Nowdays, 8 out of 10 posts that we see on social media revolve around criticizing the government for some or the other reason. Be it Twitter trolls or Facebook posts, government is many a times portrayed in a negative light. Even news channels for that matter don’t leave a single chance of taking a dig at the government.
For taking care of all such things, the Maharashtra Government now has a plan! Do you want to know what? Well, a Special Media Monitoring Cell would be formed so that negative content about the government can be tracked and countered.
For taking care of social media posts and trolls, a dedicated ‘Social Media Wing’ would be formed. It will handle everything right from websites of media houses, their blogs as well as feedback and posts on various social media platforms.
Government is of the opinion that with this step, they can curb negative feedback to a great extent. As soon as someone portrays government in bad light, the Cell would instantly defend the government version.
Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra has already introduced this in the Central Government. There is a special EMMC or an Electronic Media Monitoring Center which tracks and counters around 600 media channels 24×7.
Moreover, there is also a New Media Wing which is specially formed for tracking public opinion on websites. Modi Government had proposed to start New Media Analytics Center for analyzing web feeds and news.
The plan has already been put in action as Fadnavis has raised Rs 1.5 crores from Finance department as an expenditure for setting up this Cell in the State Government. The expenditure explanatory memorandum reads “The State Government is authorised to take action against TV channels for violating any provision of the Cable Television Network Act. Therefore, there is a need to establish a well equipped modern media monitoring centre for monitoring and transmitting data of 20 channels,”
Dinesh Kumar Jain, the Additional Chief Secretary of Finance Department has already authorized the explanatory memorandum and Sudhir Mungantiwar, the Finance Minister of State Cabinet has put for these demands in front of the legislature.
As soon as negative feedback will be seen against the government, instant counters would be launched through posts, media briefings, press notes and visual or audio clips. If need be, this negative content can be passed to department secretaries and ministries for intervention.
