Research Papers/Articles - Institute of Management Studies Dehradun

Comparative Analysis of Coverage of the Launch of Chandrayan in the two National English Dailies
Comparative Analysis and Conclusion:
Quantitative Comparison
The comparative analysis of both the newspapers revealed
that The Times of India and The Hindu are almost equal in
its coverage of Chandrayan.In the entire duration of the
study, which is one month, Times of India published as
many as 25 news reports whereas The Hindu published
just 24 news reports.The Times of India(with 107 stories)
was far ahead of The Hindu(with 93 stories) in its coverage
of science and technology news.
The total space occupied by these stories was however
more in The Hindu as comparison to Times of
India.Reports of the coverage of Chandrayan-1 covers
1693 col.cm in The Hindu and 1007.5 column cm. in
Newspapers No of stories Space Occupied
Times of India 25 1007.5 column cm
The Hindu 24 1693 column cm
Times of India
Comparison on Chandrayan coverage by Times of
India and The Hindu
The analysis of the themes in both newspapers showed
different pattern of emphasis on different issues by both.
Taking gross scientific news into account, Times of India
gives more coverage to news linked with physical sciences
whereas The Hindu focus more on Biological science. As
far as the language is concerned, Times uses layman
language whereas Hindu advocated for scientific
terminologies, wherever required.
Comparison of Sources of News
Times of India mostly rely on its own news agency i.e. Times
News Network for the coverage of the news.Though, four
of the Chandrayan related stories are contributed by PTI,
AP and other agency.Among the news reported by the
correspondents, Srinivas Laxman of Times of India has the
maximum share. Further, in the analysis of source, it was
found that the news covered by TNN largely outnumbered
the sum total of news covered by special correspondents
and other news agencies. As far as The Hindu is
concerned, it thoroughly retrieves news from its news
agency or special correspondents.Hardly one or two
report is contributed by different agencies.While 84% of
the reports are contributed by the internal sources in Times
of India, about 91.66% reports are contributed via internal
sources in The Hindu. In the Hindu, the internal sources
given for stories were divided into bylines, special
correspondents and staff reporters, while stories in The
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Times of India either covered by TNN or has bylines.It
indicates both newspapers put a high premium on sending
Source The Hindu Times of India
Internal 91.66% 84%
External 8.34% 16%
out their own staff for newsgathering and reporting on
science and technology matters.
Comparison of Sources in The Hindu and The
Times of India :
Comparison of visual presentation
There was again a vast difference in the packaging and
presentation of stories by the two newspapers. Times of
India was far ahead of The Hindu in publishing
photographs to accompany its reports on Chandrayan.
Moreover, most of the pictures in The Times of India are
colored photographs, making the story more attractive
and acting as a powerful force to drag in the reluctant
reader. 80% of all the Chandrayan based reports were
accompanied with photographs.
The Hindu, which is a very popular newspaper in India
having the third largest readership fared very well when it
came to the packaging and presentation of news stories.In
the entire study period of one month,18 photographs were
published in connection to Chandrayan.That means,75%
of all the Chandrayan based reports were accompanied
with photographs.Most of the photographs are colored
Newspaper No. of photographs % of total news story
Times of India 20 80%
The Hindu 18 18%
while a large chunk of pictures are also black and
white.Few pictures are animated and impressively
illustrated.Most of the photographs were either three
column and two column photographs.
Qualitative Comparison
By analyzing the news content qualitatively, the present
study tried to focus on the treatment of news in both
newspapers, through the language, the framing, the issues
highlighted and the follow-up coverage.
The quantitative analysis revealed that science and
technology news was a big component of the coverage by
both newspapers, although The Hindu and Times of India
are much more the same as well as different in various
aspects discussed. However, there were marked
differences in the way Chandrayan-1 stories were
"Pragyaan: Journal of Mass Communication" Volume 10, Issue 1, June 2012