WHAT MAKES NEWS: A CONTENT STUDY OF REGIONAL MEDIA

The Hoot.org did a study of regional newspaper coverage over a two month period
which extended from mid September to mid November 2010. A sample survey was
done of 10 regional newspapers, chosen to represent the North, South, East and West
of the country, were studied to see if there were discernable patterns in their coverage.
The highest circulated English and Regional language paper in each of five states were
taken. It was a sampling of 30 days across 60 days (every alternate day.) We took all
stories in the main editions of each paper, minus the sports and editorial pages, and
minus the supplements. The idea was to see what constitutes news in the general
news pages. The statistics for sports in our study, relates to sports coverage in these
newspapers, which occurred outside sports pages.

Summary Findings

➢ Overall, politics dominates the news, followed by business.

➢ English newspapers in India however, carry more business than political news.

➢ Thirty nine per cent of all political news was party related.

➢ Crime and violence account for the third highest category of news, followed by
news relating to governance and legal matters.

➢ Agriculture related news accounts for only 0.9 percent of the news

➢ Environment related stories account for 3.0 per cent of all coverage.

➢ Education constituted 4 per cent of all news. School education received less
than one third of the coverage given to higher education during the period of the
study.

➢ The focus of the news carried was of a general nature in 62.3 per cent of the
stories, urban or city oriented in focus in 30.4 per cent of the cases, and only 3.1
per cent of all news had a rural focus.

➢ The Bengali papers had the highest focus on rural news, with 11.5 per cent of
Ananda Bazar Patrika’s news classified as rural, and 6.9 per cent of the news in
the Telegraph. Much of the rural focus news in West Bengal is political violence
related news originating from the rural areas

➢ The news tends to be highly miscellaneous in nature.

 ➢ In terms of origin of news carried national news got a slight edge in all the papers
taken together perhaps because major events happened during this period.

➢ National news was 27.8 per cent, news originating at the state level 22.3 per
cent, and local or city news 25.2 per cent.

➢ Fourteen percent of the total news was attributed to news agencies, with PTI
accounting for more than 50 per cent.

➢ Eeenadu of Andhra Pradesh had the most range of coverage. It had the most
political coverage, as well as the most agriculture, science and governance-
related news. It had more economy and business coverage than the Deccan
Chronicle, and far more than other regional language papers except Gujarat
Samachar. It also had the lowest incidence of crime and violence news among
all the newspapers. Its international coverage is low, at 2.1 per cent compared to

FULL REPORT

Overview

Which issues dominate coverage in India’s highest circulating region-specific

newspapers? And which ones receive very little coverage, across the board? Are there
any discernable regional patterns to the kind of news which dominates?

Our study took ten newspapers in five states. All stories on the general news pages in
the following newspapers were taken: Hindustan Times (Delhi), Dainik Jagran (Delhi),
Telegraph, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Deccan Chronicle, Dinathanti, the Hindu (Chennai),
Times of India (Ahmedabad), and Gujarat Samachar. Each of these is the highest
circulated English or regional language papers in its state.

Overall, in quantitative terms the single highest category of news was, perhaps
unsurprisingly, political news. It constituted 15.7 percent of the total news items coded
for the quantitative survey. A total of 20,797 news items were coded, in five states.

The second highest category of news overall, falls in the category of economy and
business, at 13.6 per cent of the total.
Legend: Agri – Agriculture; Art; C&V – Crime and Violence; Chd – Child related; Conf
– Conflict; E&B – Economy and business; Edu – Education; Env – Environment; Gen –
Gender; Gov – Governance; Hth – Health; I/A/M – Incident/Accident/Mortality; Infr-
Infrastructure; Int – International; L&O – Law and order; Leg – Legal; Med – Media;
Mig – Migration; Pol – Politics; Sci – Science; Soc – Social; Spt – Sport; Wat – Water.

However, all the English newspapers had more business and economy coverage, than
political coverage. Among regional language newspapers it was the reverse with the
exception of Gujarat Samachar. This paper had 21.1 per cent of its total coverage
devoted to business, 16.9 per cent to politics.)

