two groups basing on their political orientation. The

group that was supporting the issue was considered to be pro-BJP and

the other group was said to be anti-BJP. The two groups of

newspapers through their editorial columns and other news items

highlighted their views8. For example, the two national dailies, The

Hindu and Indian Express wrote editorials opposing and supporting

permission of the information and broadcasting ministry is mandatory, 3) There

wont be any room for ‘post-disclosure`, 4) To ensure that editorial control does not
go to foreigners, at least three-fourths of the board of directors must be resident
Indians, 5) Also, all key editorial posts, including the chief editor, must be Indian
residents
8
Despite these arguments, none of the foreign newspapers came forward to invest in
the Indian newspaper till the middle of 2003. However, in September 2003, two deals
were announced-one involving 13.8% equity in Business Standard by Financial Express of
London, and the other in the Hindustan Times to the extent of 20% stake by an
Australian investor, Henderson Global. According to India Book of the year 2004, foreign
investment in these newspapers started as cooperation with editorial syndication of
reports between Business Standard and Financial Express culminated in joint venture.
This kind of arrangements already are existing for some time between The Financial
Express in India and the Wall Street Journal, and very recently it started between The
Asian Age and the New York Times. However, during 2006 and 2008, about 200
publications mostly magazines were launched which attracted an investment of Rs 10
billion ( Kohli-Khandekar, 2010:7)

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 the government decision. The Hindu editorial on June 27, 2002 said,

‘An Indian Institution under Threat’ and wrote:

…The government claims that the various conditions –

a 26 per cent cap on foreign investment, an Indian
editor and majority staffing by Indians – make for
sufficient checks on any unhealthy foreign influence in
the print media. But the government is not fooling
anyone with such conditions. Everyone is aware that
firms can and are controlled with as little as 10 per cent
equity. And the presence of Indians in senior positions
is not going to prevent the foreign conglomerates in the
background from eventually pulling their strings of
influence.

Contrary to The Hindu’s editorial, Indian Express wrote an editorial on June

27, 2002 (Reading the fine print: Finally, it’s the quality of news that

counts), saying

…Finally, every media institution, whether Indian

owned or not, is only as good as the people who
comprise it. Newspapers may be wholly Indian owned
but may nevertheless display a wanton disregard for
the core values that inform the Fourth Estate. This is
where professionalism and commitment come in. There
is an unfortunate assumption in the arguments raised
against FDI in print that the reader is a fledging in a nest
opening its trusting beak to anything fed to it. This is to
do discredit to a readership that is, from all accounts, a
vibrant, thinking one, nurtured for decades on the idea
of a free press. Nobody, with all the money in the world,
can change the definition of what constitutes good
journalism.

Even editorials discussed the political issues elaborately and

newspapers took different stands on the same issue. Obviously, the

polarization of newspapers has clearly reflected in the coverage and

also the support of newspapers to public issues with a political tone.

Rangaswamy Parthasarathi (2009) a veteran journalist and an author

of three books in journalism commented thus:

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 The interaction between the press and politicians is
something unique in India. Nowhere in the world the
press devoted so much of its space, time and energy to
the in doings and outpourings, their plots, intrigues,
frauds and manipulations as in India. The politicians do
not resent it and in fact most of them use the press to
serve their own ends, the press becomes a sort of post
office for them which is only too willing to act as a
forum to put up their show. It has been in the years
following Independence and one fears so it will be in the
foreseeable future (2009:331)

Language and the Press

Language is a tool of communication for journalists, and use of

language in news reports plays a significant role in informing the

public about an event. Though a journalist does not witness an event,

he or she tries to construct it with the help of information given to

him/her by a second party. Sometimes, a journalist may be present at

the event; he or she constructs it by understanding it. In such a

situation, is the journalist presenting facts to the public? News is a

representation of reality that happens in the environment and the

language facilitates the projection of reality. In the profession of

journalism, use of value-free words is to be practiced to be very

objective in reporting an event without any bias. Since the use of

language is not mere accidental, they carry the intentions of the

writer. Often, the ideology of the writer is understood through his/her

writings. Fowler (1991:5) said ‘the contents of newspapers are not

facts about the world, but in very general sense ideas’. Thus, the

analyses of media discourses can assess the ideological practice of

journalists and their representation through language. For example,

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though editorials contain language that is sophisticated, they have

become controversial. When Arun Shourie was the editor of Indian

Express, an editorial was written on August 13, 1990 with the

heading, `If shame had survived ` against a judge asking him to vacate

the seat for allegedly indulging in a scandal. Since the language in the

editorial was pungent, the court issued the editor a notice. In 2001, the

Maharashtra government filed a case against Bal Thackrey for writing

an editorial in his party journal inflaming passions against one

community (Murthy, 2005). Hence, Gandhiji advised the newspapers

to give importance to the language being used in the newspapers. The

following passage is illustrative of his mind.

