Managing news? Rajasthan govt follows Centre to rope in social media influencers

By Rosamma Thomas*
In May 2021, the Advertising Standards Council of India issued guidelines for social media influencers, under which it is mandatory for influencers to tag their promotional material. The assumption is that consumers have a right to know if they are reading or consuming content that is paid for. A French Artificial Intelligence firm, Reech, has been roped in to monitor those violating the guidelines.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a tender on March 3 for empanelling social media marketing agencies under a project called MyGov. Although the government has a Press Information Bureau and a mechanism under it to spread information, the help of such agencies is sought to popularize government schemes.
Now, the Rajasthan Government too has issued a gazette notification on June 26, 2023, seeking social media applicants to engage for regular advertising. The influencers have been placed in different categories, based on the number of followers. The top-most category, or category A influencers, have at least 10 lakh followers each and can get advertisements worth at least Rs 5 lakh per month from the state government. Category D, with the lowest number of subscribers of at least 10,000, are entitled to advertisement of Rs 10,000 per month. On occasion, the notification states that even those not meeting these criteria may be engaged, for specific purposes.

The new advertising strategy will have long-term impact on how news is produced and consumed

The Rajasthan government has a department of information technology and communication, and it also has regular government personnel engaged in the information and public relations department of the state government. The need for an additional allocation for advertising through social media influencers is not apparent, under the circumstances. Given that funds for the purpose of engaging these social media influencers will be drawn from the state budget, it would be ideal for the state government to offer proactive public disclosure of who is engaged under the scheme.

The need for outsourcing such work is unclear, since the government has the wherewithal to reach out to the masses already through the regular media. The sidelining of the mainstream media, and the promotion of social media influencers through such advertising strategy, is bound to have long-term impact on the manner in which news is both produced and consumed. It would be good for observers of the media to study the impact of this outsourcing of media functions to social media influencers.

---

*Freelance journalist

Comments

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

'Anti-poor stand': Even British wouldn't reduce Railways' sleeper and general coaches

By Anandi Pandey, Sandeep Pandey* Probably even the British, who introduced railways in India, would not have done what the Bhartiya Janata Party government is doing. The number of Sleeper and General class coaches in various trains are surreptitiously and ominously disappearing accompanied by a simultaneous increase in Air Conditioned coaches. In the characteristic style of BJP government there was no discussion or debate on this move by the Indian Railways either in the Parliament or outside of it.

Why convert growing badminton popularity into an 'inclusive sports opportunity'

By Sudhansu R Das Over the years badminton has become the second most popular game in the world after soccer. Today, nearly 220 million people across the world play badminton. The game has become very popular in urban India after India won medals in various international badminton tournaments. One will come across a badminton court in every one kilometer radius of Hyderabad.

Faith leaders agree: All religious places should display ‘anti-child marriage’ messages

By Jitendra Parmar* As many as 17 faith leaders, together for an interfaith dialogue on child marriage in New Delhi, unanimously have agreed that no faith allows or endorses child marriage. The faith leaders advocated that all religious places should display information on child marriage.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Ayurveda, Sidda, and knowledge: Three-day workshop begins in Pala town

By Rosamma Thomas* Pala town in Kottayam district of Kerala is about 25 km from the district headquarters. St Thomas College in Pala is currently hosting a three-day workshop on knowledge systems, and gathered together are philosophers, sociologists, medical practitioners in homeopathy and Ayurveda, one of them from Nepal, and a few guests from Europe. The discussions on the first day focused on knowledge systems, power structures, and epistemic diversity. French researcher Jacquiline Descarpentries, who represents a unique cooperative of researchers, some of whom have no formal institutional affiliation, laid the ground, addressing the audience over the Internet.

Article 21 'overturned' by new criminal laws: Lawyers, activists remember Stan Swamy

By Gova Rathod* The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Gujarat, organised an event in Ahmedabad entitled “Remembering Fr. Stan Swamy in Today’s Challenging Reality” in the memory of Fr. Stan Swamy on his third death anniversary. The event included a discussion of the new criminal laws enforced since July 1, 2024.

Hindutva economics? 12% decline in manufacturing enterprises, 22.5% fall in employment

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* The messiah of Hindutva politics, Narendra Modi, assumed office as the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014. He pledged to transform the Indian economy and deliver a developed nation with prosperous citizens. However, despite Modi's continued tenure as the Prime Minister, his ambitious electoral promises seem increasingly elusive.

Union budget 'outrageously scraps' scheme meant for rehabilitating manual scavengers

By Bezwada Wilson* The Union Budget for the year 2024-2025, placed by the Finance Minister in Parliament has completely deceived the Safai Karmachari community. There is no mention of persons engaged in manual scavenging in the entire Budget. Even the scheme meant for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers (SRMS) has been outrageously scrapped.

Search This Blog