The third most voluminous category of news in leading daily newspapers was crime and
violence (8.7 percent) , followed by news on governance as a category (8 per cent).
The fifth highest category of news was legal. Even after excluding the sports pages,
sports still accounted for 4.3 percent of the total news, most of it in the two Delhi
newspapers, on account of the Commonwealth Games being held here during this
period.

How much coverage does agriculture receive, in a country where it constitutes the
highest source of employment? The figure is 0.9 per cent. Stories on water constituted
0.4 per cent. Environment, comparatively, does make news (3.0).

The social sector fares only slightly better. The percentage of news items on education
was 4.0 per cent, health, 2.9 per cent, children and gender 0.6 per cent each.

The focus of the news carried was of a general nature in 62.3 per cent of the stories,
urban or city- oriented in focus in 30.4 per cent of the cases, and 3.1 per cent of all
news had a rural focus. In terms of origin of news carried national news got a slight
edge in all the papers taken together perhaps because major events happened during
this period. National news was 27.8 per cent, news originating at the state level 22.3
per cent, and local or city news 25.2 per cent.

Fourteen percent of the total news was attributed to news agencies, with PTI accounting
for more than 50 per cent.

Some of the findings were skewed by the dominant news of the period under study.
Religion dominated the category of news classified as society-related, partly because of
the Ayodhya coverage, and partly because the study was conducted over two months
spanning the festival season.
As the samples of headlines will show, much of the news under each category is
miscellaneous in nature.

The major news events during this period were turmoil in Kashmir, the judgement on
Ayodhya, the Commonwealth Games, and the Obama visit.

Political news

Sub-categories of news when looked at, also yielded some interesting information. The
most substantial categories of political news were party related (38.9 per cent), and
personality related (26.1 per cent). Personality news counted as news about or a
statement by a political personality. The third highest category of political news related
to protests (11.9 per cent), and the fourth to corruption (6.9 percent). Legislature or
parliament related news constituted 2.7 per cent of the total political news. The category
classified as protest includes verbal and physical clashes between workers of political
parties.

Business coverage

News related to economy and business has emerged as a substantial chunk of the
news regional papers generate, and the second highest in terms of news categories.
As much as 13.6 per cent of all news falls under this category. Within it 36 percent of all
financial news relates to the private sector, 15.3 per cent to the stock market, 10.8 per
cent is coverage of the pubic sector, 8 per cent is items related to banking, and 7.6 per
cent constitutes coverage of employment and labour.

Individual regional papers reveal issue biases. Some ethnic stereotypes are borne out
by the findings. Thus the most business and economy coverage in relation to the
paper’s total coverage is to be found in the Gujarat Samachar (21.1 per cent), followed
by Telegraph (19.7 per cent), Eenadu (18.4 pc) and the Hindu (18.5 pc). And 37.6 per
cent of all business news in the Gujarat Samachar is stock market related news.

The figures for the Hindustan Times are not representative of the paper’s actual
coverage because there is a business news supplement in addition to the main paper,
Dainik Jagran though a substantial portion of this is devoted to advertising. The study
also did not include the one page of news from the Economic Times, carried in the
Dinathanti every day.

There is more news relating to employment and labour in the regional language
papers, than in the English ones. The most news in this category appears in Dinathanti,
followed by Eenadu and Ananda Bazar Patrika. By far the most news on the public
sector appeared in (28.4 per cent of its total economy and business coverage).

Crime and violence

This constitutes the third highest category of news found in the regional press. Sixty
three per cent of crime news is in the general category, 13.3 per cent relates to gender,
and 10.5 per cent relates to terrorism. The paper which had the most news related to
crime and violence was Dinathanti.

Governance

This tends to be a catch- all category related to administration in government,

educational institutions, and civil bodies. It includes news on promotions, security
issues, corporation news, and so on. Andhra Pradesh as a state had the most news
classified as governance. It constituted 12.9 per cent of the news in the Deccan
Chronicle and 15 per cent of the news in Eenadu. But overall, for all the papers taken
together, governance as a category constitutes 7.8 per cent of the news.

