Mr Narendra Modi, using taxpayer money, employs a company named APCO overtly for managing the Vibrant Gujarat campaign. See:
APCO has been employed by dictators and lobbyists previously. As discussed in the article 2., it is unclear whether APCO officials double up as Modi's spokespersons, or perform other functions as well, but it is plausible that APCO has been a key contributor to Modi's propaganda. To be fair, APCO has denied working for Vibrant Gujarat campaign now, and for Modi at any time: Apco Worldwide denies working for Narendra Modi.
One must be quite naive to believe that all or most of Modi's Twitter followers are genuine. No they're not (see Narendra Modi eyes Obama in battle for cyber world). Modi's Social Media management team uses sophisticated technologies (see BJP’s online warriors listen to critics carefully - Hindustan Times) and has done an elaborate work to unethically bias the Social Media in Modi's favor in the same spirit as Congress biased the Mainstream Media (see Modi’s Operandi | Rana Ayyub | Tehelka.com).
As the previous article explains, Modi's is no soft power---all those who wish to work with Gujarat government must surrender to Modi's propaganda. This might be one reason of alienation of allies within NDA (another example: in Maharashtra). From about 20 allies at the time of Vajpayee, BJP is left with just 3 now. Modi's camp has not spared even the rest of BJP (see The Social Media Massacre By Team Modi) with even some core values of BJP having been suppressed. Journalists too better be careful or risk losing their job (see: Clogging The Ink).
Personally, my experience with commenting on various news sites in India has been interesting in one aspect: while on Firstpost (FP) almost all comments are pro-Modi, in general views are much more diverse on other news sites. Why is this so? There is no rational explanation, other than the possibility that FP's comment section is rigged either with or without co-operation of moderators there. This issue has been researched in depth by fellow commentators; see: Trollfest. I have personally experienced the official FPEditors handle make one-line, slanderous, anti-anti-Modi comments on more than one occasions. Does FP also employ APCO (or some other pro-Modi PR firm) for "moderation"?
Use of PR firms would have been acceptable to an extent if there were transparency in BJP's funding. However, since about 80% of BJP's funds come from "unknown sources", what corporate deals are baked behind the scenes is totally unclear. The problem of "paid news" is connected; under our laws, "paid news" is a minor offence and our toothless election commission cannot take strong action against paid news. Read more about paid news here: The Shocking Reality About Paid News And How The Media Is Silently Letting It Run [Part 2] | Youth Ki Awaaz.
In short, paid news and Crony capitalism are made for each other. The following steps are involved:
Some people have the view that all parties have PR firms that act similarly. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Most parties have an IT Cell. However, a few parties support RTI for political parties and transparency of funding; BJP is not one of them. Some parties do not take funds from corporates but only from individuals, thus they are less vulnerable to fall prey to crony capitalism; they do not spend more than the expense limits defined by EC; is BJP one of them? No, even their own MPs say so (refer: the Youth ki Awaz article above).
Living under decades of mis-rule, such people do not find anything wrong with paid campaigners. How about paid audience? Or, even if they find paid campaigners or paid audience wrong, they have the false belief that every party is doing it!
"Paid news" is the biggest problem facing humanity and such statements claiming "everyone is doing it" is a thorough travesty to those who have taken the courageous, right path.
Some people are confused about "official" team of Modi and the "unofficial" one, as if only the later is responsible for the use of all the unethical means. Even though a lot can be said about the unethical means used officially by Modi, like criminals in his cabinet, I will refrain from that since the focus of this article is on media. First, isn't it Modi's responsibility to highlight and oppose the use of unethical means being used by his supporters? Second, how do we draw the line between the official team and the unofficial? Third, since Modi is not very good in transparency and accountability (even not having a strong Lokayukta, snooping allegations, etc.), how do we know that Modi is not covertly assisting the unofficial team?
Here are a few FAKE pics prepared by BJP fans or workers. Whether these are paid workers or not is anyone's guess, but BJP would do best to take steps to reign in on them, including the FB/Twitter accounts that post them.
(Click to Zoom)
Related Link: How Pakistan wish India on its Independence Day?
Even Wikileaks had to clarify that Assange's alleged endorsement of Modi is a fraud.
Big B had to clarify too.
Here are some "sponsored links":
When one feels no shame in telling a deliberate lie, there is no evil he will not do. -- Buddha
Still more coming!
- Mechanics of Narendra Modi's PR agency : APCO Worldwide - Orchestrating our Future,
- The Modi Machine: Makeover gurus (Edit: fixed broken link).