The last, though not the least, question is: What is the
duty of a newspaper in a country where there are laws
like the “Seditious Writing Act” and the “Defence of
Indian Act” to restrict its freedom?” In order to get over
this limitation our newspapers have evolved a style of
writing which makes it possible to interpret what they
say on a particular matter, which may seem to fall
within the purviews of these Acts, in two different ways.
Some have perfected this art to a science. But, in my
opinion, this causes harm to our country. People
develop a tendency to equivocate and fail to cultivate
the courage to speak the truth. It changes the form of
the language which, instead of being an instrument for
expressing one’s thoughts, becomes a mask for
concealing them. I am convinced that this is not the way
to educate our people. Both people and individuals must
cultivate the habit of speaking their minds. Newspapers
are in a position to impart such training to them. The
right course, and the one which will ultimately be found
to be of the greatest advantage to us, would be that
those who are afraid of the above laws and who do not
want to get entangled in them should stop publishing
newspapers, or that they should frankly state their true
views and bear the consequences. Justice Steven has
said somewhere that there can be no hatred in the
language of a man who has no hatred in his heart. And if

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 there is any hatred one should frankly express it. In case
one hasn’t the courage to act thus, one should stop
publishing a newspaper. In this lies the good of our
people and our country. (From Selected Works of
Mahatma Gandhiji, Vol VI, 1994: 312).

Part III: Elections, politics and newspapers

In India, elections are a regular phenomenon as the polls are held for

the Assembly elections as well as the Lok Sabha. Umpteen studies

have been conducted on the elections analyzing various issues. The

decrease in voter participation during the 40 years was analyzed,

locating the specific causes for the decline (Chari and Maertens, 2012).

Some other studies like role of political parties in the elections

(Shastri et al, 2009, Sridharan, 2004, Yadav,1996, Ware, 1996), issues

during assembly elections (Kanungo and Farooqi, 2008; Lodha,2009;

Judge2012; Bhardwaj,2008) have been conducted in various other

settings. Further, in the recent elections of 2004, 2009 and 2014 too,

researchers conducted different studies on several issues. For

example, Srinuvasulu (2004) analyzed the 2004 elections from the

prospective of the TDP loss of power and the Congress return to

power the study analyzed the reasons for the defeat of the TDP the

study pointed out “the dominant discourses of the congress and the

TDP are framed in termed of crisis vs. development . While the TDP's

development-centric discourse in view of the multiplier effects of

demand for demonstration of proof hypothetically remained a closed

option, the crisis-centric discourse of the congress campaign displayed

possibilities for new discursive coalitions and political alliances.

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Because of the discursive centrality of crisis, the concerns of the

marginalized groups gained prominence in the electoral campaign of

the congress and its allies. Through a continuous focus on the suicides

of the farmers and weaver to demonstrate the TDP's insensitivity to

the people's anguish, the Congress sought to deepen the legitimacy

crisis of the TDP regime”. In 2009 elections, it was observed that the

issues raised by the major political alliances elections presented a

mixed picture. The national election study 2009 indicated that voters

did not consider some of the issues highlighted by political parties to

have relevance to them and these had almost no impact on their

decisions. They included for instance, the BJP’ campaign issues such as

India –US nuclear deal and the Ramsethu controversy. However,

economic concerns, basic services, welfare policies and citizen’s

security were significant in influencing voting decisions (Praveen Rai,

2014). Further, two studies analyzed the 2014 elections. Badri

Narayana(2014) analyzed the election campaign of Narendra Modi in

2014 elections. He argued that in the final phase of the 2014 elections,

various arms of the Sangh Parivar, the RSS itself, the BJP cadre and a

team of technically equipped workers, “the blue brigade” 9 were

9
A team of highly skilled professionals has spread out across the districts and cities of up
with the mission of keeping a watch on the local teams working in each district to
campaign for Modi and to report directly to Amit shah. Since the trademark dress code
of the team is a blue kurta and blue jeans. This team is known as the “blue brigade”. The
members of this team are part of the organization called “citizens for accountable
governance”(CAG),and most of them are graduates in professional courses from reputed
colleges and universities both in India and in the united states. Using technological tools
and known –how, this is set of technical professional are masterminding various aspects
of campaign such as the “chai pe charcha” (conversations over “tea”, either in physical
locations or internet chats), Modi 3D rallies (featuring holographic technology enabling
“simul-casting “ of Narendra Modi’s rallies ),etc. This team has been divided into two

