Newswatch probed more than 30 news sources and found that apart from minimal coverage, almost one-third did not mention where the census report was released, and only six actually mentioned that it was a joint publication of NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). It was featured as the lead story in only three of the eight newspapers (10 editions) that the study specifically looked at.
The fact that the NTCA/WII survey had an error coefficient of 17.43 per cent, which meant that the tiger population could range between 1,165 and 1,657, was overlooked by more than 50 per cent of the publications, as were the three main reasons behind the decline.
The study looked at stories published between February 12 and 17, 2008 and found that only 36 stories covered this breaking news.
Editor's Note: The hugely influential, two-week NDTV Tiger campaign, supported by Sanctuary and Kids for Tigers (see page 18), which ended on March 9, 2008, was crafted precisely because of the weak response of the press and television to the imminent demise of the tiger. This campaign has rallied support for the tiger in a manner not experienced in India for over four decades. Of course, the key issue now is whether we will be able to turn this massive public support into real action on the ground for tigers by the government.
April 2008
