Comparative Study of Different Newspapers
Comparative Study of Different Newspapers
Comparative Study of Different Newspapers
IndexTerms - The Hindu, The Times of India, print media, news distribution
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I. INTRODUCTION
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing news, other informative articles, and usually
advertising. (En.wikipedia.org, 2018).A newspaper is usually printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade
paper such as newsprint. Newspapers are typically published daily or weekly. Most newspapers now publish
online as well as in print. The online versions are called online newspapers or e-newspapers. Usually, the
publishers upload the print version of the daily newspaper, on the website and update it on a regular basis.
All the articles that could not be included in the print version is included in the online version.
A wide variety of information is published in newspapers. Hard and soft news, entertainment news,
sports news and it even has provision for opinions in its op-ed and editorial page. Newspapers include
weather forecasts, reviews of films, plays and restaurants. It even has obituaries, crosswords, horoscopes,
editorial cartoons, gag cartoons, and comic strips. Be it advice, food, and other columns; and radio and
television listings, the average newspaper has it all. So, the newspaper caters to a wide audience,
promulgating all kinds of information.
There are two different types of newspapers: Broadsheets and tabloids. A broadsheet newspaper consists
of nine columns, whilst a tabloid consists of only six. The best example for a newspaper is a daily
newspaper, like The Deccan Herald, The Deccan Chronicle and The Hindustan Times etc. They tend to
contain a lot of advertisements. Mumbai Mirror and Midday are the perfect examples of tabloids. They tend
to contain little to zero number of advertisements.
Newspapers are also classified based on their target audience. While most newspapers are aimed at a
large audience, certain newspapers have a specific target audience. Hence, their news often caters to the
In addition, newspapers are categorised based on their regularity. A daily newspaper is printed and
distributed on a daily basis.The only exception being some national or religious holidays. These newspapers
also have a Sunday edition.
There are newspapers that are printed on a weekly basis. They are called weekly newspapers or
weeklies. They are printed and published once a week, and tend to be smaller in size than daily newspaper
papers. Certain newspapers are published two or three times a week or on a fortnightly basis.
Newspapers made their advent in India during the rule of the British. The Bengal Gazette was the first
newspaper to be published in India. It was first published on 29th January, 1780 in English. James Augustus
Hickey was its owner, and it was published in Kolkata. (Saxena, 2018).
This led to publishing of several papers in Kolkata like the Calcutta Gazette in 1784, The Bengal journal
in 1785 and Calcutta Chronicle in 1786. Subsequently, other cities followed suit and started their own local
newspapers. Thus, this resulted in making the print media the most powerful media in the country.
According to the report published on May 2017, by the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), India has
bucked the global trend of declining readership of print media. World renowned politician, Shashi Tharoor
stated that: ―Newspaper circulation in India has grown from 39.1 million copies in 2006 to 62.8 million in
2016. This is a 60 per cent increase.‖ (The Quint, 2018)
Despite the rise of the internet and social media, the print media in our country is going strong. Media
commentator Vinita Kohli outlines the reason for this. ―Print media has always performed well in India.
There are two main reasons for it – primacy of the written word and the home delivery of the newspaper.
The reason newspapers in their physical form started declining in the West, is because volition was involved
– you have to go to a newsstand and buy a copy. In India, we get it at our doorstep.‖
That‘s why this study is relevant to the Indian context. These newspapers have an important role to play
in informing the masses. The kind of news they print, and the number of articles under each news category
is decided by the individual newspapers‘ news agenda. This news agenda, a journalistic jargon though it
maybe, is vital in informing the audience. The level of knowledge the Indian readers have about the current
affairs around the world, determines their awareness of the society. A well-informed mass is the most
powerful, as information like impending natural calamities, change in policies and wars can help prepare the
citizens accordingly.
Hence, finding out what kind of news is published in Indian newspapers has become mandatory. For the
purpose of this study, The Times of India and The Hindu two of India‘s leading newspapers have been
chosen.
Originally called The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, the paper was founded in 1838 to serve
the British residents of western India. At first published twice weekly, the paper became a daily in 1851 and
changed its name to The Times of India in 1861.
It is the fourth-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest selling English-language daily in
the world according to Audit Bureau of Circulations (India). According to the Indian Readership Survey
(IRS) 2012, the Times of India was the most widely read English newspaper in India with a readership of
7.643 million. This ranks the Times of India as the top English daily in India by readership. It is owned and
published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. which is owned by the Sahu Jain family.
THE HINDU
The Hindu, is English-language daily newspaper published in Chennai (Madras), generally regarded as
one of India‘s most influential dailies. Established in 1878 as a weekly, The Hindu became a daily in 1889.
