General Pervez Musharraf makes headlines far more in India than Dr. Manmohan Singh and
perhaps as much as he makes in his own country. In the last week of September, between 21
and 28th, Pakistan President Prevez Musharraf got three times more time on primetime evening news bulletins of Delhi based Hindi news channels than the India Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh got during the period, according to a CMS Media Lab analysis.
It was the release of General Pervez Musharraf’s book on September 25th which prompted such an extensive coverage in the news media. What is more, most of this television coverage is not only from USA but include extensive discussion in India and interviews on Musharraf and his book.
Between September 21 and 28, six Hindi news channels of Delhi devoted 378 minutes of their
evening primetime news bulletins for General Musharraf against 114 minutes they devoted for
covering Dr. Manmohan Singh. No Indian Prime Minister for sure would have ever got such a
coverage in Pakistan news media as Musharraf often gets in India.
The news channels covered are DD News, NDTV India, Zee News, Sahara Samay, Star News
and Aaj Tak.
More specifically, Musharraf’s book release on 25th September and discussion on it occupied
277 minutes of the bulletins of these six Hindi News channels. Even before the book release, on
September 21, 22, 23 and 24 Musharraf got a coverage of 102 minutes in the evening primetime bulletins of these six Hindi news channels. This included General Musharraf’s meeting with Dr.
Manmohan Signh in Havana, Musharraf’s meet with US President Bush.
Between 21 and 28 September NDTV devoted 164 minutes for President Musharraf in its
evening primetime bulletins against four minutes it devoted for Dr. Manmohan Singh in the
same bulletins.
Doordarshan news channels, on the other, devoted 94 minutes for Dr. Manmohan Singh against
35 minutes it devoted for Pakistan President Musharraf during the same days and same time
bulletins.
On an average Pakistan’s President got ten minutes per channel of primetime coverage a day
during this week in the news bulletins on these news channels - against hardly three minutes a
day per channel Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh got. That General Musharraf is a favourite of India news media is evident from the coverage he gets from the mainline English newspapers too. On the other, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh gets low key coverage in news bulletins is perhaps not a surprise.
On September 26 Dr. Manmohan Singh had his birthday. So also the veteran film actor Dev
Anand. On 26th September Dev Anand got a coverage of 34 minutes in all in the primetime
evening bulletins of six Hindi news channels against two minutes and 30 seconds coverage Dr.
Manmohan Singh got on the same channels in the same bulletins.
NDTV devoted 24 minutes on 26 September in its evening primetime news bulletins on Dev
Anand’s birthday. It had no coverage what so ever on Dr. Manmohan Singh’s birthday in the
primetime news bulletins of the evening.
Doordarshan News devoted one minute and 50 second for covering Dr.Manmohan Singh
birthday against 30 seconds it devoted for Dev Anand’s birthday on September 26th in its
primetime evening news bulletins. Zee News had 30 seconds for Dr. Manmohan Singh’s
birthday against 7 minutes for Dev Anand’s birthday on 26 September.
Interestingly, both Aaj Tak and Star News did not cover either of these birthdays in their evening primetime news bulletins.
CMS Media Lab monitors and analysis news bulletins of prime national channels and some
regional channels every day.
Media Lab
Centre for Media Studies
Send your write-ups on any
media on "mediayug@gmail.com"
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
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4 comments:
No doubt Indian Media mad .It neglect own PM for PAk president
not surprising.
ironically devanand got more coverage than Manmohan. Indian media need to search their soul. What is contribution of Devanand compared to PM. Anyway TV always covers kachara thing
There is a saying "What's in a name"? While the Indian Prime minister's name is Manmohan, it is the Pakistani President who is younger, handsome and more photogenic- man mohit kar dete hain.
Since you are from media studies, you may find this interesting:-
Are bloggers failed writers and half-wits or for professional journalism, is this the pits?
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