Source: http://www.thehoot.org/mediaresearch/viewsouth.asp
 
THE MEDIA & GUJARAT: A VIEW FROM THE SOUTH
 
 The Network of Women in Media, Bangalore, which is part of a recently launched countrywide network, organised a media seminar on the theme, ?Covering Communal Conflict:  Lessons from Gujarat 2002? on 7 and 8 June 2002,  with the participation of journalists from different parts of Karnataka and speakers from within and outside the state.  In preparation for the seminar the NWMB undertook a systematic  survey of the coverage given by Bangalore-based newspapers in Kannada and English to both the violence in Gujarat and related events in Karnataka during the first fortnight of the crisis.

Presented below are some insights gained through this media monitoring exercise, divided into three sections:  the first dealing with common allegations about media coverage of the Gujarat crisis, the second highlighting some features of the coverage, and the third examining coverage of local events and issues.

English newspapers covered:

Bangalore editions of

Deccan Herald

The Asian Age

The Hindu

The New Indian Express

 The Times of India

Bangalore editions of

Kannada Prabha (KP, part of the NIE group)

Prajavani (P, part of the DH group)

Samyuktha Karnataka  (SK)

Udayavani (U)

Vijaya Karnataka  (VK)

(N.B.  Some copies of SK, U and VK could not be accessed)

Dates:

28 February - 16/17 March (the first 17/18 days after the Godhra event)

Other events during this period that caught the media?s attention and took up space both on the front page and some inside pages:

~  The Budget (union and state)

~  The standoff on Ayodhya (the VHP?s March 15 deadline, the Supreme Court

~  Mr. Balayogi?s death in a helicopter crash

 ~  The daylight murder of SP MLA Manzoor Ahmad in Lucknow

 ~  The Supreme Court verdict in the Arundhati Roy case and her token imprisonment

 ~  The storming and ransacking of the Orissa State Assembly by VHP activists

MYTHS VERSUS FACTS

The survey provided an opportunity to verify the truth about press coverage in the context of a number of allegations levelled against the so-called ?national? (a.k.a. ?Delhi-based?) media in recent months.

 1.      Allegation:

The ?national? media did not pay due attention to the burning alive of passengers in a coach of the Sabarmati Express
at Godhra on 27 February.

 Reality:
v     The event was reported  in lead stories with banner headlines at the top of Page 1, accompanied by colour photographs of the burning/burnt  compartment and/or charred bodies, in all the English and Kannada dailies included in the survey.

v     DH, NIE, TOI, KP, P, SK and VK published editorials strongly condemning the atrocity the very next day. AA's was the only edit appearing that day that did not categorically denounce the violence in Godhra (see below).  Among the English papers only H failed to carry an edit on the subject on the 28th.

v     Apart from the strongly worded front page headlines and stories, AA carried a bylined story on the 28th based on interviews with survivors from the Sabarmati Express atrocity, titled We were singing bhajans?suddenly we were attacked.

 
Comment:

The effectiveness of communal propaganda is demonstrated by the fact that this allegation has stuck even though press coverage of the violent attack on train passengers in Godhra was prominent, serious and critical.
 
 

2.      Allegation:

The ?national? media sought to link the Godhra event with the Ramjanmabhoomi movement in general, and the behaviour of ?ram sevaks? en route to and from Ayodhya in particular, in an attempt to justify the burning of the train and passengers in it.

Reality:
v     The links were apparently made or at least endorsed by the central government, as seen in the following  headlines from DH, H and AA:

 Stop Ram Sevaks:  Centre Tells UP

Suspend Movement:  PM Tells VHP

Ban on Ram Sevaks

Movement of Pillars Disallowed

 
v     Even when the links were made by newspapers, they were not presented as justifications for the violence in Godhra.  For example, H?s first editorial on the subject, titled Deadly Spiral, did point out the connection between  the violence and the Ayodhya movement but also described the Godhra event as ?a dastardly act? and said it ?deserves  to be condemned unequivocally.?  AA?s edit on the 28th was the only one that did not highlight the train tragedy while putting the Godhra attack in the context of the mobilisation connected to the VHP?s Ayodhya deadline, although it did convey its disapproval of the violence.  However, its edit on 2 March titled There Must Be a Difference between a Government and a Mob stated:  The guilty of Godhra must be punished.  The guilty of  Ahmedabad must also be punished.

