Simply inconsequential: Media had little impact on election 2004

IF the coverage of the US presidential election by the media there highlighted some pertinent lessons to be learnt, the 2004 Assembly and Lok Sabha polls provided several insights in the context of news coverage by the media. The 2004 polls had exposed the news media, survey agencies and political parties further. In this regard, five observations are worth making.

The first is the disconnect of news media. We already know about the divides of various kinds in the country. But the disconnect of the news media, the metro media more specifically, with the mainstream India has not been a concern, despite it being a source for some of the divides. Senior journalists like Nikhil Chakravartty and H K Dua did write candidly about this phenomenon a decade ago about the irrelevance of newspapers in the context of elections. Between the divide and the disconnect are the deep pockets that the media tend to cater to more. That is how media priorities and the popular wavelength are at such a variance. We are reminded of this at the end of every election.