A Comparative Study on the Coverage of Developmental Stories with Special Reference to Dainik Bhaskar and Rajasthan Patrika

Abstract:

Development is a dynamic and never-ending process as it can be seen that the society has underwent the process of development from primitive to modern times. The process of development cannot be arrested by time and every society across the globe has witnessed the process of development in one way or the other. Every society whether developed or under-developed, rich or poor across the world has been the spectator of development process in way or the other. Although the pace with which development takes place may vary from society to society as in some cases it may be faster and vice versa in others. The societies that became developed rapidly became examples for the others while the one that did not progress still struggle for their very existence. The role of media in covering these developmental stories is crucial and they act as the transmitter of the stories that could bring a change within and outside the society we live in.   This paper attempts to analysis coverage of developmental stories in Hindi daily newspaper named Dainik Bhaskar and Rajasthan Patrika. As per selection researcher have chosen two newspapers and it will analyse as comparative study through content analysis.

1. Introduction

Sid-israel.org in one of its popular development library provides an overall view about development. It states that, “Development is a course of action that generate escalation, intensification, evolution of constructive revolutions or the accumulation of substantial, fiscal, ecological, societal and demographic works.  The main intension this progress is to raise the intensity and value of the masses. It also aims at the formulation or generation of the income and service opportunities at local level and also aims at preserving the natural resources without causing any harm to the surroundings. The process may take time however it is noticeable and helps in the development of positive change and creation of “public estate”.

From the beginning of the twentieth century many experts started looking at the development process and it became an international agenda. Development cannot just be looked as the outcome of economic growth which could raise the standard and quality of life of the population around the world. However, there is a need to stress on specific policies that would accelerate the process of development. An understanding developed that economic growth did not necessarily lead to a rise in the level and quality of life for populations all over the world; there was a need to place an emphasis on specific policies that would conduit capital and mobilize these resources to all the sections of the society.

The definition and parameters of development is dynamic and keeps on changing from time to time. The study conducted by well-known economist Amartya Sen on “Capacity Approach” defined the process of development as an effective tool for equipping the masses to enhance their abilities and skills and also grant them freedom of action in the form of financial, economic, social and cultural up gradation.  The approach was adopted by UN development Program (UNDP) in 1990 and is considered as the most effective approach for the measurement of Human Development Index.

Another study conducted by Martha Nussbaum lays stress on the role of women in the process of development. According to him a women can be considered as the most important means to bring a positive change in the society.

According to Everet Roger, development is viewed as social change and occurs only through the participation of the members of the society. It always intends to bring about both collective and substantial advancements including greater parity, liberty, and other esteemed qualities.

• Role of media in taking up development issues

A country’s development is indicated by the way its media publish it. Credited as the fourth pillar of a democracy, the media has always been an integral part of India. Media’s role in taking up issues of nation importance can never be ignored starting from the time of independence till date while dealing with pandemic like COVID-19. From being the facilitator of different development issues, media had always been a crucial part in promoting issues based on health, hygiene, education, agriculture practices. Communication is important for spreading the messages on development and here the media’s role becomes decisive as they have to imbibe the content in such a way that the delivery of the message in efficient and effective.

Fraser and Restrepo-Estrada (1998) defined development communication as: “ Development communication is the process of utilising communication through media and utilizing the tools and techniques for creating awareness of the circumstances prevailing whether positive or negative and try to resolve the conflicts existing so that  people can develop actions that can bring a change in the society and help in the improvement of the conditions of the masses.

2. Review of Literature

• Ernest Corea (1974) point out that basic aim of this study was to disprove a common assumption about Asian Press. Control and Lack of status are assumed to be a common element of press of south East Asia. The study analyses various debates regarding the same. It further discusses about Constitutional rights, Imponderable future, Fundamental characteristics in light of the above discussion. Finally, it establishes the powers of independent newspapers. The study is an important tool to gain understanding about the situation of press in Asia. It however does not contribute much to the content of this research.

• Kaul, V. (2011)It highlights the fact that Development Communication should include the concept of society and interpersonal along with traditional modes and media. People involved in Development Communication should understand the social structure. It emphasizes that it is important to analyse how change can be brought apart from just supplying messages.

• Chala, G. (2012) highlighted that the role of government as well as private newspapers in reporting developmental stories in Ethiopia. Though it was not so much applicable for Indian dailies, still it provided useful insight in the research. It helped in the framing the objectives and considerations of the research. It also gave a holistic view of Development Journalism.

• Verghese, S. (2016)The study aimed to find out the importance provide to science reporting in newspapers and their presentation as hard news in leading English dailies i.e. Times of India and Deccan Chronicle. It employed Systematic Random Sampling method for selection and divided the news in 12 types. The research observed that there is significantly less coverage of Science stories (1/10^th) in leading English dailies i.e. Times of India and Deccan Chronicle. It stated that its presentation also needs to be improved. This means that instead of trying to ‘popularize’, it should explain the phenomenon.

Dang, T (2017) explained that Development communication refers to the use of process and tools of communication to facilitate social development. It also tries to explain role of media in development communication. As per the paper, transforming and socialising are two primary roles of media in development communication.

Apart from it, media should also try to inform, instruct and participate in the process of development communication. This helped in the introduction of subject in the research.

Pattanaik, B.K. (2019) suggested that it lays down certain basic elements of development from social studies perspective. It explains about various theories of development along with paradigms of development. It also elaborates on administration, governance, planning and management of development and its communication. The book helped in gaining knowledge about the concepts rather than any contribution in the research matter.

