European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Press is considered the fourth pillar of any democratic setup. India is a democratic country; therefore, newspapers play an agenda-setting role in the country. The cases of rape are ubiquitous phenomenon and reported every day in newspapers. A 23-year-old female was brutally raped and murdered by six adult men and one 17 years old juvenile in the year 2012. This brutal gang rape attracted media headlines not only in India but across the world due to its horrific nature in which the crime was committed. The present research paper attempts to understand the representation of rape in newspapers with special reference to Delhi gang rape case. The researcher has also conducted comparative analysis of representation of high-profile rape cases and normal rape cases. To analyze the reports the data were collected from three Hindi and three English newspapers namely Dainik Jagran, Hindustan, Dainik Bhaskar, The Times of India, The Tribune and The Hindu published from Dehradun. The researchers used electronic version of editions for the study. All the news items were read and re-read carefully and analyzed thematically. The study shows that newspapers highlight those stories and give extensive coverage to those rape incidents which have elements of sympathy, public apathy and exposure of such incidents by means of protests.