Introduction

Keeping in mind the question posed above, one can state that in an era, often called the Media Age, the basic issues that confront an analyst exploring the nature of the ‘world's largest democracy’ relate to the media power itself: how do media function in the power structure of the concerned society, and no less important, how do the media address it? The discussion on such issues is political in the broad sense of the term. It is so at least for two reasons: first, basically it is the interpretation of the narrative conventions and representations that shape the context in which politics is conceived, understood and enacted by the people; and second, it is being interpreted by a politically aware audience, composed of readers, listeners and viewers. No less important is the fact that in a democracy the audience is also supposed to be opinion-holders.

An intense focus on the mainstream media, from the vantage point being mentioned here, is bound to be critical in both content and tenor. The same holds true for what is going to be the special focus of this chapter – television and television news. However, a clarification is needed at the ver y outset: such critical analysis should not be construed as a sort of ‘anti-media’ stance. Democracy without powerful and constructive media is an impossible venture and any analyst ready to go beyond the simple causal mechanisms of media effects knows quite well that the world would be a worse place to live in if the media would disappear from the scene.