01859nam a22001577a 4500 518048 518048 210811b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d Thapliyal, Nisha and Prakash, Lokesh Malti 28451 Diluted and depoliticised Social Scientist 48(11-12), Nov-Dec, 2020: p.27-44 The relationship between Indian news media and education policy is an under-researched area. This article presents the findings of a pilot study that examined news reports about the Right to Education Act in four English and three Hindi newspapers published between February and April 2018. Specifically, we focused on news reports about school admissions for children from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds (EWS) as specified by Section 12(1)(c) of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act. Drawing on the scholarship on rights-based approaches to education as well as mediatisation of education, we critically examined media representations of the meaning of education rights and the rights and obligations of rights actors. Analysis revealed that news reports gave more qualitative and quantitative attention to procedural and technical issues in relation to school admissions than to rights actors. Relatedly, we identified distorted or diluted representations of the role of rights actors, including EWS students and parents and representatives of the state and private education sector respectively, while other actors such as teachers were completely absent from news reports. These findings problematise the role of news media in the creation and maintenance of rights-based cultures of education. Indian news media, Education policy, Economically & socially disadvantaged backgrounds, EWS 28452 Social Scientist BACKWARD CLASSES - INDIA AR 0 0 ddc 0 0 392107 IIPA IIPA 2021-08-11 48(11-12), Nov-Dec, 2020: p.27-44 AR125254 2021-08-11 AR