Representation of Madhesh Movement in Print Media: An Analytical Study of National Daily English Newspapers

Abstract

This dissertation paper discusses the print media’s coverage of Madhesh Movement (2007) in Nepal and how it might affect both public opinion and policy making on the topic. The thesis argues that the representation of Madheshi and Madhesh Movement by the Nepali press has been largely anti-Madheshi and unanalytical in many instances. Not all reportage is negative, and newspaper coverage would appear to be improving over time but the overwhelming majority of the comprehensive collection of newspaper articles, editorials and letters to the editor surveyed for this research sound prejudiced about Madheshi and Madhesh Movement are extremely unanalytical in nature, uncritically reproducing problematic statistics and assumptions about genuine grievances of Madheshi living in majority in the Terai. Although it is impossible to draw direct casual links between this kind of anti- Madheshi media coverage and State’s discriminatory attitude to look at Madheshi, the dissertation paper, in a nutshell, does argue that the two are at least mutually reinforcing and that the print media has a responsibility to be more balanced and factual in its reporting on this issue.