 
Comment:

 Communal propaganda has managed to suggest that efforts to trace the sequence of events that could have led to the atrocity at Godhra and/or to develop some understanding of the context of the attack on the train were attempts to justify violence against Hindus.  In the process the strong condemnation of the attack on the train by the entire mainstream press has been effectively obscured.

3.      Allegation:
The ?national? media exaggerated the violence that followed the Godhra massacre and gave it undue coverage. Reality:

v     The presentation of the union budget on 28 February actually dominated the papers on the day after the violence  in Ahmedabad and other parts of Gujarat began;  the communal violence that took place on the 28th was relegated to the second lead on Page 1 in most papers.  AA had the Gujarat violence as the lead and the budget as the second lead. The main/first edits were also devoted to the budget (DH, for instance, had just one long edit that day and it was on the budget;  AA?s sole edit was also on the budget).

 
v     Most papers did have more reports on the communal violence in Gujarat and the tension in other parts of the country on inside pages.

v     Interestingly, an edit page article by Saeed Naqvi in the NIE on the 1st was titled:  Just forget the budget?  As the terror at Godhra threatens to spiral out of control?

v     From March 2 onwards, the general impression  is of  newspapers seeking to present signs of hope that the violence was being brought under control and to generate public empathy, if not sympathy, for the victims of violence.

 
Examples of the former:

 Page 1 banner headline in red in NIE:  At last, army out in Gujarat
Page 1 banner headline in H:  Shoot orders in many Gujarat towns

 Exceptions:

 DH:  No let-up in Gujarat violence
TOI:  Despite army Gujarat burns

 
Examples of the latter:

Reproduction in all the papers of the Reuters photograph of a Muslim man appealing for mercy with folded hands and tears in his eyes (most published it in colour on the front page, DH in B&W on Page 9;  this photograph was prominently used in almost all the Kannada dailies as well).

 v     Edits condemning  the violent atrocities in other parts of Gujarat appeared on 2 March in virtually all papers

 Comment:

 The unprecedented scale, brutality and longevity of the violence in Gujarat clearly dictated the attention paid to it by the media.  But the quantum of press coverage during  the first few days of the crisis was not extraordinary in view of the nature of the events and the fact that they were so widespread.  The impression of  ?excessive? media coverage may have been created by the fact that this was the first time communal violence was covered live and in  colour by television channels.

 
4.   Allegation:

Newspapers publish only the bad news and do not highlight positive stories.
 

 Reality:

  The kind of stories commonly referred to as ?positive? began appearing in AA, for example, as early as 3 March on Page 1.

  Examples:
Muslim women save lives
Mosque in Bihar saved by Hindus
The trend continued in AA on subsequent days as well - e.g.: 4 March, Page 1:  IIM students fast for peace
25 Muslims living in chawl find safety in Hindu homes
7 March, Page 3:  Gujarat village Hilol untouched by riots
DH and Prajavani also carried some positive stories from 6 March - e.g.:
Amity in the time of fury (about a Muslim wedding feast in a Puri temple)
Noble gesture for communal harmony
Harmony in hour of madness

Examples of positive stories from NIE:
 5 March:  Angels of mercy all set to work in Gujarat
 9 March:  How Hindus stood guard to Muslim neighbours

Examples of positive stories from TOI:
5 March:  An oasis of peace called Ram-Rahim Nagar
Multi-community marriage holds hope high amid strife
Even H, which had few special stories on a daily basis, published one during this period:
Errant student saves teacher

 
Comment:
 Some newspapers more than others seem to have made a special effort, under difficult circumstances, to find glimmers of hope in the widespread gloom. Also, as mentioned below, proximity obviously plays a role in the selection of stories from the available pool by different editions of the same newspaper.  Publications located at a distance and without recourse to a nationwide network of its own correspondents would naturally find it difficult to generate such stories;  in such cases the role of news agencies in providing special stories is clearly critical.

