How we describe framing
Some of our stories are written from several outlets’ reporting. Where an outlet’s coverage of that story takes a political stance, we describe how it framed the story, so you can see where accounts of one event differ in emphasis.
What it describes, and what it does not
A framing describes one outlet’s coverage of one story. It is not a rating of the outlet, not a measure of how reliable it is, and it says nothing about any political party, candidate or office holder. We keep no running score for any outlet, and the same outlet can be framed differently on different stories.
The four positions
Bampanti: the coverage frames the matter in terms of class and distribution. Workers, farmers, the poor or unions lead, or the state’s duty to provide is what the story turns on.
Loktantrik: the coverage frames the matter in terms of democratic process and institutions: the constitution, elections, parliament, the courts, the rule of law and civil freedoms.
Chetriyabadi: the coverage frames the matter in terms of region and identity: a province or region, an ethnic, linguistic or caste community, federal rights and fair representation.
Swatantra, or nispakshya: the coverage frames the matter as the failure of the established political order as a whole, and looks to independent or new actors outside it.
Each position is judged on its own. One piece of coverage can register on several of them, or on none. They are not points on a single scale.
When nothing is shown
Most reporting takes no political stance: an accident, the weather, a match result, a ceremony, the day’s figures. We first ask whether a piece of coverage takes an identifiable political stance at all, and only if it does do we look at the four positions. Where it does not, we say that no discernible leaning was found and show no measure.
What an assessment rests on
An assessment rests on what can be seen in the text: whose voices are quoted and for how long, what the opening centres on, and which actors are named rather than only described. It does not say why an outlet covered a story as it did, who owns it, or where its loyalties lie.
The overall reading
Where at least two outlets’ coverage of a story takes a stance, the story also shows an overall reading drawn from those, and says how many outlets it comes from. With fewer, it shows none.
Who makes the assessment
An assessment is prepared with automated assistance: a decision model reads the text and answers the questions above. An editor reviews it before the story is published and can change any of it, including setting it to no discernible leaning. An assessment an editor has set is marked as set by an editor, and a later automated assessment does not overwrite it.
If you think an assessment is wrong, write to info@ujyaalotoday.com or use our contact page, and name the story.