Sample headlines in one paper, Deccan Chronicle:

Guv wants cops to learn new tricks

Driving test gets easier
JNTU disallows 5,000 students
Separate GOs for collages
State may seek aid from forces
CRPF firing range gets state nod
Pallam raju sees private players in missile tech
Directors slam AI management
Commentary not needed, PC tells J&K
interlocutors
 Slueths wary of OC slimming
1.6 Lakh 'Stars' want group IV jobs
Malls told to adhere to parking rule
Green channel scheme in effect
Political posts after CM's tour
Cops stall withdrawal of cases
Rakshana APMDC deal illegal: Centre
NPA chief to Head CRPF

Education

The sub category figures for education are telling. School education (10.5 per cent)
received less than one third of the coverage given to higher education (36.4). Fourteen
per cent of the coverage relates to events such as perhaps institutional functions.

How did individual newspapers do? The most education related coverage was in
Eenadu, 56. 5 per cent of it devoted to higher education. Gujarat Samachar came
second in frequency of coverage, but 35 percent of this belonged to the miscellaneous
category. Among English newspapers, the Times of India in Gujarat had the most
coverage. Dinathanti, Dainik Jagran, and the Anand Bazar Patrika devoted a higher
percentage of their total education coverage to government schemes on education than
the other newspapers. Miscellaneous news relating to student politics, or strikes or
incidents in educational institutions amount to 20 per cent of the total coverage.

How did individual newspapers do? The most education related coverage was in
Eenadu, 56. 5 per cent of it devoted to higher education. Gujarat Samachar came
second in frequency of coverage, but 35 percent of this belonged to the miscellaneous
category. Among English newspapers, the Times of India in Gujarat had the most
coverage. Dinathanti, Dainik Jagran, and the Anand Bazar Patrika devoted a higher
percentage of their total education coverage to government schemes on education than
the other newspapers. Miscellaneous news relating to student politics, or strikes or
incidents in educational institutions amount to 20 per cent of the total coverage.

Sample education headlines from Gujarat Samachar:

Guj Uni Senate Polls: Form Submission From Today Onwards

If Mistakes Found In Std 10 Forms, School Will Be Fined Rs 100
Bjp Rebels Protest At Party Office
Election For Two Seats Of Professor Category Of Syndicate On 4Th
500 Candidature Forms For 86 Seats Of Gu Senate
Students Filled Forms For Externals, But Did Not Get The Materials
Photo: Vs Hospital Strike
Students Without Amenities Succeeding Is Worth A Salute.
Election Of86 Seats Of Gujarat University Senate On 28Th November
50% Students Passed In Ph.D., M.Phil. Results
Errors In Filling Forms Of Externals Of College
Guardians Demand That School Board Exams Be Preponed
17 New Admissions In Medical-Paramedical.
Pradip Prajapati, An Economics Teacher At The Social Sciences Bhavan
Suspended
16 Professors Of Various Depts Of Gu Promoted
Scarce Attendance In Schools In Anticipation Of The Judge
Student Unions On Protest

Science

Science coverage in our newspapers is minimal, 1.1 per cent of the total. In the period
monitored 20 per cent of the coverage related to space, 7.2 per cent to biotechnology
and miscellaneous coverage constituted 62.8 per cent. Some of this relates to new
technological products: munitions or gadgets, or cars or planes.

Environment:

The environment coverage across newspapers is divided up fairly equally among

climate coverage (22.9), and reporting of floods (18.5 per cent) and wildlife (19.4 per
cent). Pollution related stories account for 9.6 per cent of environment coverage.

Conflict

In the period under review conflict related news forms 2.1 per cent of the total, with
the highest occurence by far reported in the West Bengal newspapers and the lowest in
Gujarat. Gujarat Samachar had just three conflict related stories in 30 days. The The
greatest proportion of conflict news relates to Maoism, 54.4 per cent of a total of 425
items in ten newspapers over a 30 day sampling period. Naxal-related conflict news is
the highest in the following papers: Eenadu (88 per cent of the paper’s total conflict
coverage, ), Ananda Bazar Patrika (83 per cent of its total) and Deccan Chronicle (82.1
per cent). The second highest category of conflict news relates to militancy (21.4pc).