 
SPECIAL FEATURES

The survey provided an opportunity to look at press coverage not only across dailies but also, within them, across  pages and sections.  This revealed certain features and patterns that are interesting and may be worth noting.

 v     Most newspapers made good use of their editorial pages and op-ed pages, if any,  to comment as well as shed light on the happenings in Gujarat.  While the majority of analytical  articles were critical of the communal  violence as well as the ideology and developments leading up to the outbreak of violence, some papers, like  NIE and  AA, did provide space for contrary views.  A few papers published pieces by current or former politicians -- P, for example, had an article by B.K. Chandrashekar, then minister for information technology, government of Karnataka, focussing on the responsibilities of the State in such situations.  A number of edit and op-ed page pieces, especially those by scholars, did much to illuminate the context in which the conflict was taking place.

 
 v     Cartoonists contributed to the coverage in a typically telling manner.  R.K. Lakshman?s cartoons in TOI  regularly and consistently critiqued the handling of the communal crisis by the state and central governments, referring to both the violence in Gujarat as well as the Ayodhya impasse. The first of his many strong, critical comments appeared on 1 March.  N.S. Ponnappa, who has a daily cartoon in TOI?s Bangalore edition, also  lampooned communalists, albeit in a lighter vein.  The daily pocket cartoon by Unny in NIE also commented on the
communal crisis frequently whereas  DH?s daily cartoons by Ramamurthy seldom did.
 

v     All the newspapers made extensive use of photographs in colour as well as B&W, on the front page as well as  inside pages, in a manner that  highlighted the human tragedy.  For instance, a number of papers elected to use close-ups of affected women and children on Page 1.

 
v     The relatively new columns on religion and spirituality in TOI (The Speaking Tree) and NIE (Faithline) carried pieces arguing for communal peace and harmony.  Some approached the issue in a somewhat  oblique manner but only a few (mainly in NIE) discussed it in a strangely ambivalent way that  appeared to reinforce prejudice and stereotypes.

 
v     A number of other regular features, such as the edit page interview in TOI, the Dateline and Timeout spaces on the edit page of NIE and the Business Express supplement, apart from columns of different kinds by staff as well as external contributors, were used by writers in several papers to approach the Gujarat tragedy from different angles.

 
 v     Only a few newspapers featured headlines and  language that were clearly commentative;  among the Kannada  papers, SK and VK had a few such headlines.

Examples from the English press:

1)      A Page 1 report in TOI on 3 March, datelined New Delhi, was titled No tough talk from PM, and began thus: ?Prime Minister Vajpayee finally broke his Delphic silence and made an appeal on TV on Saturday appealing for calm??

2)      A boxed report across the top of Page 1 in TOI on 5 March, datelined Ahmedabad, was titled:  Blinkered vision:  Modi will have only Godhra probed

3)      TOI had a box on top of Page 1 on 2 March titled:  Nero in power:  Centre fiddled when Gujarat burned

v     NIE published an anchor piece by S. Gurumurthy on Page 1 on 2 March titled: Madam, will they be ashamed by your blunt words?
The article highlighted and endorsed the statement of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa after the outbreak of violence in Gujarat, calling for recognition of  the rights of the majority community.

 v     With reference to the findings of the survey by the Network of Women in Media, Mumbai (see report elsewhere on this site) regarding differences in the coverage of the Gujarat events in  the Mumbai and Ahmedabad editions of TOI, it appears that the Bangalore edition of the paper  also opted not carry some of the special stories -- including positive stories -- available from its national pool of reports by Gujarat-based staff journalists and/or articles by external contributors.

 v     A range of special human interest stories carried by some newspapers, especially AA, served to bring home to   readers in Bangalore the many different ways in which such events affect people and the many different ways in which people respond to crises.

  Examples :
AA:    Hospitals packed beyond capacity
Passengers stranded with no means of getting back home
Bank head seriously injured in mob attack
Medicines scarce in riot-torn Ahmedabad
Hospitals:  Safe havens
My neighbour raped my niece, torched my mother (one of the first newspaper
 reports to mention rape as early as 3 March)
Muslim IPS officers targeted, arrange for their own safety
We want an eye for an eye (interviews with Hindu women)
Villages now ghettos
Hindus shave off beards for safety
Orphans left with terrible bitterness
 Self-employed youth in crisis
 Aum signs to stop death at door
 Families anxious as students are trapped in Gujarat
 For love:  Gujarat lovers not affected by communal riots
 

DH and Prajavani (both sent correspondents to file special stories):
Uprooted, they live away in camps
Pamphlets spring up in A?bad seeking economic boycott of minorities
Riots mar Gujarat investments
Flames of hatred haunt Jainulla (person from North Karnataka in Gujarat)
Rights activists, NGOs plan people?s tribunal in Gujarat
Even cops felt unnerved during Gujarat riots
N-scientist's ordeal by communal fire
Traumatic memories of the burning train
Harmony in hour of madness

