Government Wants to Track and Counter “Negative News”

Government has planned to setup a new centre that will analyse and monitor ‘negative’ news content online.

Representational image. (Photo: iStockphoto)

The Government has planned to create a media cell that will track and counter the negative or provocative comments online.

According to an Indian Express report, a National Media Analytics Centre (NMAC) may be set up to monitor and analyse blogs, web portals, online news platforms and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp etc.

The government will keep a watch on the narrative in all such threads. Every time a negative post surfaces, a possible counter would be initiated through press releases, briefings or press conferences, depending on the intensity or standing of the post.

<b>Source to <i><a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/now-govt-cyber-cell-to-counter-negative-news/">Indian Express</a></i></b>

The NMAC proposal is based on a tracking software which was designed by Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, who is an assistant professor at Indraprastha Institute of Information and Technology, Delhi.

The software will generate relevant tags to highlight “belligerent” comments or social media chats. At a deeper level, the software would comb posts and comments to classify them into negative, neutral and positive categories while highlighting relevant text. It will also show up if the negative posting was factually correct or ‘an intentional canard’.

The software would also help recall the past pattern of the writer to check the number of times he took a negative or positive stand, his background, and preferences of websites and areas of interest to judge whether they were aimed at fomenting trouble or radicalisation.

<b>Source to <i><a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/now-govt-cyber-cell-to-counter-negative-news/">Indian Express</a></i></b>

The government has directed all ministries to set up quick response teams comprising senior ministry officials, nodal officers from the Press Information Bureau and independent experts to defend its case in the face of negative news.