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formed to work the round the clock for the success of Narendra Modi’s

personality-oriented campaign. Sushas Palshikar and Suri (2014)

analysis found the reasons for the success of BJP in the elections of

2014. They were:

1) The BJP was able to increase its presence significantly in all

the regions and states where it did not have strong
presence so far. Its vote share has considerable gone up in
J&K, Assam, West Bengal etc.

2) The social groups are clearly aligning with the BJP. The BJP
began with a base among the upper and intermediate
castes. The party succeeded in winning over sections or the
OBC groups in 1990’s and now has firmly entrenched itself
in both upper and OBC communities.

3) The 2014 elections was the first since Indira Gandhi's

departure when the leadership became a decisive factor.
Modi and his supporters surely worked extra hard towards
achieves this objective .

members units which have been sent to each lok sabha constituency. These units have
been entrusted with the task of judging the activities of the local teams and where the
local teams are not very efficient, the members of the technical team themselves form
campaign teams. The technical team members regularly update the central unit of
Modi’s team about their activities. According to BJP leaders, the technical team is
looking after several election campaigns. The team functions independently of the
district and city committees but it is in touch with all the candidates of BJP. All the team
members spread out across the constituencies of up also have a list of names and
telephone numbers of the officers of the booth management committees. The team has
also asked for formation of groups of10 workers in all these constituencies who are
devoted in their duty of campaigning for the BJP. These workers have been made
members of the existing booth committees and it is reported the technical team has
changed nearly two dozen booth committees. Effectively they have formed their own
booth committees of the RSS and BJP. The technical team monitors the needs of the
local candidates and the input is sent to the central team ,which provides the necessary
support t the local BJP candidates. This team also works in coordination with the RSS and
they exchange information and inputs to form strategies for electoral mobilization.

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Elections and media. During elections newspapers publish cartoons

on various facets of election which are creative and imaginative

conveying a message to all. During elections media play a crucial role

in reflecting the diversity and plurality of the country (Quraishi,

2012). The media can augment the public participation by providing

information and analyses on a range of political, economic, social and

other issues. The media in India is privately owned and profit motives

can distort the free and fair dissemination of information (Vanita-

Khandekar, 2013). The conflict of social obligation and commercial

consideration do result in compromising ethical standards. Since

elections are part of democracy, it is crucial for the media to give a fair

and accurate coverage of political parties and the contesting

candidates. This entails a sense of responsibility among journalists. To

ensure a fair and objective reporting during elections, the Press

Council of India had formulated guidelines for the print media. The

media can also play a significant role in supporting the Election

Commission of India efforts in holding free and fair polls by keeping a

strict vigil on the electoral malpractices and the violation of the Model

Code of Conduct by the contesting candidates (Quraishi, 2012).

In the recent times, corruption in media has become institutionalized

in the form of paid news10. This unethical practice has become

widespread involving advertising agencies, journalists and media

owners. Media houses come up with specific packages for publishing a

10
Paid news is an advertisement disguised as an editorial, where newspapers and
television channels receive money to publish or broadcast information in favor of
individuals.

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favorable news items and those who do not subscribe to this package

are blacked out or maligned. This malpractice has become widespread

among newspapers and television channels in different languages. The

Press Council of India has defined ‘paid news’ as any news or analysis

appearing in the media (print or electronic) media for a price in cash

or kind as consideration. Paid news not only seeks to circumvent

election laws relating to ceiling on expenditure that can be incurred by

a candidate, but such advertising masquerading as news has the

potential to exercise undue influence on voters and adversely affect

their right to factually correct information. Paid news undermines

the credibility of the media and poses a serious threat to democracy.