NIE and KP:
Urdu poet?s tomb demolished
The living cannot claim the dead here
In Ahmedabad looters are middle-class people like us
Gujarat riots:  AIR, DD pay the price, too
Residents fume at government:  Violence patterns showed it was well-planned
Ministers watched Gujarat burn on TV
Godhra residents prefer relief camps to going home
Curfew affects mail service to Godhra
Mobs reduced epigraphist?s house to ruins

  v     A number of readers were obviously quite exercised by the events in Gujarat, as seen in the letters to the editor columns.  Most (written by people whose names suggest different faiths) deplored the violence in Godhra as well as in the rest of Gujarat.   Some criticised the media for being less than responsible through  coverage that they  believed could provoke further violence.  Others accused the media of pro-minorities/anti-majority bias.  One letter in H from a person with a Muslim name mentioned how reassuring it was to read letters from so many  Hindus condemning the communal carnage.

v     From 10-11 March onwards media attention shifted from Gujarat to Ayodhya, especially on the front page - e.g., even a halt at the Bangalore airport by Ashok Singhal on 10 March found space on Page 1 of DH, though not a single item on the continuing troubles in Gujarat made it there on that day.

v     The only daily in this survey to reveal some degree of communal bias in its coverage of Gujarat was VK.  Not only did it repeatedly linked the violence there to the failure to find a solution to the Ayodhya conundrum  (albeit asking both sides to resolve the problem), but it also published an editorial on 13 March defending Narendra Modi and pointing out that there had been no communal clashes in Gujarat over the past four years.  It suggested that there was no proof to substantiate the Opposition?s claim that Modi?s government had delayed taking steps to control  the violence and that the demand for the resignations of Modi and L.K. Advani was too hasty.  This is despite an earlier editorial saying that the government should have anticipated and taken steps to contain the VHP's reaction  to the Godhra atrocity. It also carried a report proposing that an inquiry be instituted into the relationship between the people of Godhra and Karachi.

 
 v     Interestingly, two  SK editorials invoked the name of Lord Rama, one pointing out that he was the incarnation of tolerance and the other actually praying that Sri Rama bestow good sense on all concerned!

Comment:

a)      The use of different sections of publications (e.g., columns on religion and spirituality), as well as different  forms of communication (e.g., cartoons and photographs), to report, analyse and comment on the communal violence possibly ensured that almost everyone reading the publication, including those who do not necessarily follow political news and/or read editorials,  was exposed to references to the events in Gujarat in one way or another.

 b)      The fact that the Bangalore editions of national dailies may not have made full use of the wealth of special stories emanating from their bureaus in Gujarat could have to do with space constraints as well as  the distance factor but, as a result, many local readers may have failed to recognise the enormity and national significance of the events in Gujarat.  The initiative taken early in the day by the Karnataka-based DH and P to send correspondents to Gujarat for special coverage is note-worthy in this regard.  The use of special stories is significant because human
interest stories attract more public attention and evoke more public empathy than pure ?hard news? stories.

c)      The fact the ?regional language press? cannot be taken as a homogenous category is clear from this survey.  As in other languages, the Kannada press also reflects a spectrum of viewpoints on the communal question. Interestingly, Prajavani editorials reportedly came under fire during the VHP?s protest rally against the Godhra incident held  in Bangalore on 3 March, with some copies of the paper being symbolically burnt.

  STATE AND CITY COVERAGE

  The survey provided an opportunity to focus attention on editorial decisions taken by the local editions vis a vis Gujarat-related developments.  This close look at the coverage given to events and issues within the state and the city in the aftermath of the violence in Gujarat has revealed some interesting facts.

  1.      Not surprisingly, most Bangalore-based papers did highlight the responses of state units of political parties  and state-level politicians to the communal crisis in Gujarat.   For example, the considerable coverage given to  H.D. Deve Gowda?s statements on the developments in Gujarat was probably a special feature of the Karnataka-based editions of the papers.

  2.      Most of them also expectedly highlighted the impact of the violence in Gujarat on citizens of Karnataka caught  in the crossfire in that state (e.g., Truck from Hubli set on fire in Gujarat, Hubli merchant back from Gujarat hell  fire, Flames of hatred haunt Jainulla), as well the ripple effects within Karnataka in terms of communal tension and conflict, especially in connection with incidents related to the bandh called by the VHP but also with reference to protests against the violence in different parts of this state.

