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