1

NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERISTY, ISLAMABAD

MEDIA AND POLITICS

GROUP PROJECT
Submitted by:
Ameer Hamza
Shahan Khan
Hadia Saleem
Haroon Azmat Tarar
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How Media Framing Influences Public

Perception of Populist Leaders: A Case
Study of Narendra Modi
1 INTRODUCTION
Populism has resurfaced throughout the world with the emergence of politicians like Donald
Trump, Emmanuel Macron, Narendra Modi, and Erdogan and many more. From the Americas to
Europe and also in the Asian continent populism came like a wave and changed the political
practices of countries all around the world. Some say it is due to the decline of democracy that
populism has emerged as an alternative to the crumbling system, while others argue that populism
is not in contradiction to democracy rather a product of democracy. This article will not focus on
the rise of populism or the reason for it, the focus of this study is to see how the mass media has
influenced the spread of populism, and whether the mass media is a party to steering the
public perception towards the populist discourse. This study will also see the techniques that
how the public image and perception of the populist leaders is impacted by the mass media.
To elucidate our findings this article has adopted a case of Narendra Modi who is the text
book definition of a populist leader.
Information has been the most sought-after commodity of humankind since the establishment of
governing structures. Different organizations in ancient times existed for the sole purpose of
collecting information and propagating it. The means of communication were primitive and the
information became outdated very soon, but this all changed. The invention of mass media and
print media revolutionized the collection as well as the spread of information which came to be
dubbed as “news”, literally meaning something new and not outdated. The medium used for the
dissemination of information has undergone a transcendent evolution. Gone is the need for fast
horses, as in this era the mass media to propagate information is as fast as lightning and to vast
audiences. Now we have mass media, which we have defined for the sake of this article as the
print media and the electronic media, which include newspapers and television news. The public
uses mass media to get relevant information on the political happenings around them.1
Nelson, Clawson, and Oxley define framing as “the process by which a communication source . .
. defines and constructs a political issue or public controversy”. 2 Paul D’Angelo defines media
frame as “a written, spoken, graphical, or visual message modality that a communicator uses to

1
Adam Simon and Michael Xenos, “Media Framing and Effective Public Deliberation,” Political Communication 17,
no. 4 (2000): 363–76, https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600050178979.
2
Simon and Xenos.
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contextualize a topic, such as a person, event, episode, or issue, within a text transmitted to
receivers by means of mediation”.3 For the sake of this article the communicator is the mass media
and the receiver is public which is directly getting the information from the media. We have
defined media framing as, “the process by which the mass media selects and propagates the
information regarding any issue, person, story or event, setting the tone in a certain way to
discreetly influence the public narrative”. It is through the process of framing a story in a particular
fashion that the media has the power over the public narrative and the means to change it according
to its wishes. Public perception is shaped by the framing and agenda-setting of the media through
different strategies and schemes. The approach taken by the media regarding a certain issue will
be the cause of shaping and influencing the public perception. The news media in the words of
Walter Lippmann controls the ‘image in our heads’.4 The agenda on issues and other objects being
propagated through news media influences what the pictures in our heads are all about.
This phenomenon can be understood by the magic bullet theory which posits that the news that we
hear from the media works like a bullet. The information being bombarded by the news media
lodges itself in our brain and it changes our perception permanently regarding an issue. So,
whenever we hear or read a story the prior information in our minds affects our opinion making.
In this post-truth society where the technology reigns supreme and the information available is as
vast as the ocean, the certainty has decreased rather than the opposite. The need for fast
communications has been a very hearty desire of humans and the purpose of mass media was to
provide instantaneous and correct information to the public so that they can make a guided
decision. But today nothing can be far from the truth, the media has blindsided the public into
believing what it wants to be true. The power at the hands of media is used for good or evil, yet it
is not the focus of the study. We will however see how this power creates a fatal attraction to the
populist leaders who are looking to fatten up their following and increase their positive image.
Populism has emerged as a phenomenon that has prompted a hot debate among the scholarly
factions of the globe. There exists no fixed understanding and definition of populism mainly due
to the reason that the manifestation of populism changes drastically depending on the context of
its application. Some scholars paint populism as a demon waiting to engulf democracy others
regard populism as a product of democracy. Is populism a movement, an ideology, or just simply
a political practice that has re-emerged in the global political arena?5 There are vast strains of
populism out there, while the left and right divide of populism has made defining the concept of
populism an arduous task. Francis Fukuyama has highlighted three main categories of populism6.
The first according to him is the regime that hounds after popular issues and implements policies