   3.      Among the places from which communal trouble was reported during this period were:  Arasikere, Bangalore, Bangarpet, Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur, Channapatna, Dharwad, Doddaballapur, Gadag, Hassan, Haveri, Hoskote, Hubli, Indi, Kodagu, Mangalore, Mysore, Nelamangala, Ramnagara,  Sindagi, Shimoga and Toravi  village.  But, interestingly, not all the papers covered developments in all of these places - coverage appears to have been both arbitrary and erratic.  Also, except for reports on violence within Bangalore city (e.g., in J.J. Nagar on  15-16 March) and some reports on disturbances in Bangarpet and Indi, the others were covered mainly through    brief mentions in district round-up type stories.  Not all these developments were directly related to the Gujarat events, though some were obviously linked to the build-up of tension in the run-up to the anticipated 15 March  standoff at Ayodhya.

 
 4.      Even where independent reports were filed, often they did not include enough details to enable readers to understand the causes, course and consequences of the strife.  Take, for example, the coverage given to violent  incidents in Indi (the exact location of which was not clarified by most papers):  the burning of  22 vehicles (1 bus, 6 jeeps, 15 two-wheelers) and 6 shops that injured 5 persons (hurt as a result of stone-pelting and/or knifing).  The front page report in DH on 15 March did not clarify the reason for the sudden outbreak of violence.  The next day only NIE reported - albeit in a small item under the Briefs column on p. 1 -- that one person had died in Indi, succumbing to injuries sustained the previous day (the alleged death was subsequently denied by the authorities).
 

 5.      One of the few locally generated special reports in the Bangalore papers on the communal situation in Karnataka in the wake of the Gujarat violence was a Page 1 anchor in NIE titled:  Peace comes first, before the temple, before the mosque, with the strapline:  While Gujarat bled after Godhra, Karnataka stood fast together  because its people do not believe violence is the answer.  It was based on reports from ENS correspondents in  Belgaum, Bellary, Gulbarga, Hubli, Mangalore, Mysore and Shimoga.
 

6.      Only H on 10 March published a four-column report with a photograph at the top of page 4 about  tension and ban orders in Bijapur after two temples were reportedly vandalised;  the item referred to one of the temples as ?a  shrine of Goddess Lakshmi.?  The district authorities? remarks that one of them was an unauthorised shrine and that  the devotees themselves may have caused the destruction apparently resulted in a scuffle between the officers and  citizens.  It was an exceptionally long and detailed report on an incident that was not covered at all in the other papers.

 7.      The city supplement of NIE (City Express) and the city section of AA (Bangalore Age) gave fairly extensive coverage to related events and developments in Bangalore, unlike the city supplement of TOI (Bangalore Times)  which continued with its customary mix of civic reporting and lifestyle journalism.  City Express, for example, carried photographs of railway police keeping watch over Bangalore?s main railway station, stories based on  interviews with the police and armed forces on their preparedness to handle possible outbreaks of violence in the city, etc.  In a random  survey of 10 copies of the Bangalore Times in the first fortnight of March, the only reference to the communal crisis in the country was in a food column.

8.      The minimal coverage given by most city editions to anti-communal activities organised by local secular groups -- a trend  long noticed by citizens? groups in Bangalore -- was revealed and substantiated through the survey of the city?s five English newspapers. A cursory look at the papers may suggest that local events protesting the violence in Gujarat and advocating peace were duly covered.  However, a more detailed look at what was covered where and how reveals another picture.  Significantly, most of these events were not even mentioned in the city engagements columns of several newspapers.

Examples:

 1)      The Women in Black demonstration against violence, including communal violence, led by Vimochana, a women's organisation, on 7 March

TOI:  No mention on the 6th or 7th despite a round-up of seminars/discussions to mark International Women's Day, although a bylined report on serious IWD-related events on the 8th did mention it.

   H:   Small mention of ?rally against communal violence? amidst a number of larger reports on women achievers,  etc., on 8 March in connection with IWD.

AA:  Photograph of Muslim women in burqas holding placards saying:  Peace is our faith, Harmony our religion but no report.

 DH:  No mention, despite a round-up of  other IWD-related programmes.

  NIE:  No mention.

 
 2)      The Mahila Okkoota rally against violence, including communal violence, organised by a large coalition of women's and other organisations, on 9 March

 TOI:  Mentioned in the bylined report referred to above on the 8th but not  in the  round-up of IWD events on the 9th or subsequently.

