May 18, 1998

Dilip Bobb

First the good news. To judge how effectively media organisations cover the news, a royal commission in Britain took ruler to paper and conducted a survey. Now, the bad news. The maximum number of column inches in national newspapers over the year was devoted to the Spice Girls. So how does the Indian media compare? Here are the results of a recent survey conducted by an Independent (not allied to the ruling BJP) which judged the top five issues covered by newspapers in recent months.

1. China: A major surprise considering there has been no Tiananmen Square-type event in that country. The excessive coverage is due to the attacks by Defence Minister George Fernandes. This despite the fact that the prime minister has ordered him to stop embarrassing the minister of external affairs, who happens to be the prime minister. The mea has renamed him George of the Bungle for putting his foot where his mouth is. If the situation continues, George may find himself getting the chop suey.

2. Sonia Gandhi: An even bigger surprise considering that she has so little to say. However, her increased coverage is in direct proportion to the dramatic increase in her verbal output in recent weeks. The judges compared last year's figures which showed that she spoke just two words in public -- "Jai Hind". Earlier this year, it doubled when she said, "Vote for the Congress". Her recent speech to industrialists took everybody's breath away by its length, so much so that newspapers scrambled to report it verbatim, all of two column inches.

3. Denials: No surprise this. Newspaper space seems to be dominated by denials, from Atal Bihari Vajpayee denying his government is surrendering to blackmail, to Veerappan denying he is surrendering at all, to Sukh Ram's denials about taking kickbacks, various cabinet ministers taking back their statements attacking each other, and the Shiv Sena denying Pakistani singers a chance to voice their grievances.

4. Corruption: Back in favour, mainly due to Jayalalitha's demands that all ministers with pending corruption charges should resign. Judging by the number involved, Prime Minister Vajpayee may soon discover that it's getting very lonely at the top.

5. The Economy: Another crucial issue which has dominated newspaper headlines thanks to the legion of economic experts offering conflicting advice and proving how easy it is to flog a dead horse.

Issue Contents | Write to us | Subscriptions

© Living Media India Ltd