Ownership versus Developmental News Content: An Analysis of Independent and Conglomerate Newspapers of India.

This study examined one specific problem connected with the ownership and content of the Indian press: Is there any significant difference between independent newspapers and conglomerate-controlled newspapers in the quantities of developmental, governmental, and political news they present? The period of study was 1973, during which four daily newspapers representing three languages were examined. A sampling design was adapted for constructing an artificial year by taking the Monday of the first week of January, Tuesday of the second week of February, Wednesday of the third week of March, and so on through Saturday of the fourth week of December. The findings show that the four sample newspapers, irrespective of ownership, devote more area to governmental and political news than to developmental news, i.e., news that deals with economic, social, and technological progress in developing nations. But the independent newspapers contain more developmental than governmental or political news, while the conglomerates have more governmental than developmental or political news. (The results are presented in both table and narrative form.) (RB)