The document discusses media coverage of the Right to Food campaign in India. It analyzes content from 4 newspapers over 2 months. Political news received the most coverage, followed by sports and crime. Social issues like hunger received little coverage and were only highlighted when the government took policy actions. The challenges to media coverage of human rights issues are discussed, including the commercialization of media and tendency to view violations as isolated incidents rather than systemic issues. In conclusion, the characteristics of market-driven journalism found in Randal Beam's theory seemed to apply to the newspapers studied and impacted the coverage of the Right to Food campaign.

1. 1st
International Conference on Business
and Information Management
(ICBIM-2012)
9th January to 11 January, 2012
Durgapur, India

2. MEDIA AND THE RIGHT TO FOOD CAMPAIGN-
A CASE STUDY ANALYSIS ON THE ROLE OF
PRINT MEDIA
22 January 2012 ICBIM‐2012 2

3. WHY HUNGER?
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4. INDIAN POLITY DECISIONS-
According to Indian Government-
Government
People spending more than 965/- per month in urban
India
I di
People spending more than 781 in rural India
Will no longer be deemed poor and will be thus ineligible
for any central and state government welfare schemes
schemes.
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5. FOOD FOR THOUGHT
According t new GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX 2011 b
A di to 2011- by
international food policy research institute-
RANK OF INDIA-67.
Way below Pakistan and even China
China.
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6. HUNGER RANKING OF SELECTED COUNTRIES
Source-International Food Policy Research Institute
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7. PARADOX/ REALITY CHECK
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8. IRONY OF THE DECADE
India is the third largest producer of food in the world.
India has the capability to feed ten millions
And yet
millions remain unreached and unfed.
India ranks 67th among 84 developing countries according to
GHI.
GHI
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9. INDIAN INITIATIVE
The Ri ht to Food
Th Right t F d campaign.
i
In 2001 , the Indian government made the Right to Food
a legal entitlement through various interim orders and
legislations. .
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10. According to the United Nations
g Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights –
“the right to adequate food is indivisibly linked to the
inherent di it of th h
i h t dignity f the human person and i i di
d is indispensable
bl
for the fulfillment of other human rights enshrined in the
International Bill of Human Rights.
g
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11. Can media play an instrumental role in eradicating this
menace
Or
Is it just another machinery of capitalism and a tool of free
market economy?
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12. ROLE OF MEDIA
•Mass media is an instrument of social power and can attract
and direct attention to problems , solutions /people in ways
p p p y
that can favor those with power
• The media in a democracy must foster deliberation and
diversity, and ensure accountability
•Media reporting should be contextualized within a structure that
explains the issue of right to food and human rights in relation to
a story.
•Reports should therefore contain an underlying discourse of
human rights in order to foster a better environment for
livelihood
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13. RESEARCH QUESTION
RQ1: Will the Randal Beam theory concerning the market
driven journalism apply to the Indian news papers selected for
the study?
RQ 2: Did the characteristics of market driven journalism made
an i
impact on right t f d campaign i th present selected
t i ht to food i in the t l t d
media? If so. Then what are the reasons behind failing to report
such gross happening in India?
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14. CHARACTERISTICS OF MARKET DRIVEN
JOURNALISM ( according to Randal Beam).
•The market driven journalism concerns with mass culture.
•Readers want information on what might be called the
‘private sphere’—life style, entertainment, recreation, news to
use.
•Mass culture products often focus on ‘lowest common
lowest-common-
denominator content’ in order to build the largest possible
audience
•The size of the corporate sector which offers information
determines the characteristics of market oriented journalism.
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15. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Content analysis- only of front page
analysis page-
The Times of India
The Telegraph
The Hindustan Times
The Ananda Bazaar Patrika.
Time period-
1st August 3oth September 2011
August-3oth 2011.
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16. No Name of the Political Economic Crime Sports Social
newspaper news news news news news
1. Times of India 212 41 88 38 38
2. Hindustan times 162
dusta t es 6 102
0 43
3 22 38
3. The telegraph 105 37 42 36 14
4. Anandabazar 190 33 80 17 36
patrika
total 669 213 253 113 126
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17. A pie chart graphical representation of news coverage brings
out the clear picture.
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18. Mean, standard deviation and coefficient variation of each
news items appearing in front page-
page
Measures. Political Economic Crime news Sports Social news
news news news
Mean 167.25 53.25 63.25 28.25 31.5
Standard 40.07 28.28 20.94 8.95 10.14
deviation
d i ti
Coefficient 23.95 52.58 33.11 31.68 32.18
of variation
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19. RESULTS
•Political news were highly prioritized As a policy all
prioritized.
newspapers covered maximum news having political
perspective. Even the small social issues were given at times a
political angle. COV-23.95%.
•Sports and crime news got the next importance. cov-sports-
Sports cov sports
31.68%. cov crime -33.11%.
•Social news were mostly gossips celebrity news and
gossips,
speculative journalism. Hunger news were highlighted only on
21st September when government took policy decisions. cov-
32.18%
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20. CHALLENGES AND ISSUES IN MEDIA COVERAGE
•The structure of media itself is a big hindrance to serious and
systematic coverage of human rights.
t ti fh i ht
•The media fails in covering the process that leads to an
event.
•The media also suffers from a deep elitist bias.
•The media views the violation of human rights as sporadic
events and isolated happenings.
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21. AFTERMATH
•The brazen commercialization of media
•The trivialization of the content
•Sensationalism
Sensationalism
•Gate keeping
Gate
•Agenda setting
Agenda
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22. THANK YOU.
PRESENTED BY
MOU MUKHERJEE-DAS.
Academician
Media Studies
DSMS Group of institutions.
mou.mukherjeedas@gmail.com
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