Abstract

2G SPECTRUM SCAM: FOCUS ON MEDIA EXPOSÈ, ECONOMIC REPERCUSSIONS, AND PUBLIC REACTION

Naman Sehgal

Volume: 6 Issue: 4 2016

Abstract:

India, a land rich in diversity and culture, is also very rich in scams and scandals. Since independence, from Bofors to Railway scam, more than 66 years have been fully utilized by the corrupt people to fill their pockets. But, the head of these scams is 2G Scam. It is considered to be one of the greatest scams in the history of India. The scam involving top-most politicians, bureaucrats,corporate people, lobbyists and even journalists shook the public in 2010, so-much-so that it bagged number-2 position in the Time Magazine‟s list of “Top 10 cases of abuses of power.” (Tharoor, 2011) The scam took place in 2008 when the licenses and spectrum allocation was done, to as far as 122 companies having the least experience in the telecom field at the price of 2001. This allocation was done solely on the basis of preference, instead of auction. The scam caused a loss of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore (India, 2010-11) to India. It was exposed by the then Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Mr. Vinod Rai, who was also the reason for giving many shocks to the ruling party. But, the 2G was in itself tangled so much, that even after approximately 4 years of exposure, the case is still undertrial. The Supreme Court of India is doing an independent inquiry of the scam. The media‟s role in coverage of 2G is somehow contradictory as it has fed the audience with many versions of the reporting, somehow failing to be objective. The news in the media was mostly ruled by the political economy of the media associations and was partially the consequence of expanding rivalry. The study will highlight the coverage of 2G scam done by the print media. For this purpose, I will analyze the reporting of a leading Indian daily newspaper i.e.; The Hindu and a leading weekly magazine i.e.; Tehelka The time period for the study will be from 2010 to 2014; as in 2010 the 2G scam was exposed and till now culprits are not punished.

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