Politics or Development Mapping the editorial agenda of Desh Ki Paathshaala
Main Article Content
Abstract
Prime-time television news plays an important role in shaping public discourse by determining which issues receive editorial attention and how they are presented to viewers. While political developments frequently occupy a prominent position in Indian television news, the representation of development-oriented issues remains an important area of academic inquiry. Against this background, the present study examines the editorial agenda of Desh Ki Paathshala, a prime-time news programme anchored by Sushant Sinha on News18 India. The study aims to identify the major categories of news covered by the programme and compare the editorial prominence given to political and development-oriented issues.
Employing a quantitative audiovisual content analysis, the study examines the available episodes broadcast during August 2026. Individual news stories and substantive segments constitute the units of analysis. Drawing upon Agenda-Setting Theory, the research categorises coverage into politics and governance, development and public welfare, economy, international affairs, defence and national security, science and technology and other relevant categories. Editorial prominence is assessed through story frequency and duration while explanatory techniques such as anchor-led explanations, statistical data, maps and background information are also examined. The analysis explores how political controversies, public-welfare concerns and other news subjects are incorporated into the programme's editorial structure. By distinguishing between political reporting and substantive policy-oriented coverage, the study seeks to provide a systematic understanding of issue prioritisation within an explanatory prime-time news format. The research contributes to discussions on editorial agenda-setting, the representation of development issues and the evolving presentation of news on Indian television
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51–58.
Indian Television Dot Com. (2026, June 18). News18 India's Desh Ki Pathshala tops Hindi news streaming charts on YouTube.
McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–187.
Moneycontrol News. (2026, June 12). News18 India announces launch of ‘Desh Ki Pathshala’ with Sushant Sinha.
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication,
43(4), 51–58.
McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–187.
Research note: Figures 6.1–6.3 are suitable as preliminary descriptive graphs. Before submitting the paper for publication, the episode-level coding should be reconciled so the percentages represent consistently counted individual news stories rather than a mixture of stories and thematic chapters.
Kamboh, S. A., Ittefaq, M., & Jamil, S. (2025). Powerful news sources versus advocate-journalists as factors affecting the editorial agenda-building on sustainable development goals. Journalism Practice, 19(12), 2789–2810.
Kumar, N., Kumar, A., Redhu, P., & Kumar, K. (2026). Prime time international news on Indian television: Frames, valence, and geopolitical visibility. Journalism. Advance online publication.
Singh, H., Hansen, M., & Birkenholtz, T. (2025). The politics of framing water infrastructure: A topic model analysis of media coverage of India’s Ken-Betwa river link. Journalism and Media, 6(3), Article 114.
Kamboh et al. appeared online in 2024 and was subsequently assigned to the 2025 journal volume