While India was under British rule, the paper spoke out for independence—but in a moderate vein. After
India achieved independence in 1947, The Hindu built a network of foreign bureaus while extending its
coverage of India. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018)
The Hindu is distinguished for its comprehensive coverage of national and international political news
and for its emphasis on accuracy and balanced coverage. Although it is published in a provincial
capital, The Hindu‘s reportage and editorials are read carefully and taken seriously in the national capital. At
the beginning of the 21st century, its daily circulation exceeded 900,000. The newspaper‘s parent
company, Hindu Group Publications, also publishes The Hindu Business Line, a daily business paper, and
popular magazines such as Frontline and Sportstar. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018)
The current publisher is its former editor N. Ram and its editor is Mukund Padmanabhan. The Hindu
received reputation for its credibility after one of its reporters, Chitra Subramaniam reported the bofors
scandal. This is considered one of India‘s largest political scandals till date. This scandal took place during
the time when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister. Once the news of the kickbacks the Congress
government received from the Swedish government made news, it led to the loss of election of the ruling
Congress party.
It brought The Hindu in the limelight, and it is considered one of the most credible source of information.
The Hindu has registered a 20 per cent growth in circulation over a six month period in 2015. It has retained
its position as the second-largest English daily, according the Audir Bureau of Circulation. The circulation
rose from 1,261,658 from January – June 2015 to 1,518,082 from July – December 2015.
There has always been stiff competition between these two newspapers. They have openly feuded on
several occasions. Each newspaper has released television ads questioning the credibility and the type of
information covered in the opponents‘ newspaper in 2012. (YouTube, 2018)
Hence, it would be interesting to see the news distribution pattern in both The Hindi and The Times of
India.
II. OBJECTIVES
This objective of this study was to empirically analyse the content of two English newspapers –
The Hindu and Times of India, for a period of 15 days in the month of April, 2014.
3. To compare content category wise with quantitative analysis, the content in both papers.
4. To compare the difference between amount devoted by both papers to each content
category.
III. METHODOLOGY
Quantitative analysis is used in this study to analyse the content of two selected newspapers, ‗The
Hindu‘ and ‗The Times of India‘ for a period of 15 days. This was done bycategorising the news content
into Political news, City news, Sports news, National news, andInternational news. The supplements of
both newspapers have not been examined, as they usually do not contain articles that fall under the listed
categories. The total number of articles under each category is calculated. The depth of each article that
falls under these five categories are measured in centimetres. The percentage of news each news category
covers in the respective newspaper is calculated by multiplying the number of centimetres each news
category has occupied by 100. It is then divided by the total number of articles that respective newspaper
has.
Below are results of the comparison for both tables were obtained by considering the total numbers of
articles in the respective newspapers for a period of 15 days in the month of April, 2014. The total number
of articles in The Hindu and Times of India are 11,707 and 5,275, respectively.
By doing a close empirical study on the two English newspapers, The Hindu and The Times of India,
quality observations have been made on their approaches towards the news content, and news selection. The
interpretation of the research is carried out systematically by taking each category into consideration.
To begin with, the first category of news content is considered. The distinction of news has been drawn
according to the kind of news rendered to the readers by the newspapers and the priorities set by the
newspapers in prominence of news. The total number of articles published is taken into account to find the
space dedicated to each of the categories. The reading of the articles of both newspapers lead to the
understanding of their role as a medium of communication.
On the basis of the above understanding, the following interpretations are made:
PROMINENCE OF NEWS
7.56%
29.9%
24.77%
14.30%
23.45%
Political news City news Sports news National news International news
The above pie chart is a clear representation of the news distribution in the newspaper, ‗The Hindu‘.
Accordingly, it is noted that the majority of the space, which is nearly 29.9 per cent is given to Political
news. National news is given the second priority, covering 24.77 per cent of space. Sports news gets the
third priority, with 23.45 per cent of space allotted to it. City news covers 14.30 per cent and International
news covers 7.56 per cent of space in the newspaper.
15.22% 19.39%
15.22%
25.63%%
24.53%
Political news City news Sports news National news International news
Political news covers is further sub - categorised into City,State and National political news. The Hindu
has devoted about 29.89 per cent of its space for Political news. This newspaper mainly concentrates on
reporting articles of local importance. Secondly, it focuses on political news of national concern, and
finally on State political news. This data is obtained by measuring the length of each article in centimetres,
under each of the sub - categories. The amount of space allotted to State political news is 27.34 per cent,
32.82per cent for national political news and 39.82 per cent for city political news, and. The Hindu has
three pages for state news, and majority of the articles in these pages are about City political news.
In contrast to The Hindu, The Times of India, allots only 19.39 per cent of its space for Political news.
However, this newspaper gives its top priority to National political news, followed by City and State
political news. The amount of space allotted to National political news is 53.37per cent, 29.71per cent for
City political news and 16.91per cent for State political news. This newspaper has no special pages allotted
for state news.
Nearly 14.30 per cent of space consists of City news. It is sub - categorised into Entertainment news,
Crime news and Social news. The Hindu has two pages for City news (each side of the newspaper is
considered a page). It has a regular column called ‗nammabengaluru‘, which discusses the various social
problems in the city. The newspaper has 47.34per cent of Social news, 29.01per cent of Crime news, and
23.64per cent of Entertainment news. The newspaper has comprehensive articles about the social problems
in the city, along with all the incidents of theft, robbery, embezzlement and suicide cases. It also talks
about local celebrities, any sort of Entertainment news about local celebrities that would interest the local
citizens.
