Heavy Tweeters and the Loud Television Hosts: A Tale of Alienated Protesting Farmers of India

Vignesh Karthik (India Institute, King's College London); Co-Authors: Vihang Jumle and Ajay Chandra Vasagam

1.30pm to 3pm, 12th May 2023

Venue: Rendall Lecture Theatre 3

Recent developments in social media in India make it evident that news channels are deliberately attempting to construct a social media model like the existing television media model, to allow them to saturate the public discourse with narratives that suit their cause. Strategised and effective political messaging through prominent media platforms (conventional and social) played an integral role in the continued dominance of India's ruling dispensation of the Indian Union in the public sphere. We posit the farmer protests in response to the three farm legislations passed in mid-2020 by the Government of India and how the dispensation-pliant conventional media amplified the narrative of the protests projected in social media. Using data from mainstream TV debates and Twitter between 17 January 2021 and 17 February 2021, we show autonomous yet concerted effort to construct a certain narrative around these protests, often one that suited the government. We observe that this concerted effort, coupled with a strong party presence, denies the protesting groups a level playing field to disseminate their grievances.

Part of the Seminar Series “Transformations in Land, Labour, and Meaning in South Asia” organised by the Power, Space, and Cultural Change Cluster, Department of Geography and Planning.