01283pab a2200145 454500008004000000100002000040245004200060260000900102300001600111362001000127520093100137650001501068650002001083773003401103180718b2002   xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aSinha, Dipankar  aKargil episode in Bengali print media  c2002  ap.2803-809.  a6 Jul  aThe mass media have a significant role in facilitating the construction of both the public sphere and democratic politics and can aid in the shaping of people's orientations, beliefs and attitudes. In the multicultural setting of India, the construction of public sphere is a complex affair in which the mass media play a critical role. What if at a crucial point in the life of a democracy the supposedly democratic option of the media creates trends which effectively contributes  to the refeudalisation of the public sphere? This paper seeks to examine how two vernacular newspapers - Ananda Bazar Patrika, a privately owned newspaper with the largest circulation in West Bengal and Ganashakti, owned and controlled  by the Communist party Party of India-Marxist, which has ruled in West Bengal Since 1977 - contributed to 'reformulating' the public sphere during the Kargil 'war', from late May to July 1999. - Reproduced.  aMass media  aKargil conflict  aEconomic and Political Weekly