Agra Summit and Media Coverage: An Analysis

Abstract

Relations between Pakistan and India have been through many ups and downs since 1947. Amidst tensions and conflicts, there were moments of peace and parleys. The Agra Summit of 2001 was an important event in the history of the two countries, as it was a concerted effort to resolve some of the key issues through peaceful means. The meeting created a lot of hope and media frenzy. This paper is based on the coverage of the summit in the mainstream media of two countries. Through careful sampling, The Hindu from India and Dawn from Pakistan were selected to study the coverage. The newspapers were scanned for three-day coverage from July 15-17. The research shows that it was saturation coverage. The Hindu led the drive with 55 stories in three days. Dawn was not far behind it with 33 news pieces. The two papers published total 88 stories in three days, which means that around 30 stories were published per day. It also comes to average 15 news items in each newspaper in a day. The political stories were maximum in number, followed by the news related to culture, travel and food. There were also several stories about Kashmir, terrorism and security issues. The coverage was initially balanced but it slightly became partisan by the end of the summit. The attitude of media changed as it became clear that no breakthrough was possible during the two-day summit.