Women related News: A Comparative Study of the Portrayal by National and Local Print Media

The role of media has today stretched far beyond the supply of information because of the outreach and technological sophistication. The media as a chronicler of events, an informer, an educator, a transformative space and a tool to change society has the capacity to make a very positive contribution towards social change. By gradually shaping public opinion, personal beliefs and even people’s self-perceptions, media influences the process of socialization and shapes ideology and thinking. The ongoing revolution in the field of media had opened up new avenues for accelerating the development and upliftment of women. In the past few years, there has been an improved and enhanced coverage of issues related to women in print media, especially newspapers. News related to them, have started to periodically occupy key slots like editorials, features, news, etc. But portrayal through media reinforces reality as well as stereotypes. It is believed that women in news are more likely to be featured in stories of sexual harassment, domestic violence, and crime and atrocities, rather than in stories about their professional abilities or expertise. Therefore, it has become necessary to know the nature of the portrayal of women and women issues in print media, so that women related issues are adequately represented in media. This research paper tried to analyze the print media coverage of two National newspapers and two Local Newspapers of Kashmir, regarding women to known the amount of coverage given to women and women related issues and the nature of such coverage. The research study found out that the women-related issues get negligible coverage in both local and national level newspapers; it is 0.8% in local newspapers and 2% in national newspapers. This insignificant coverage is dominated mostly by news stories related to Domestic Violence, Sexual Harassment, Suicide and Crime against Women