How did Rahul Gandhi fare in the Twitter battle with the redoubtable Narendra Modi in the run-up to 2019 general elections? The Economic Times on May 28 published an article on how Prime Minister Modi won not just the Lok Sabha elections in spectacular fashion but also the Twitter contest with 2 trillion impressions over 74 days starting from the day of announcement of poll dates. Impressions are the number of times a post on a microblogging or social networking site is seen

The Left Front, comprising the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and other smaller communist parties, over the last decade has suffered a sharp decline in electoral presence in Lok Sabha. As per Election Commission figures, the Left Front’s vote share fell below 5% in 2014 when it managed to secure only 12 LS seats. During the 2019 general elections, the perception of Left retreat continues, particularly in its three former str

The world’s largest democratic exercise unfolding in India seems to be more about poll strategies than issues. In seeking to enter the minds of politicians to divine their winning strategies in the ‘first past the post’ electoral system, the media seems to have lost sight of its own strategy to justify its role. In the March 11 issue of The Times of India, there was a comprehensive list of challenges facing various states, like the agrarian crisis in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhy

Why is it that the media at large has taken to do electoral surveys based on narrow divisions like religion and caste? So far, playing the sectarian card and making inflammatory speeches have been the preserve of politicians, but the bug seems to have infected media as well. The larger question #IMPECTStudy #WeAreWatchingYou is taking up deals with why the media is subscribing to the divisive outlook which political parties adopt to rally their vote-banks. In the name of doin

Ahead of the first phase of polling in Lok Sabha election 2019, some prominent citizens have begun a ‘vote against hate’ campaign highlighted by a section of the media. They have made video appeals, issued statements and staged marches asking voters to guard their vote, vote for change and vote wisely. The message is to vote against divisive politics for a secular and inclusive India. Studying media behaviour in the world’s largest election (#LokSabhaElections), the IMPECT St

With general election 2019 round the corner, the ruling BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi began on the front foot after EC announced poll dates on March 10, tweeting the NDA government’s performance in last five years on ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’ — BJP’s tagline for inclusive development in 2014. They soon started directing social media users towards #PhirEkBarModiSarkar. Analysis of BJP and Modi’s Twitter feed in March 10-20 period by IMPECTStudy (#IMPECTStudy #WeAreWatchi

At a time when hashtags supposedly represent digital revolutions (even if short lived), when the face of journalism is changing under the onslaught of convergent technologies and political leaders are using social media to engage the people, it is instructive to observe how a section of traditional media is resolutely keeping out hashtag journalism. The #MeinBhiChowkidar movement was kick-started by Narendra Modi on March 16 as a counter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s #Cho

Shortly after the release of Congress party’s election manifesto, as TV channels went on overdrive, an increased level of traffic was seen in the official twitter handles of Congress and Rahul Gandhi as well as the official website of the party’s manifesto. The website even crashed due to the traffic and the party tweeted that they would get back at the earliest. What came thereafter was a series of tweets, Facebook and Instagram posts showing pages of the manifesto. In over

From raising electoral awareness among voters and informing them about voting procedure, Doordarshan News (DD News) as a terrestrial public service TV news channel has been adhering to Election Commission guidelines. A part of the IMPECT Study (#IMPECTStudy #WeAreWatchingYou) from March 10 to 20 analysed ‘Janadesh’, a special news programme on general elections telecast by DD News. Venturing beyond the standard norms of giving objective and even-handed overview of ‘appropriat

The online news portal Scroll.in has an interesting section titled ‘The Modi Years’, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five year reign has been reviewed. The news portal mainly examines the milestones, policies and controversies during his term. As part of the IMPECT Study (#IMPECTStudy #WeAreWatchingYou) , all the 20 stories were analysed. Backed by statistics, the stories focus on certain areas that the Modi regime claims to have ushered in significant change. Starting w

The IMPECT Study (#IMPECTStudy #WeAreWatchingYou) of the Print Media, especially Times Of India from March 10-20 shows the pace of media shifting the issues in no-time. This has started consistently with the dates of election are announced on March 10. The very issues that surround the Pulwama Terror and its revenge with the airstrike by India and then bringing back of Abhinandan, re-establishing the narrative of Nationalism after the India’s Independence Struggle in early tw