In The Hindu 39.4 per cent of its conflict news is devoted to communal conflict, in
Dinathanti it is 10.3 per cent. Dainik Jagran devotes 8.2 per cent to communal conflict.
In the rest of the papers there is virtually no coverage of communal conflict, except for
1.1 per cent in the Anand Bazar Patrika. Of the 51 conflict related stories in the
Hindustan Times 43 per cent related to militancy related news, 47 per cent to
Naxalism.

Infrastructure related news forms 4.6 per cent of the total. Of this 46.3 per cent relates
to transport, 12.4 per cent to roads, 10.2 per cent to land acquisition. And 8.8 per cent
to power.

Rural coverage

The study looked at the origin and focus of news items to determine the nature of
coverage and the level at which it originates. In terms of origin the single highest
category of news was national in origin—27.7 per cent. The second highest category
was city-based news originating at the state level constituted 22.3 per cent. Four per
cent of the news originated at the district level and 3.2 per cent at the sub district level.

Taken from the point of view of the focus of the news, 62.3 percent of the news was
general in nature, 30.4 per cent urban, and 3.1 per cent rural. The Bengali papers had
the highest focus on rural news, with 11.5 per cent of Ananda Bazar Patrika’s news
classified as rural, and 6.9 per cent of the news in the Telegraph.

What constituted rural news for these newspapers? Overall it is miscellaneous in

nature. But given the contentious, rural cadre based nature of politics in West Bengal
there is a substantial amount of political news, or rather political violence related news
originating from the rural areas in Ananda Bazar Patrika. One third of the items coded
as rural in focus relate to Maoist, Trinamul or CPM politics including violent incidents.
In the Telegraph, some 18 per cent of the rural focus stories are politics and political
violence related.

The newspapers in which news with a rural focus is negligible are Gujarat Samachar,
TOI Ahmedabad, and Dinathanti. It must be said here that papers with daily district
supplements could be putting their rural focus news there, so it does not figure in the
main editions. That would apply to Eenadu.
Sample rural focus headlines in Anand Bazar Patrika:

Bomb,Baseball Bat In Bankura Explosion Site

Buddha'S Assurance Fails, Anita Forgets College Cuts Paddy
Cheque Distribution Begins At Nandigram
Don'T Be Late, Sumana's Life-Message To Villages
Two Families Search For 2 Daughters In The Puja
Gun Battle Continues In Haroa Village, 5 Injured
2 Groups Clashed, Shason Sensitive
3 Snatchers Beaten To Death
Maoist Kill 3 Including Ration Dealer
Rehabilitation Package In
Vain, No Maoist Coming To
Surrender
Cpm-Police Official Meet On Shason

Gender

Out of 20,797 stories coded for content, a total of 117 or 0.6 percent relate to gender
issues. The Hindustan Times and Times of India were the only ones to focus on sex
selection at all,

Of the crime and violence headlines, 13.5 per cent relate to gender.

Much of the gender coverage is miscellaneous:

Sample headlines from Hindustan Times:

Country’s first all women Police battalion

Pop attacks gay marriage in spain
Extend commission to women in Army: SC
I want a Delhi where women don't live in fear
Court relief for woman officer
SC to examine palimony for live in partner
Women glad but men grumble over ladies only metro
coach
Free DTC ride for woman today
When gender is an excuse
 Women protest burqa ban by wearing hot pants

Religion

Religion dominated the category of news classified as society-related, partly because of

the Ayodhya coverage, and partly because the study was conducted over two months
spanning the festival season. Of society-related coverage in these papers (6.6per cent)
religion-related news constitutes 74.5 per cent.

* As a percentage of Social

Health

Health issues related coverage constituted 2.9 per cent of the total news but within this
research and disease dominate as subcategories. Medical research news is often
international in origin.

