Quality in Journalism: Perceptions and Practice in an Indian context By: Sreedevi Purayannur A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Journalism Studies Submission Date March 2018 To Amma My guru and my friend 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is often said that undertaking a PhD is a solitary journey. I have been fortunate to enjoy enormous support and the encouragement of many well-wishers at all stages of this journey. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Martin Conboy, whose continuous support, encouragement and enthusiasm for my work led me to the completion of this thesis. I am grateful for his guidance, knowledge and constructive feedback towards my training as a researcher over the years. I would also like to thank Professor John Steel for his feedback on my MPhil to PhD upgrade report and on the first complete draft of this thesis. On both occasions, his comments forced me to challenge the contours of my study, and this thesis is all the better for them. At the Department of Journalism Studies, I would like to thank Clare Burke and Jose Cree for their administrative support; Ximena Orchard for her help in many instances during our time together at Sheffield; and Professor Jackie Harrison for for opening the doors for this PhD in the first instance. I am very grateful to all the journalists who found the time in their busy schedules to share their experiences. Their contribution made this thesis meaningful. Thank you, Anushree Madhavan, Karan Pillai, Komal G, Mini K, Soyesh Rawther, Yamini Vasudevan, Venkat Pulapaka, Sajesh Mohan, Suresh Babu and several others for introducing me to the research participants. Thank you, Professor Sreekumar Menon, for your mentoring at the Asian College of Journalism, which helped shape my career. My gratitude also goes to senior officials at Amrita University for making this PhD possible: Pro- Chancellor Brahmachari Abhayamrita Chaitanya for actively supporting my PhD application and my research training at Amrita University; and the Dean for International Programmes, Dr Maneesha V. Ramesh, for her continued interest in my academic progress. I am grateful for the support of my colleagues, friends and well-wishers at Amrita University; to Professors Sanjay Banerji and Amalendu Jyothishi at the Amrita School of Business for their support in the early stages of my research training; to my friend Dr Sudha Venkataswamy, who has always been a source of inspiration; and to Dr Kalyani Suresh for her cheerful encouragement. To Usha Chechi, I will always be grateful for your generous heart and unconditional support. I am grateful to my cousins Ashwin Parameswaran and Chitrabhanu Parameshwaran for welcoming me into their homes in London and Chennai; your hospitality and support remain memorable parts of this journey. To my husband Nileesh, thank you for encouraging me to push my boundaries and for your help and support at many stages of this journey; your love keeps me going. To my parents, Preetha and Kunhunni, and my sister Savithri, you have always believed that I could achieve anything I set my mind on. Thank you for being my pride and my comfort. To my brother-in-law Kaushal, I am glad that we became such good friends. -Sreedevi 3 ABSTRACT This thesis explores the concept of quality in journalism from an Indian perspective with the aim of identifying its elements and the factors influencing it. It is framed in a mixed methods paradigm and uses ‘surface structures’ and ‘story boxes’ as tools to study the perceptions and practice of quality in Indian journalism. Qualitative semi- structured interviews with 22 Indian newspaper journalists and quantitative content analysis of 108 newspaper pages and 569 news items are used to identify the ideal- practice gap between journalists' perceptions of quality and the evidence of it in news content. The research methods are informed by normative assumptions of quality based on journalism's democratic role and functions. Findings are derived using the principles of applied thematic analysis to identify core themes and sub-themes in qualitative data and from descriptive statistical analysis of quantitative data. This thesis identifies the core elements of quality, which are closely linked to and influenced by the shared professional values of Indian journalists, such as autonomy, objectivity and public service. The content analysis shows little evidence of idealistic perceptions of quality, with notions of quality at the journalists' level converging with content only in four minor aspects and differing in the six critical aspects of accuracy, balance, context, good writing and the informative and investigative roles of journalism. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................... 3 ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................................ 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................ 5 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ 8 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 10 1.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND RATIONALE......................................................................................... 13 1.2 ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS ...................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2 THE INDIAN CONTEXT FOR QUALITY IN JOURNALISM .................................................. 18 2.1 JOURNALISM IN INDIA: BEGINNINGS AND DEVELOPMENT ................................................................... 20 2.1.1 Indian newspapers 1780-1947 .................................................................................................. 21 2.1.2 Indian news media 1947 -1991 ................................................................................................. 32 2.1.3 Indian news media after liberalisation, 1991-present .............................................................. 36 `2.2 INDIA AS A NATION AND INDIAN JOURNALISM TODAY: CHALLENGES ................................................... 40 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER 3 JOURNALISM AND ITS DEMOCRATIC ROLE: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS .................. 50 3.1 JOURNALISM: DIFFERENT CONCEPTIONS OF THE TERM ...................................................................... 51 3.1.1 Defining journalism for this study ............................................................................................. 56 3.2 THE OCCUPATIONAL STANDING OF JOURNALISM .............................................................................. 57 3.2.1 Journalism as a form of art ....................................................................................................... 58 3.2.2 Professionalism and professional ideologies in journalism ...................................................... 60 3.3 MODELS OF NEWS MEDIA SYSTEMS AND THE ROLE OF JOURNALISM .................................................... 66 3.3.1 Role of news media in a democracy: the Asian-Indian perspective .......................................... 70 3.3.2 Journalism’s role conceptions: relevance of the Lippmann-Dewey debate .............................. 75 3.4 CHALLENGES TO JOURNALISM RESEARCH IN AN INDIAN CONTEXT ........................................................ 81 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................... 84 CHAPTER 4 NORMATIVE AND EMPIRICAL FRAMEWORKS OF QUALITY: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ..................................................................................................................................................... 86 4.1 NORMATIVE UNDERPINNINGS OF JOURNALISM QUALITY .................................................................... 86 4.2 EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON QUALITY IN JOURNALISM ............................................................................. 95 4.2.1 Measuring quality: bringing evaluative frameworks under one umbrella ............................... 96 4.2.2 Quality, performance and excellence in journalism ................................................................ 107 4.3 THE QUALITY FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................................ 116 4.3.1 Who Judges Quality?............................................................................................................... 120 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 122 CHAPTER 5 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................ 123 5.1 LOCATING THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND FRAMING THE RESEARCH DESIGN ......................................... 123 5.1.1 Research