Gujarat has been ravaged by unprecedented violence since 27th February sending shockwaves all over the country. The spell of genocide that followed the Godhra massacre have seen newspapers playing a significant role in the long spiral of violence. Shanti Abhiyan and PUCL (People’s Union For Civil Liberties), two Baroda-based organisations have been following the vernacular press as well as the English newspapers to analyse news reportage throughout this period.
The purpose of our analysis was to find out how the local press presented the riots to the readers. We wished to examine if the print media has in any way aggravated the relentless tensions in the city through inflammatory or communal reportage. For this it was important to look at individual newspapers and to also compare across newspapers. We have covered Gujarati language newspapers like Sandesh (Baroda Edition), Gujarat Samachar (Baroda Edition) and Gujarat Today. The Times of India and Indian Express are the two English dailies that we have analysed here.
A framework of analysis was drawn up to ensure a standard evaluation of all the newspapers we were scrutinising. The framework attempts to locate all the factors that would influence the quality and content of reportage. This in turn determines readership response to incidents being reported nationally and locally. Additionally, it also helps to contain or conflagrate communal tension and hostility.
Framework of Analysis in Brief