     H:     Report and photo of women resting after participating in rally.

  AA:  Photograph captioned ?For a better society? but no report.

 NIE:  Page 1 photograph captioned ?Long road to liberation,? focussing on a decorated bullock cart that was part of  the procession, with no mention of the theme of the rally;  prominent 7-column report at the top of p. 3 on  women's march for peace, accompanied by 2 pix captioned ?We don?t want violence;  peace is our legacy:  women activists.?

 DH:  No mention, despite round-up of events related to IWD, and in contrast to a 3-column report on 9 March on a peace vigil by US-based Indians in Washington D.C.

 3)      The human chain for harmony on 11 March jointly organised by several groups

 TOI:  Brief mention in Cityscan column on p. 2 as an initiative of the Global Council of Indian Christians.

  DH:  Small photograph of children holding placards in the top left corner of  p. 1 and a boxed report as well as another photo of nuns holding placards saying ?Stop killings in the name of religion?  on an inside page.

 No mention in the other three papers.

 4)      A week-long film festival against communalism organised by Pedestrian Pictures in the second week of March

TOI:  Brief mention in Cityscan column on p. 2.
No mention in the other four papers.

 
 5)      The peace tent demonstration organised by several organisations and individuals under the umbrella of the People's Initiative for Peace from 7 to 15 March

 TOI:  Brief report on p. 4.

H:     Report and photograph of women and children with placards on p. 4. No mention in the other three papers. Other interesting details of local coverage:

A.     A DH report on p. 4 on what was described as a CPI rally in Bangalore on 6 March against communal violence claimed that it was in protest against the Godhra killings.

 B.     A letter to the editor written by the Network of Women in Media, Bangalore, against the communal violence  in Gujarat, the blaming of the media and the targeting of mediapersons by communal forces, was not published by any of the local papers;  it was eventually reported on as a news item datelined Delhi in The Asian Age on 15 March.

 C.     Plans for VHP/BJP meetings and rallies were often reported well in advance - e.g., on 6 March DH had an  item about the BJP?s plans for protest marches throughout the state on the 9th  and on 11 March NIE carried a report on the BJP's planned padyatra on the 27th.  Prominent coverage was also generally given to statements by religious leaders.

 Comment:

  1.      As a result of the scanty reporting on anti-communal events in the city, many Bangaloreans remained under the impression that there was no secular action in the city in respones to the Gujarat crisis.  Even though some activities were eventually covered by some papers, thanks to the erratic and arbitrary nature of the  coverage, readers of a single paper were not informed about the range of events.  In addition, since much of the coverage comprised brief items tucked away on an inside page or a single photograph with a caption, they were rendered almost invisible  to the average reader.  Further, because such events were rarely given advance publicity (in spite of press  notices/conferences), and were seldom even mentioned in the city engagements columns, ordinary citizens were unable to participate in such initiatives even if they wished to.  Ironically, peace rallies and dharnas in faraway Delhi  were given far more coverage than similar activities in Bangalore.

 The fact that local anti-communal events were given short shrift  irrespective of the discernible overall editorial policy of the papers concerned is  intriguing.

 2.      Another notable feature of the scarce coverage given to such events was the tendency to use photographs featuring participants who visibly belong to minority communities (women in burqas, nuns, etc.).   This may have  given rise to a general  impression that the events were patronised mainly or even only by threatened minorities,  whereas the reality was that most of these events were, in fact, organised and attended by many secular people  belonging to the majority community.
 

 3.      The number of places across Karnataka from where communal disturbances were reported in the wake of the  Gujarat events points to potential trouble-spots within the state.

 4.      Since communal disturbances in one part of the country often have an impact in other places, even publications (and/or editions) located away from the epicentre have a role to play in keeping their readers informed and the local authorities on their toes.
 

 CONCLUSION

 Systematic, detailed surveys of press coverage yield information and insights that can help create more informed  public opinion on the media as well as on the conflicts they cover;  enhanced public knowledge and understanding of the media is important in the context of the growing influence of the media on society.  They can also help generate more reflection and self-criticism among media professionals which, in turn, can lead to improved performance.  In addition, they can be useful tools in media education.
 

This report, written by Ammu Joseph, is based on the presentation made during the NWMB's media seminar in June 2002.  Monitoring of the Kannada press was undertaken by C.G. Manjula and of the English press by AJ, on behalf of the NWMB.   For more details of the coverage in Kannada dailies, see separate report on this site.