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Modi government keeping a close watch on media coverage of major events like Yoga Day

The Ministry has compiled a 80-page 'compliance report' which included headlines and content of newspaper articles about Yoga Day. It said that the event got a very positive response from people especially on social media blogs.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi
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The one year of the Narendra Modi government saw many important events like International Yoga Day, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Digital India etc take place. The government now has began tracking the effectiveness of its communication strategy for events of such nature. According to media reports, the government is keeping a close watch on the kind of coverage television channels, print and social media give to the major events.

This is the first time that the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry is keeping track and filing documents on how media reported International Yoga Day, according to media reports. The Ministry has reported that every third comment in social media about the event was positive and that it held a 'neutral view'.

Furthermore, the ministry has compiled a 300-page document when it came to TV and termed channels which did not cover the event as 'defaulters'. Sun Tv and Public TV were among the defaulters, noted media reports.

According to media reports, the documents prepared by the I&B Ministry noted activities undertaken by media units before the event took place. The Ministry studied how it was received by the audience both nationally and internationally. 

An Information Ministry official said that the documents are being sent to ministers after being approved by the Prime Minister's office. On the account of completion of a year of Modi government, the ministry had compiled a report of 900 news clippings on what Indian and International news channels had to say about the government, media reported.

Media reports say that a 'compliance report' was also prepared on International Yoga Day. The report mentioned that more than 130 TV channels were monitored for five days until the event took place on June 21. The defaulters list comprised of four channels which did not have any shows on Yoga Day. Apart from the defaulters list there was another list made which had 14 channels under its ambit that carried 'less number of spots than spots allocated them for airing'.

Northeast channels and Urdu channels were in 100% compliance, reported media.

The report said, "Most of the monitored channels gave wide coverage to the event with most of them showing more promotional spots than promised."

The Ministry compiled a 80-page compliance report which included headlines and content of newspaper articles about Yoga Day. It said that the event got a very positive response from people especially on social media blogs but it didn't get as much response as it had got for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

The I&B Ministry also listed 'top influencers' who advertised Yoga Day mostly through tweets and influenced users on the event, say media reports.

The Minstry said that 33% people 'appreciated Modi for taking Yoga to the world and creating a world record' while 60% posts were neutral. 5% posts were negative where people criticised the event and said that it is a mere publicity gesture, calling upon the government should focus on governance.

As reported by media, a senior official said, "When the social media analytics was done on Yoga rehearsal day, 23% posts were encouraging while some said government was trying to steal limelight from important issues." 

"But slowly the momentum picked up and we had over 2 lakh posts on Yoga Day alone and sentiment was largely positive or neutral", he added.

International media coverage on the event was also looked upon by a special section where reports say that Al Jazeera and Wall Street Journal complimented Narendra Modi for his efforts to globalise on Indian tradition.

The idea to do this came from Information and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, said media reports.

"This government takes its communiation seriously", a senior official said to media. "There has been a proper revamp of every media unit in the I&B Ministry under the new government and this kind of an exercise only sets more accountability and cahllenge in reaching out to as many people as we can," he added. 

 

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