APCO has been employed by dictators and lobbyists previously. As discussed in the article 2., it is unclear whether APCO officials double up as Modi's spokespersons, or perform other functions as well, but it is plausible that APCO has been a key contributor to Modi's propaganda. To be fair, APCO has denied working for Vibrant Gujarat campaign now, and for Modi at any time: Apco Worldwide denies working for Narendra Modi.
One must be quite naive to believe that all or most of Modi's Twitter followers are genuine. No they're not (see Narendra Modi eyes Obama in battle for cyber world). Modi's Social Media management team uses sophisticated technologies (see BJP’s online warriors listen to critics carefully - Hindustan Times) and has done an elaborate work to unethically bias the Social Media in Modi's favor in the same spirit as Congress biased the Mainstream Media (see Modi’s Operandi | Rana Ayyub | Tehelka.com).
As the previous article explains, Modi's is no soft power---all those who wish to work with Gujarat government must surrender to Modi's propaganda. This might be one reason of alienation of allies within NDA (another example: in Maharashtra). From about 20 allies at the time of Vajpayee, BJP is left with just 3 now. Modi's camp has not spared even the rest of BJP (see The Social Media Massacre By Team Modi) with even some core values of BJP having been suppressed. Journalists too better be careful or risk losing their job (see: Clogging The Ink).
Personally, my experience with commenting on various news sites in India has been interesting in one aspect: while on Firstpost (FP) almost all comments are pro-Modi, in general views are much more diverse on other news sites. Why is this so? There is no rational explanation, other than the possibility that FP's comment section is rigged either with or without co-operation of moderators there. This issue has been researched in depth by fellow commentators; see: Trollfest. I have personally experienced the official FPEditors handle make one-line, slanderous, anti-anti-Modi comments on more than one occasions. Does FP also employ APCO (or some other pro-Modi PR firm) for "moderation"?
Use of PR firms would have been acceptable to an extent if there were transparency in BJP's funding. However, since about 80% of BJP's funds come from "unknown sources", what corporate deals are baked behind the scenes is totally unclear. The problem of "paid news" is connected; under our laws, "paid news" is a minor offence and our toothless election commission cannot take strong action against paid news. Read more about paid news here: The Shocking Reality About Paid News And How The Media Is Silently Letting It Run [Part 2] | Youth Ki Awaaz.
In short, paid news and Crony capitalism are made for each other. The following steps are involved:
- Corporates fund politicians.
- Politicians fund media with corporate money.
- Paid media help client politicians get elected.
- Elected politicians favor corporates that funded them (2G, coalgate, etc.).
- Go to 1.
Some people have the view that all parties have PR firms that act similarly. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Most parties have an IT Cell. However, a few parties support RTI for political parties and transparency of funding; BJP is not one of them. Some parties do not take funds from corporates but only from individuals, thus they are less vulnerable to fall prey to crony capitalism; they do not spend more than the expense limits defined by EC; is BJP one of them? No, even their own MPs say so (refer: the Youth ki Awaz article above).
Living under decades of mis-rule, such people do not find anything wrong with paid campaigners. How about paid audience? Or, even if they find paid campaigners or paid audience wrong, they have the false belief that every party is doing it!
"Paid news" is the biggest problem facing humanity and such statements claiming "everyone is doing it" is a thorough travesty to those who have taken the courageous, right path.
Some people are confused about "official" team of Modi and the "unofficial" one, as if only the later is responsible for the use of all the unethical means. Even though a lot can be said about the unethical means used officially by Modi, like criminals in his cabinet, I will refrain from that since the focus of this article is on media. First, isn't it Modi's responsibility to highlight and oppose the use of unethical means being used by his supporters? Second, how do we draw the line between the official team and the unofficial? Third, since Modi is not very good in transparency and accountability (even not having a strong Lokayukta, snooping allegations, etc.), how do we know that Modi is not covertly assisting the unofficial team?
Here are a few FAKE pics prepared by BJP fans or workers. Whether these are paid workers or not is anyone's guess, but BJP would do best to take steps to reign in on them, including the FB/Twitter accounts that post them.
(Click to Zoom)
Even Wikileaks had to clarify that Assange's alleged endorsement of Modi is a fraud.
Big B had to clarify too.
Here are some "sponsored links":
When one feels no shame in telling a deliberate lie, there is no evil he will not do. -- Buddha
Still more coming!
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