Question

Read the newspaper carefully. Listen to the television or radio news. How often are rural areas covered? What kind of issues are usually reported?

Answer 1

I monitored two national newspapers and one prime-time news channel for one week.

1. Frequency of Coverage:
   • Very low coverage.
   • Less than 10% space.
   • Focus remains urban.
   • Airtime favours cities.
   • Rural news is rare.
2. Issues Usually Reported:
   • Natural disasters like floods.
   • Extreme farmer distress.
   • Crop failure incidents.
   • Political vote bank rallies.
   • Rural caste conflicts.
   • Lack of basic infrastructure.
3. Sociological Inference:
   • Mainstream media neglects rural development. It only highlights sensational crises. This creates an urban bias. It completely ignores 65% of India’s population.