Table 6: The distribution of City news in The Times of India
The Times of India has three to four pages allotted to City news. Approximately, 25.63 per cent of
space in this newspaper consists of Sports news. Its news distribution pattern is similar to The Hindu. The
city page consists of 47.48per cent of Social news, 25. 36per cent of Crime news, and 27.14per cent of
Entertainment news.
The Hindu has five pages, (each side of the newspaper is considered a page) for the purpose of printing
Sports news. The Hindu allots 23.45 per cent of space for this news category. The newspaper prints articles
about all sports, including hockey, badminton and motorcycling. The sub - categories for sports news are
interviews, features and general sports news. Only 2.58per cent of the page consisted of interviews. About
90.09 per cent of these pages contained news, followed by features which comprises of 7.31per cent of the
space. Updates on the latest matches, and their outcomes in every sport is mentioned in the last sub-
category. The second sub-category has detailed descriptions of specific sport clubs, and its players. In the
first sub-category, profile interviews of only Indian sportsmen are printed.
Table 8: The distribution of sports news in The Times of India
Sports news has four pages (each side of the newspaper is considered a page) in The Times of India.
The newspaper has 24.53 per cent of space for this news category. Approximately, 72.33per cent of these
pages consist of news. While there are features covering 25.27per cent of the pages, interviews contribute
to only 2.39per cent of the space. The sports pages cover all the major, popular sports. There are very few
interviews of sportsmen in this newspaper. There are features only on football teams and cricket teams.
News contains details about all the sports and the outcome of recently played matches.
65.44 per cent 29.75 per cent 4.79per cent 100 per cent
The Hindu gives top priority to National news. Nearly, 24.77per cent of the space in the newspaper
comprises of National news. Though the newspaper has one page for National news, front page news and
other pages also contain news of national importance. Its sub-categories are Political, Social and
Entertainment news of national importance. Almost 65.44 per cent of the National news is political. About
29.75 per cent is Social news, and 4.79 per cent is Entertainment news. The first sub-category contains
articles about elections, various political parties, national policies, current administration, national crisis
and popular political leaders. The second sub-category has news about religious conflicts, problems
The Times of India has the same pattern as The Hindu with regard to the distribution of National news.
However, there are usually five pages for National news. This takes up 15.22 per cent of space.
Approximately, 65.25per cent of National news is political. The space allotted for Social news is 21.41per
cent, and 13.32per cent of space is given to Entertainment news. The articles which belong to the first sub
–category talk about strong political parties, political alliances, elections, and flaws in the national
administration. The articles on social news talk about the same topics as that of The Hindu.
TOTAL
NEWS ENTERTAINMENT NEWS CELEBRITY NEWS
77.20per cent 17.72 per cent 5.07 per cent 100 per cent
The Hindu allots only one page for International news, which covers 7.56 per cent of space. This
newspaper gives the least priority to International news, which has further been sub- categorised into
News, Entertainment news, and Celebrity news. Majority of the space has been allotted to News, followed
by Entertainment news and Celebrity news. Almost 77.20 per cent of the international page consists of
News. News regarding international relations, war, natural disasters in foreign nations, are the kind of
articles found in this sub-category. Whereas only 17.72 per cent of space consists of Entertainment news.
In this sub-category, news on movies, music, new trends in the international entertainment industry and
award ceremonies are found. But 5.07 per cent consists of Celebrity news, which contains articles on
internationally known celebrities, their achievements and latest scandals.
Just like The Hindu, The Times of India has only one page devoted for International news. This
newspaper has 15.22 per cent of designated space for this news category. The pattern of news distribution
is the same for The Times of India, 65.25per cent of the page contains news. Entertainment news composes
21.41per cent of the page, whereas, 13.32per cent of the space comprises of Celebrity news. Many of the
articles in this page focus on life of political leaders, their latest scandals, and their controversial
statements. There are usually two articles about entertainment and celebrity news in this page.
CONCLUSION
The main objective of this research study has been to find the amount of space devoted to each of the
content categories, and the prominence given to each content category by both newspapers. After careful
analysis, the following conclusions have been drawn:
1. The Hindu devotes majority of its space to Political news, whereas The Times of India devotes
majority of its space to City news.
2. Both The Hindu and The Times of India give high priority to Sports news.
3. Overall, The Hindu has more number of articles than The Times of India.
4. The Times of India gives equal priority to National and International news.
5. The Hindu gives more prominence to National news, when compared to The Times of India.
6. The Times of India gives more amount of space to City news, in contrast to The Hindu, which allots
very little space for City news.
7. The Times of India is more colourful and contains more number of pages, The Hindu is dull in its
presentation and has less number of pages when compared to The Times of India.
8. The Hindu has less number of Interviews, and Entertainment news when compared to The Times of
India.