Ex-Star News, ToI journos behind ‘Arnab Spring’

In today’s Mail Today, Headlines Today executive editor Rahul Kanwal adds another name to the roster of journalists working with the Anna Hazare campaign against corruption: former Star News anchor Shazia Ilmi.

He also throws light on the media strategy adopted by the team to craft India’s “Arnab Spring”:

# Never start a press meet at 7.30pm. That’s when TV news channels run sports shows; they will not cut out cricket to show you.

# Avoid live briefings at 2.30pm, that’s when Hindi news channels run Saas- Bahu shows, which fetch very good ratings.

# Keep the message fresh: Supply ‘breaking news’, like letters to the prime minister or Sonia Gandhi, at regular intervals.

# Use symbols to get the message across, like Ana Hazare making a detour to Raj Ghat when few expected him to.

On last night’s NDTV,  Shivendra Singh Chauhan (a former journalist from the Hindi daily Navbharat Times of The Times of India group) and identified as currently being part of Times Internet Limited (again of ToI), popped up as the man behind the social media use of the Hazare campaign.

Image: courtesy Mail Today

Also read: The ex-Zee News journo on Anna Hazare team

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