 "FB, Twitter journalism key to tracking Modi govt")
With most senior government officials turning cautious and tight-lipped, mere legwork and old-school journalism aren’t yielding stories any longer. Now, those savvy and active on social networking sites had better chances in the newsroom, a reporter said on condition of anonymity.
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The trend starts at the top. The Prime Minister’s Office hasn’t appointed any media advisor. Press Relations Officer Jagdish Thakker, an import from the Gujarat administration and a close aide of Modi, isn’t known for taking calls from journalists or responding to their SMSes.
An official asks, “If the PRO does not talk to the media, who else in the PMO will?”
So, Facebook posts and Twitter updates of the prime minister, who has a personal and official accounts, must be tracked at all times. Whether it was his speech to party men in Goa, where Modi said tough decisions had to be taken in an economy that required severe mending; his meetings with governors and chief ministers; his now-famous interaction with about 80 secretaries; or the FIFA stamp release at his residence, social network sites have consistently been the source of “controlled flow of news”, along with the Press Information Bureau, the official media wing of the government, in a few cases.
Commenting on the prime minister’s Twitter and Facebook activity, Samit Sinha, founder and managing partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting, said, “It shows he acknowledges accountability to the public, which voted for him. It is certainly a refreshing change from the sphinx-like silence of our previous PM.” On whether Modi was actually hiding more than what he was saying, Sinha said, “Ultimately, action speaks much louder than words. So, even if it is a clever ploy to conceal his real intentions, it will come to light soon.”
Across ministries, communication through cyberspace, rather than real interaction, is being seen. To state why he was staying out of the Vodafone retrospective tax issue, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley chose a late night Facebook post. While responding to the rise in railway fares, too, Jaitley opted for the same route. As for the railway fare increase, neither the railway minister, nor any official in the ministry held a press conference to announce the decision.
The commerce ministry, otherwise seen as active in terms of news developments, is also believed to be distancing itself from the media (scheduled interviews are an exception). The oil ministry, too, is being clamped.
Power Minister Piyush Goyal is among the few to have held press conferences. But he, too, has to be diligently tracked in cyberspace, sometimes well past midnight.
Though the Prakash Javadekar-led environment ministry was open to the media in its early days, this isn’t the case any more. Javedekar is careful in answering questions, ensuring not an extra word is spoken. An observer said his tweets typically summarised policy decisions and couldn’t be ignored.
Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, earlier a key party spokesperson, now measures his word while dealing with the media, following his utterances on retrospective tax on primetime news. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, known for her weekly interactions when she was information and broadcasting minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, is also believed to be restrained in the Modi regime.
Both Swaraj and Prasad are often seen addressing the world through their tweets.
M Venkaiah Naidu, urban development and parliamentary affairs minister, had recently said government spokespersons would keep the media informed about the workings of ministries and “all they need to know”.