Mob lynching: Analysis of framing and sourcing patterns in news media coverage in India

Mob lynching, an act where a group of people brutally beat an individual/s to the extend of mercilessly killing them publicly is being committed in India. These acts have mushroomed since the election of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in May 2014. This paper examined frames and sources used by three mainstream national newspapers the Times of India, the Indian Express and The Hindu in the coverage of mob lynching during the first term of Modi from May 2014 to May 2019. Further, the paper studied factors that influence journalists during their coverage and conducted interviews with 6 journalists from the newspapers. The paper aimed to analyse whether the media questions the existing impunity and attributes responsibility for acts of mob lynching. The study found results indicating that mob lynching is portrayed as a 'Conflict' by the news media with a comparatively lower use of the responsibility frame and a heavy reliance on 'police' as sources. The study also pointed out that mob lynching is not an isolated incident but a larger systemic issue in India where the media has an important role in questioning the failure of systems. Keywords Mob lynching, cow protection, Hindu, Muslim, Dalit, news media coverage, Narendra Modi, framing, source, journalis