Science & Technology Content in Indian Newspapers: Acritique

The scientific knowledge provided by the mass media helps eradicate various social biases and thereby create a knowledge society. Science and Technology (S&T) news published by the media are the agents of social change. There is a general opinion that Indian newspapers provide less space for S&T content. The present study examines the coverage of S&T news published in the Indian newspapers, with a view to enhance the reach and awareness of scientific information among the public. The study that was conducted in the year 2009 found that 6.26% of the content of the English-language newspapers dealt with S&T and 3.5% of the content of the vernacular (mainly Tamil) newspapers were S&T content. These newspapers mainly depend on the News Agencies for getting the S&T stories, as there is lack of dedicated and trained S&T reporters or writers. The present study aims to suggest new ways for improving the standard of the S&T contents.