Indian media: Choosing sides?

As the world's largest democracy goes to the polls, we examine claims that news outlets are favouring Narendra Modi.

India is the world’s second most populous country and the biggest democracy. Parliamentary elections have just got underway and will last for weeks.

India's media landscape is a vast and loud space with, by our count, no fewer than 87 news channels and myriad newspapers. Media analysts there have noted a shift in the tone of coverage in favour of the central challenger, Narendra Modi, a member of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party).

His critics, many of whom support the ruling Congress Party, say that major news outlets have been treading lightly around the candidate, particularly on a story that goes all the way back to 2002 - when he was chief minister of his home state of Gujarat - where anti-Muslim riots claimed more than 1,000 lives.