Volume : 4, Issue : 3, March - 2015

Role of the Press in a Democracy: India Votes for Newspapers, Only Just

H. Naresh Rao

Abstract :

<p>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;The May 2014 parliamentary election in India is considered a turning point in the history of democracy in the country.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div&gt;Not only did a political party get a majority for the first time since 1984 but it rode to this victory on the back of an&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;unprecedented support from the mainstream media. The role of the media and in particular the press in a democracy&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;has been the topic of many a debate and research. The backdrop of elections provides a fertile ground to once again study the role played by&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;the media, its impact and implications in a democratic polity. As more percentage of the electorate is young&amp;ndash; below the age of 35&amp;ndash; the question&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;of adequacy of political communication in the midst of varied media choice in the form of traditional newspaper to television and all forms of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;digital media needs to be understood. The 24 hour news channels bombard us with eaking news, twitter on the other hand is always a minute&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;faster in giving the latest. Newspapers have traditionally served the role of political commentator informing and educating the masses on the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;political landscape that is India. Has this role been replaced by television and or new media or are the newspapers still relevant to the present&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;generation for serving their ever increasing need for political news and views? This paper tries to search for answer to question about the role&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;played by press in serving Indian democracy, especially from the point of the young Indian voter.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;</p>