MEASUREMENT OF MILITANCY NEWS COVERAGE IN THE NATIONAL DAILIES OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to measure the militancy news coverage in the national dailies of Bangladesh. Content analysis method is used to get information. The purposive sampling technique is used in this study where agenda setting theory is applied. A total of five national dailies are taken as samples in this study. Those are The Daily Prothom Alo, The Daily Star, The Daily Ittefaq, The Daily Kaler Kantho, and The Daily Janakantha. Publications from 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2019 of these five dailies are included in this study. All sorts of militancy-related news are counted here and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. This study unearths that five dailies publish about 1,62,000 pieces of news in a year. Among them, the number of militancy related news is 377 which is far fewer compared to other news. Here only 0.23% of the news is regarding militancy. Out of five dailies, The Daily Janakantha publishes the highest news regarding this issue. On the other hand, the Daily Star has the lowest coverage. Daily Prothom Alo, Daily Ittefaq and Daily Kalerkantho secure second, third and fourth position respectively among the five dailies on publishing militancy news in a year. Here most of the news is one-columned. Again, almost one-third of the news is without photos. Besides, the highest numbers of news are published in the inner pages. Here November has the highest coverage and August has the lowest. The study also explores that most of the militancy-related stories are presented fairly, systematically, and well-balanced. The study recommends that the daily newspapers of Bangladesh should increase the publication of militancy news in a constructive manner with more sincerity.