Sample news headlines from Deccan Chronicle in which 56 per cent of health news is in
this category:

Women find it easier to say sorry

Predictors, key to early diagnosis
Fear of using tech begins in womb
AlR craft noise bad for heart, says Swiss study
Pills can trigger female jealousy
Son's wife takes toll on mom-in-law
IVF gives taller kids: Study
7-year itch really lasts for 11 years
For women mums-in-law are no joke
Women don't sweat as much as men
Flirting style key to relationships
Drink coffee everyday, keep Parkinson's at bay
Alcohol deadlier than dope, reveals study

As for disease, these sample headlines are from Dainik Jagran

Dengue larva found on 5000places in Delhi
Notice issued to 4 hospitals due to found larva of dengue
Ramlinga Raju discharged from Hospital
The child killed in dengue riot
Swine flu risk is increasing
High profile prisioners is target of sickner
The players will use to reserve lane from today
Aim to removed polio totally: Sheela
Stop dengue campaign stopped due to lack of money.
Heart is beating near to neck
Vice president Hamid Ansari`s mother admit in trama centre
35 crore for control on chikengunia.
Mayor suffers from viral.

International

International news constitutes 4.9 per cent of all news in the study. Given the
period in which the monitoring was done, covering the Commonwealth Games and
the Obama visit, both Delhi papers, Dainik Jagran and the Hindustan Times, had a
fair amount of international coverage.

Sources:

The study also looked at sources cited in the news. Thirty one (31.0) per cent of
all news was attributed to politicians, including ministers, state and central, party
spokespeople, MPs, panchayat leaders. Attribution to government officials at any
level accounted for 12.9 per cent of the sourcing. The third highest category was
uniformed personnel which included members of the police, army, navy, air force,
BSF and so on (10.6 per cent). The common man or man on the street accounted
for 8.3 per cent of those quoted in stories.

Contrast between the English and language newspapers

All the English newspapers had more business and economy coverage, than political
coverage. With regional language newspapers it was the reverse with the exception of
Gujarat Samachar. The Hindustan Times has a separate four page business pullout,
when there is more advertising available it becomes six page. But because the main
paper was taken for monitoring and analysis its business and economy coverage does
not show the true extent of its coverage. It devotes a full page to stocks every day,
within the business supplement. So clearly in actual fact, not reflected by this study, its
business coverage is way ahead of its political coverage.

Dinathanti too has more business coverage than the study indicates because it carries a
page of news from the Economic Times.

International coverage in terms of stories originating abroad is clearly higher in all the
English papers, ranging from 25.5 to 14.9 in the English newspapers, and from 12.1 to
7.3 in the language papers.

The other clear distinction between the two sets of papers relates to gender coverage.
This is very low in all the papers, but with the exception of Deccan Chronicle, higher in
the English papers than in the language papers.

Eeenadu of Andhra Pradesh was in many ways the newspaper with the most range of
coverage. It had more stories than any other paper. Of all the papers it had the most
political coverage, as well as the most agriculture, science and governance-related
news. It had more economy and business coverage than the Deccan Chronicle, and far
more than other regional language papers except Gujarat Samachar. It also had the
lowest incidence of crime and violence news among all the newspapers.

end

This study was done by thehoot.org, in collaboration with Panos, with a grant from
Hivos.

Study supervisors: Padmaja Shaw, Hyderabad

Ajitha Menon and Saadia Azim, Kolkata
Ayesha Khan, Ahmedabad,
Sangeetha Rajeesh, Chennai
Sevanti Ninan, Delhi

Project director Sevanti Ninan

Collaborating institutions

Cuttin’ Edge services, Kolkata

Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR), New Delhi
Data correction and analysis: Madhav Analysis

Coders:

Anik De, Purnima, Kolkata

C Ashish Singh, Brijesh Solanki, Sunita, Ahmedabad
Manisha Dixit, Shalini Choudhury, Delhi
K Surya, Catherine Gilon , Chennai
Gitanjali, Himabindu Hyderabad

The study is indebted to Aarthi Pai of CFAR for her guidance.