Bournemouth University (BU) academics have been working with international colleagues to publish an analysis of the India Election.
“India Election 2014: First Reflections” was edited by Dr Einar Thorsen and Dr Chindu Sreedharan and is the first collection of analyses of the India Election. Its 18 chapters contain reflections and comment written by scholars and media practitioners from India, UK, US and Australia.
The publication is the final output of Project India, a joint endeavour with universities in India and the UK, aimed at producing an alternative news coverage of the India Election in 2014.
The project saw more than 40 students, including 15 from BU, working together on the election coverage. The book is a continuation of that, culminating in a critique and analysis of how the Indian media covered the campaign in what was known as the “largest exercise in representative democracy”.
The book is published by The Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community (CsJCC) which is based at BU and is also free to download from the CsJCC website.
It was unveiled at two launch events, in Chennai by Professor David Jawahar, Registrar of the University of Madras, and at a second event held in New Delhi.
Dr Einar Thorsen spoke about the publication, saying, “It is an intervention into post-election public debates that seeks to draw attention to the plight of marginalised voices in India, the role of social media within the campaign, and also broader analysis of media coverage and opinion polls."
He went on to say, “It was published within a year of the election, and we are delighted by the positive response it has already received.”
The University of Madras were one of the main academic partners in the Project India collaboration and Professor G Ravindran their Head of Journalism and Communication. He said,
“I think Bournemouth University shines in putting in place a network of collaborators in India and UK for working on the 2014 India General Elections. Their quick-footed response resulted in a good volume on 2014 India General Elections in a year. A record indeed as the book represents the first from a university in India/UK."