Content analysis and newspapers

Barnett and Gaber (2001:11-12) identified three functions of

newspapers in the context of political communication, viz., tribunes of

the people, information provision and opinion formation. First,

newspapers relay the opinions of the people to the policy-making

elites, governments and elected representatives. Second, they can

convey accurate, intelligible and comprehensive knowledge about

contemporary political issues to the electorate, allowing citizens to

formulate their own informed responses if they choose to participate

accordingly. And third, they contribute to the process of opinion

formation i.e to allow citizens as neutral forum in which to share their

views and a space in which discussions can be held and collective view

is allowed to evolve.

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In India, the proliferation of media outlets such as newspapers, and

television networks has increased the political news coverage and also

political debates. Obviously, the reason is politicization of each issue

which gets a lot of media coverage. Politicisation, according to Paletz,

(1989: 324) is ‘the process by which an institution, person, event, or

activity not considered political acquires a political meaning and

relevance. Instead of being dealt with privately or in some other non-

political forum, the subject becomes an issue of political concern.

Politicized issues may be featured in election campaigns, provide a

source of disagreements among candidates, inspire differences among

political parties, or be seen as falling under government responsibility

and even requiring government action’. Haque (1986) observed:

Politics is the most newsworthy topic in India. The

drama of conflict among different parties within the
political process and within the parties themselves has
been suggested to have an enormous fascination for the
middle class readers who constitute the majority of the
newspaper readers.

Newspapers devote a substantial part of their resources for the

coverage of political news. Obviously, the vicissitudes of the political

parties, mudslinging and allegations against each other form the grist

to the reporters’ mill (Murthy, 2001). A senior journalist and freelance

writer Tavleen Singh (1994) comments, “ There are other things

seriously wrong with Indian journalism like, for instance, our

obsession with politics and politicking to the exclusion of real issues.

We will, for instance, give you reams and reams on Kanshi Ram’s

problems with Mulayam Singh Yadav but tell you nothing about the

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state of governance in Uttar Pradesh”. In the context of political

communication, newspapers perpetuate the cause of politicians by

politicizing the issues.

These studies apart, four more studies analyzed the newspapers for

the political content (Murthy, 2001; Murthy and Vijay Kumar, 2013;

Naresh, 2011; Madhavi, 2014). With the advent of coalition politics in

the country since 1989, the political scenario underwent a radical

change. New political parties started emerging with a need to fulfill

regional aspirations. Since the regional parties were focusing on

regional issues, the press too started reflecting those issues. Thus, the

research studies undertaken during the period 1993 to 2013 were

reviewed to ascertain the focus given in the editorials on the state

issues in four dailies. Murthy’s analysis (2001) of four newspapers in

1995 in Andhra Pradesh revealed that politics dominated in the

editorials, and the English newspapers - The Hindu and Indian Express

focused more on national issues while the Telugu newspapers were

focusing on state issues. Although the Telugu Desam party came to

power in the state, the English papers gave more focus to national

category. Subsequent to this study, Murthy and Vijai Kumar (2013),

Murthy and Ramdas (2013), Murthy and Madhavi Ravi Kumar (2014)

found that political news dominated in all the newspapers. Murthy

(2001) found that political news exceeded more than 25% in the four

newspapers: The Hindu (30.6%), Indian Express (28.5%), Andhra

Jyothi (34.8%), and Eenadu (30.8%). Further, Naresh (2011) study

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examined political news coverage was more than 35% in four

newspapers. Murthy and Vijai Kumar (2013) study found that politics

and government acts received nearly 25% and above percentage: The

Hindu (24.2%), Deccan Chronicle (25%), Andhra Jyothi (34.2%), and

Eenadu (30.9%). Murthy and Ramdas (2013) study noted that political

news was around 15% in the five English dailies: The Statesman (17.3

%,), The Times of India (14.3%), The Hindu (18.4%), The New Indian

Express (16.8%), and Deccan Chronicle (18.8%). Further, Madhavi Ravi

Kumar and Murthy (2014) examined in their study that political news

was around more than 10% in the three dailies: The Hindu (10.9%),

Deccan Chronicle (10.5%), and The New Indian Express (11.3%), and

the one English newspaper, The Times of India gave only 6.8% of news

items dedicated to politics. Ramana Murthy (2014) analyzed the

editorials published during 2009 to 2013 in four newspapers namely,

The Hindu, Deccan Chronicle, Andhra Jyothi and Eenadu. He found that

the Hindu covered the BJP unfavourably while Deccan Chronicle

projected the Congress party favourably in the editorials during the

five-year period. On the other hand, the two Telugu newspapers

covered the Congress party unfavourably in the newspaper editorials

during the same period.

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