Former PU scholar gets patent for ‘newspaper analysis scale’

Kumar, a senior research fellow of the University Grants Commission (UGC), earned his doctoral degree with a dissertation titled, “Local Media in the Global Scenario: A Content Analysis of Small Hindi Newspapers in India” at PU in 2020

Mukesh Kumar, former research scholar at the School of Communication Studies, Panjab University (PU), has received a patent for a ‘scale’ for analysing newspapers.

Mukesh Kumar is presently an assistant professor in the department of journalism and mass communication at Maulana Mazharul Haque Arabic and Persian University, Patna. (HT FIle Photo)

Kumar is presently an assistant professor in the department of journalism and mass communication at Maulana Mazharul Haque Arabic and Persian University, Patna.

The Indian government’s patent office has issued a patent certificate for his research, the “Digital Scale for Newspaper Content Analysis”. Kumar explained that this scale has been designed specifically for analysing the content of newspapers, enabling both qualitative and quantitative analysis of news, editorials, and letters to editor.

He dedicated the achievement to his research supervisor, professor Archana R Singh.

Singh called it a significant achievement and said, “The scale was developed to uniquely place the qualitative and quantitative parameters of content analysis of news stories. Kumar has analysed newspaper content from 38 small newspapers across 19 Indian states using this scale, covering publications from regions as diverse as Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Daman & Diu, and Assam using this scale.”