ABSTRACT
The place of the media in an effective liberal democracy is generally seen as
sacrosanct. The media play an important role in the collection and dissemination of information and provide an avenue for keeping politicians
accountable to their constituents.Mindful of the impact themedia can have on
the fortunes of a political party, and the careers of individuals within it, most
politicians in liberal democracies tend to tread carefully in terms of how they
manage their relationship with the media. Politicians hire public relations and
media advisors, and seek media training in order to learn how to ‘use’ the
media to further their political aims. In the main, the approach of India’s
political parties to media relations has become remarkably similar. However, an exception appears when we examine the relationship of the
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and its leader Mayawati, with the media in both
its mainstream forms – print and television. Despite early attempts to engage
with the media, by the late 1990s the BSP was running election campaigns
with a media strategy of almost complete disengagement. This has not led to
poor electoral results for the party. In fact, the party has been in power in the
north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) on a number of occasions: in 1995,
1997 and 2002, either in coalition or as a minority government. Upon winning minority government in the 2002 election, a journalist declared that ‘In
an age of television and information technology, Mayawati is a politician who
defies all conventional standards and norms . . . [and] despises giving interviews . . . ’(Bhushan, 2002: 18). In May 2007 the BSP won the UP state election outright to take power as the first majority government that UP has
seen for 15 years. Again this election was won while largely ignoring main-
stream newspapers and television, with Mayawati even taunting journalists
after the win, ‘I know you were upset I did not meet you during the campaign but I noticed that you had already run ahead with your conclusions, so I
thought why disturb you?’ (Gopinath, 2007).
