In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, political parties buy airtime on TVs. But a media study has revealed they are getting a great of publicity free of cost.
According to a report by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), while the two national parties — the Congress and the BJP — continue to grab maximum on-air time devoted to political parties, the making and breaking of alliances garnered more coverage than issues like election campaigns and poll concerns.
The CMS analysed the news content in six major national news channels between February 1 and March 15 during the prime time slots of 7 pm to 11 pm. The Congress managed a screen-time of nearly 42.21% as against BJP’s 23.87% in February, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) came third with 7.21% screen time. However, in February the BJP enjoyed 28.58% as opposed to the Congress’s 27.6%.
The study also observed that in the PM candidate category, the two prominent leaders, Manmohan Singh and LK Advani, did not get the top slot. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati’s repeated announcements expressing her desire to be the PM could only get her the fourth rank in this category. On the other hand, NCP chief Sharad Pawar got the maximum coverage in this category though he denied being in the race for the PM’s job. While Pawar got 6.7% of the on-air time devoted to PM candidates between March 1 and March 15, Advani was close behind with 5.15% and PM Manmohan Singh was given just 1.81% coverage in this category. Mayawati managed a dismal 1.48%.
In the category of media coverage given to leaders, Sonia Gandhi grabbed maximum screen time in February with nearly 14.6% but was left behind by Pawar in March who managed 6.7% of the total on-air time in this month. Advani was out of the race in this category with party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad garnering more screen time in March (5.95%). Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi too was ahead of Advani with 8.95%.
Alliances continued to enjoy maximum on-air time in both February and March gaining 24.22% and 33.89% screen time in the respective months.
