Newspapers and Primacies in Elections: A Comparative Study of Coverage in Two Mainstream English Dailies

Abstract

Elections are the mechanism under a democratic system to form a government. Invariably, during elections, the power remains in the hands of the people- being able to demonstrate their grumbles and elect the representatives of their choice. To choose among alternatives, people need to know the candidates and political parties with reference to various public issues. The mass media are the channels through which public could able to know socio-political, and economic issues in their country. In the modern marketing driven media world, news about public interests has diminished due to over-dependence of news media on sensational political stuff. Media has obligation to give adequate coverage to election campaign news. It is largely through media that people are able to know their leaders and manifestoes of different political parties. This paper aimed at analyzing newspaper coverage relevant to election campaigns. For the purpose, two mainstream English Dailies -The Times of India and The Hindu have been chosen for analysis. The Study explores the press coverage devoted to political parties, candidates contesting the elections and major public issues like corruption, crime, economy, defence or foreign policy etc. during the elections. Moreover, this research shows how news media play a significant role in shaping discourse on public issues.