Media and Elephant welfare

Media and Elephant welfare
Dr.T.P.Sethumadhavan

Content analysis of coverage on Elephant welfare in leading dailies of Kerala state, India revealed the following facts.
1. Coverage based on analysis of news on elephants
Table 2. Coverage based on analysis of news on elephants
Categories Coverage in %
Human elephant conflicts including attacks 21
Cruelty 4.5
Poor management 11
Over work 4
Training 5.5
Festivals 19
Veterinary care 16
Deaths 9.1
Transport 5.9
General 4

2.Media coverage based on different modes of presentation
Table 3. Column length of different modes of presentation
Different modes of presentation
In percentage
News articles 39
Feature stories 34
Illustrations 27

3. Frequency of occurrence of categories of news and modes of presentation

Table4. Frequency of occurrence of news - Based on different modes of presentation
Modes of presentation Frequency in days
News articles 5
Illustrations 7
Feature stories 14


4.Readability
Table5. Readability of the six dailies
Daily selected Readability (Fog index)
Malayala manorama 5.04
Mathrubhoomi 5.67
Desabhimani 5.57
Deepika 5.52
The Hindu 5
New Indian Express 4.9
Average 5.28