3
Paul D’Angelo, “Framing: Media Frames,” The International Encyclopedia of Media Effects, no. November (2017):
1–10, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118783764.wbieme0048.
4
Maxwell McCombs, “The Agenda-Setting Role of the Mass Media in the Shaping of Public Opinion”. In: Mass
Media Economics Conference. London School of Economics, London,” Infoamerica, no. January 2011 (2002): 22.
5
Empire and Terror; Nationalism/Post Nationalism in the New Millenium, n.d.
6
Francis Fukuyama, “What Is Populism?,” The American Interest 15, no. 2 (2022): 3–6,
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003267539-2.
 4

that are unsustainable in the long run. For example, free health, large subsidies, increased pension
benefits, free education, and enhanced social services. The second is the regime that is focused
around a specific ethnic, racial, or religious group and includes a definition of ‘true people’. The
populist leader may induce othering and create an ‘us vs them’ divide to conjure up a popular
appeal. This includes creating a false sense of nationalism under the banner of a certain identity.
For example, the Polish Law and justice party emphasized white Europe, just as Hitler gave the
concept of the Aryan race and in a similar but recent context Modi has created Hindu nationalism
that sees all other religions as others. The third is a regime that focuses on the personality of the
leader; it creates a personality cult and creates a popular appeal to the masses.
From the above-mentioned categories, we have highlighted some important features of populism
as; popular appeal, true people, dangerous others, personality cult, and a utopian homeland. It is
safe to surmise that linking populism to any one of the features or elements would not do justice
to wholly defining populism. This study focuses on the political image of Modi and he fits all the
three categories that Fukuyama has elaborated. Narendra Modi changed the Indian politics and has
won two terms as Prime Minister in office since 2014 and he is set to go at it again in the upcoming
elections. The popularity Modi enjoys is no less than the founders of India; Gandhi and Nehru.
Coming from a humble background Modi proclaims to be a man of the people and he portrays
himself to be very intimate with the struggles of the lower classes. Modi is the product of the
populist tradition as he comes from the ranks of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) the most
populist movement in India.7 Before standing for elections in 2014 Modi underwent an image
makeover from being a Hindu and RSS propagandist to a national leader. Modi has time and again
used Hindu nationalism and created an implicit divide between Hindus and other minorities. He
talks about a Hindu state and homeland which fits right into the second category of Fukuyama.
Modi has also created a personality cult around him and has a radical Hindu following which is
the reason he got hailed as Gujarat ka sher (lion of Gujarat) after 2000 Muslims were killed in
communal riots in Gujarat (of which he was the Chief Minister)8. Modi is one of the few populist
leaders who have a very intimate relationship with the media. Modi has received political boosts
in his career due to his intimate relationship with the Indian media.

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
It is being said that the media is partially responsible for the rise of populism across the globe. What do
we mean by this statement? Does it mean that the media is passively conveying the viewpoints of populist
leaders, or are they using populism as a framework to report on events? There are various viewpoints
concerning media framing and populist agenda. Some believe that the media is inherently populist, while
others claim that the viewership that can be achieved through publicizing populist viewpoints forces the

7
Amrita Basu, “Narendra Modi and India’s Populist Democracy,” Indian Politics & Policy 1, no. 1 (2018),
https://doi.org/10.18278/inpp.1.1.5.
8
Subir Sinha, “Fragile Hegemony: Modi, Social Media, and Competitive Electoral Populism in India,” International
Journal of Communication 11 (2017): 4158–80.
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media to give more coverage to populist leaders.9 This research won't delve deep into the complexities of
why the media gives coverage to populist leaders, rather our sole focus would be on how media framing
alternates or influences public perception of populist leaders. For that matter, our Research Design would
be based on the Case study of Narendra Modi, who formed the first non-congress single-party majority
government in India. The reason behind choosing the case study form of qualitative research methodology
was to get an in-depth understanding of the impact of media framing on public perception. There were
plenty of reasons behind choosing India’s Modi for our case study. First of all, he is one of a kind, as
previously mentioned he was the first ever prime minister in India to form a non-congress single party
majority government, on top of that not only did he successfully thrive through his first term, but he also
managed to secure his position once again for another 5 years during the elections of 2019. What makes
his case specifically significant for our research is his successful endorsement of an inherently violent
ideology of Hindutva, and spreading it throughout India, without any major backlash. By now it is evident
to all that the media played a significant part in spreading his ideology. However, it is also well known that
the media has construed an image of Modi that solidifies his position as a leader and makes it easy for
him to suppress any opposition against him without being held accountable. The Ontology of our research
paper is subjective. The reasons behind the betterment of Modi’s political image in India are subject to
personal interpretation. For this research, we claim that the contemporary political image of Modi has
been created in large part through the Indian media. The Epistemology of this research paper is
Interpretivist. We formulated our conclusion based on analyzing and interpreting content on different
media websites in India. The Research Paper will be using the Media Framing theory of Gregory Bateson
as the basis of our Theoretical Framework. The framing theory gives the media an upper hand over how
it influences the perception of reality among individuals. This theory claims that the media carefully
analyses and picks out information that needs to be presented to the audience through various means.
Within the framing theory, the carefully selected information is then placed within a certain context to
encourage or discourage certain reactions. Lastly, this theory also believes that framing is a systematic
process that takes a certain amount of time to occur.10 For an in-depth understanding of the framing
theory, it is important to understand the idea of framing. What are frames and how do they work? Frames
are the images generated in our mind when we hear a certain word. The majority of the frames we build
in our mind have a socio-cultural origin. That is, we develop them from a very early stage in life. For
example, for the majority of the people in this world, the word “War” would produce framed images of
blood, bombs, death, and brutality in their minds. Hence, for media to have an impact on the minds of
individuals they have two alternate options. The first one is the right choice of words, which would in turn
produce the right kinds of images in one’s mind. The second option is to wait and continually produce
information that supports certain propaganda to gradually change one’s mindset and beliefs in your favor.
Hence time along with the correct framing of ideas would alternate the individual’s perception of reality.
In this sense, we may also assume that the Indian public might not have been welcoming towards Modi’s
ideology in the beginning, but after careful media framing and with time, the perception of the majority

