state Minister (Independent Charge) for Information and Broadcasting, Environment and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar She is busy sorting out the various hats she is expected to wear in this government.

He spoke to ET on the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s approach towards media, social media, media control and more.
edited excerpt…

In terms of communication and messaging, the BJP’s election campaign has been termed as a commodity lesson in the region. How can you convert this into a government structure?

All communication needs of the government will be handled through the social media hub in our ministry. I am providing this service to all the ministers. Their Facebook, Twitter and other social media outreach will be handled by the New Media Wing and Social Media and Communication Hub.

The gains that the party saw in reaching out through all the media have been tremendous, and it was felt that the government also makes use of the available platforms. Hence, this new hub will provide all the support required to set up and conduct outreach to various ministers and ministries through their Facebook pages, Twitter handles and social media. Traditional media is of course important, but the medium of social media has to be promoted.

What are your priority areas as far as this (I&B) Ministry is concerned?

We have to ensure transparency, make our vehicles more effective. We also want to be accessible and accountable. Now there is phase three and phase four of digitization, we will take a decision on this after keeping all the things in mind. The point is that digitization increases revenue for paid channels, but customers want less advertising.

Now there is a need for 11 crore new set top boxes, which provides a great case for indigenization rather than just importing them. I will take it up with the Finance and Commerce Ministers to see how this can be done.

interview of prime minister during election Narendra Modi Questioned the autonomy of the public broadcaster. As I&B minister, how will you deal with this?

Right off the bat, I would like to say that our commitment to the freedom of the press, and the autonomy of public broadcasting, is complete. But freedom or autonomy has its own responsibilities.

The media has a responsibility to be neutral and objective. There is always a concern that when the government is spending so much, it should reach the people. Public broadcaster is a means of public awareness. Having said all this, let me clearly state that we have no plans to impose controls on the media.

Modi has been described as a “post TV” prime minister, in that he directly reaches out to his audience or voters. How would you revisit the role of traditional media?

This is a lesson for everyone how to speak the way the Prime Minister does. Minister of Law and Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad And I have been appointed as the spokesperson of the government and we will soon come out with a communication plan to suit everyone’s needs. This government is different from the way it looks at issues and problems.

For example, Modiji’s plan for the cabinet. Yesterday there were some issues related to environment and electricity. Piyush Goyal has the power, coal and renewable energy portfolio, I have the environment portfolio, and between the two of us and the 10 officials we sorted out the things that the previous government had set up in the Group of Ministers (GoM). The emphasis is on coordination. There will be things to learn from the new government and its functioning for the media too.