3.     Hypothesis

• There will be equal coverage of development stories by both the leading dailies.
• These will differ significantly in ways of dealing with those stories.
• Both of them will lay emphasis on social issues.
• Stories of women and education will find more popularity than other development stories.

4.     Objectives of the Study

• To find out frequency of developmental news in both the newspapers.
• To examine treatment of social issues in the stories.
• To analyse their headings, sub headings, placement etc.
• To investigate Division of those stories into science stories, stories on women and education.

5.     Methodology

This study has been undertaken to analyse how various newspapers have given importance to the concept of development. It will also analyse how these news pieces are presented and in what frequency. For this, researcher has chosen two leading dailies i.e. DainikBhaskar and Rajasthan Patrika for duration of 1 month. It will be an exploratory research majorly based on content analysis.Exploratory research, as the name implies, intends merely to explore the research questions and does not intend to offer final and conclusive solutions to existing problems.

The research will indicate clear distinction between the coverage in both the newspapers. It will be a month-long research starting from 15​^thFebruary to 15​^th​March, 2020. Various statistical tools such as mean, median, mode, correlation, variance etc. can be applied to it.

6. Data Analysis

Table 6.1 Findings of DainikBhaskar

• Total Number of Columns given to Science News in Main Newspaper = 144

Total Number of Science News pieces = 35

Average Columns of Science news during the study months = 4.11

• Total Number of Columns given to News about Women Empowerment in Main Newspaper = 116

Total Number of Women Empowerment News pieces = 32

Average Columns of Women Empowerment news during the study months = 3.63

• Total Number of Columns given to Children and Education News in Main Newspaper = 112

Total Number of Children and Education pieces = 28

Average Columns of Children and Education news during the study months = 4

6.2 Findings of Rajasthan Patrika

• Total Number of Columns given to Science News in Main Newspaper = 112

Total Number of Science News pieces = 31

Average Columns of Science news during the study months = 3.61

• Total Number of Columns given to News about Women Empowerment in Main Newspaper = 132

Total Number of Women Empowerment News pieces = 50

Average Columns of Women Empowerment news during the study months = 2.64

• Total Number of Columns given to Children and Education News in Main Newspaper = 16

Total Number of Children and Education pieces = 8

Average Columns of Children and Education news during the study months = 2

                         Table no. 6.3 Comparative table of both newspapers

According toabove table no. 6.3 there is comparison between both selected newspapers. In Jaipur edition Dainikbhaskar published Science based 35, Women based 32 and children and education based 28 stories. And Rajasthan Patrika published 31 in science, 50 in women category, 8 in children and education section.  If we see in supplement edition of DB then found in 9 in science, 6 in women, 11 in children and education and same RP published 11 in science, 12 in women and 17 from children and education categories.

7. Discussions

1. First of all, it is to be noted that the time period of this research is 15^th February, 2020 to 15^th March, 2020. The time period has been greatly affected by Pandemic Corona Virus i.e. Covid-19. It is therefore a disclaimer that the results might not be the same in other normal situations. Majority of news in this time contained information about it. Another thing that needs to be noted here is that the newspapers’ average size was reduced.

2. It was also the time of Budget and Women’s Day. So, some results are affected due to the same. However, to ensure a correct indication of data, the newspaper of 21^st February has been excluded. This is because on that day information and discussions of budget covered the news.

3. Next, discussing about the hypothesis, both the papers differ in the number of development stories published in each one of them. The difference can be seen in all the three categories easily. This proves my first hypothesis wrong.

4. Next, there is significant difference between choice of main and supplement paper while publishing the stories. DainikBhaskar prints more stories in main paper than supplement papers. On the other hand, Rajasthan Patrika prefers supplement papers for the stories more than main paper. These also differ in average column provided to the stories. Thus, proving the second hypothesis as right.

5. While Patrika lays more emphasis on women stories, Bhaskar is somewhat balanced in choosing the stories. This makes the third hypothesis partly correct.

6. Patrika definitely gives more value to stories of women as compared to Bhaskar. While saying that, it is to be noted that story of children and education have found less space in both the newspapers. Thus, making the last hypothesis partly correct.

7. Patrika’s stories are more or less soft stories due to their presence in supplement paper.

8. Science stories are the most popular in DainikBhaskar followed by Children and Education Stories and Women Empowerment stories. On the other hand, Women Empowerment stories are most popular in Rajasthan Patrika followed by Science and Children and Education stories.

9. It will however be wrong to remove the condition of women’s day from the picture. While Bhaskar only dedicated two days news for Women’s day stories, Patrika celebrated a week for the same. This can be one of the reasons of difference in number of women stories.

10. While collecting Women’s stories, news such as that of violence, exploitation, rape etc. have been eliminated.

11. If we talk about negative news, there were only a few in each category accounting to nearly 1%

12. Among these less than 10% of each category of story found place on the front page.

8. Conclusion

The numbers of development stories in both the newspapers are very low, especially in case of Education and Children. Both the papers focus more on politics and crime news rather than such stories. It is important for the citizens to know about crimes and political scenarios. However, it is equally important for them to be aware about such developmental stories. Women empowerment stories’ number should not increase around Women’s Day only. It should always be more in the light of current situations. It is more important to show the strength of women by portraying their bravery rather than depicting their helplessness by way of crimes against them. While observing and studying about the research, I also realised that these numbers have increased overtime. This is a good thing but improvement is still needed.

References

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• Ernest Corea (1974) Should newspapers in Asia be freed, Media Asia, 1:2, 7-11, DOI: 10.1080/01296612.1974.11725811

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