Being at the helm of power seems to have given the Congress an edge over other parties in getting more coverage on the front page of newspapers, with a new study claiming that the grand old party got almost three times more space than their counterparts.
While a total of 377 reports on Congress appeared in the Delhi edition of four leading English newspapers -- Indian Express, Times of India, Hindustan Times and The Hindu the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party could get their affairs onto the front page only 138 times during the first six months of this year.
Similar was the case with three Hindi newspapers -- Dainik Bhaskar, Hindustan and Dainik Jagran -- where Congress ruled the front page with 206 stories compared to BJP's 83.
A total of 854 reports on affairs of political parties found their way to the front pages of the English dailies while the figures for three Hindi newspapers were 416, according to a study conducted by the Centre for Media Studies.
The Left parties, which were in the limelight with their high-pitched battle against the United Progressive Alliance on the nuclear deal, also did not get much front page space during the period -- there were only 130 reports from their fold in the English papers. The three Hindi papers published 49 stories during that period.
"It is interesting to note that the newspapers gave the Left and the BJP almost equal weightage and even sometimes they preferred Left over the BJP," CMS Media Lab head Prabhakar told PTI.
Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party managed to get 58 reports on the front pages of English papers while the number was exactly half in Hindi newspapers.
However Mayawati's arch rival Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party's show was dismal with 37 front page stories in English papers and just 11 in Hindi dailies.
Nineteen news reports on Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal appeared in English newspapers on the front page while Hindi dailies obliged the party with just three stories.
Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, a key UPA ally, had 16 reports on the front page of English papers while it could manage only two reports in Hindi dailies.
South Indian parties and arch rivals Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam also managed to get some space in the front pages of the English and Hindi newspapers.
M Karunanidhi-led DMK got 17 stories into print on the front page of English newspapers during the six month period, mainly due to the Sethusamudram controversy, while the AIADMK got just nine stories.
In the three Hindi papers, AIADMK was one story ahead of the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu with four reports. However, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's Janata Dal-Secular got three stories in the English newspapers while it drew a blank in Hindi newspapers.
In English newspapers, Janata Dal-United got six stories on the front page while Shiv Sena had five reports during the six month period. Eleven reports on Sena appeared in Hindi dailies.