9
Michael Hameleers, Linda Bos, and Claes H. de Vreese, “Shoot the Messenger? The Media’s Role in Framing
Populist Attributions of Blame,” Journalism 20, no. 9 (2019): 1145–64,
https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917698170.
10
“Framing Theory,” Communication Studies, n.d., https://www.communicationstudies.com/communication-
theories/framing-theory.
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of India’s population changed in favor of Modi. 11 To carefully analyze Modi’s Political image in India, we
are going to Collect data, from primary sources i.e., from India’s most popular news publishing website
that is; “ timesofindia.com12. We are going to do a News Content Analysis of the news they published in
the pre-electoral period of 2014 and analyze it to understand the media’s framing of Modi’s political image
in India. To prove if the media had any impact on the political image of Modi, we are also going to compare
the results of different surveys conducted in India during the pre-electoral period of 2014 before Modi
came to power to analyze the impact of his political image-building by the media in the previous years.

3 RESEARCH QUESTION
Q. How media framing in India has influenced the perception of the Indian public concerning the political
image of Modi?

4 LITERATURE REVIEW
Media in the current age have become greatly involved in the political arena and is not just a tool
for communication. Robinson believes that we live in a world where communication is
instantaneous, made possible by the presence of the internet and mobile phones as well as the 24-
hour news channels and social media.13 Any event in the world having even a grain of importance
is subjected to the gazes of the public through the media. According to Robinson, politicians are
under constant scrutiny from the media platforms and they have to continuously manage pressures
due to this scrutiny. However, he fails to shed light on the leaders who use the media to project
their power and further increase their following by garnering the attention of the media.
The role of media is not only limited to conveying the news, its other function is to attach
importance to certain issues. Some topics are emphasized more and are at the forefront of different
media outlets and some are thrown back in a dump like some discarded commodity. Maxwell
McCombs says that the newspapers adopt different strategies like; large headlines, a lead story on
the front page, and a big picturesque description to highlight the main character. Similarly,
television news also uses cues like screen time given to a specific story, the language used, and
the opening story on the newscast, all to show the salience of a particular story and divert more
public attention towards a certain topic.14 In other words, the media sets an agenda that it deems
more important than the other happenings around the world. So, it is safe to say that it is the media

11
Vinney, Cynthia. "Cultivation Theory." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/cultivation-theory-definition-
4588455 (accessed December 3, 2023).
12
“Top Websites Ranking Most Visited News & Media Publishers Websites in India,” similarweb, 2023,
https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/india/news-and-media/.
13
Piers Robinson, “10. The Role of Media and Public Opinion,” in Foreign Policy (Oxford University Press, 2016),
https://doi.org/10.1093/hepl/9780198708902.003.0010.
14
McCombs, “The Agenda-Setting Role of the Mass Media in the Shaping of Public Opinion”. In: Mass Media
Economics Conference. London School of Economics, London.”
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that has the hands on the wheel of the generation of public perception and it has a say in changing
the narrative. McCombs has over-stressed the importance of media and has overlooked its role in
the political landscape. He sees media as something completely separate from the complex
intricacies of politics and the guiding force in society, which according to many scholars is a far-
fetched idea and an idealistic viewpoint that has little to no evidence. McCombs has focused more
on the normative aspect of media and how it should have been rather than how it is presently.
In the complex interplay of global politics that occurs on every scale possible, media has a very
important role to play. There exists a symbiotic relationship between political power and media
attention. The legacy media due to a fierce competition from the social media needs sensational
content to maintain and even increase its viewership, while the politicians need a medium that is
trusted and watched by a lot of people to spread ideologies and mobilize support for their parties.
The mass media holds a great seductive attraction to the leaders who want access to large swathes
of people at a time and bypass the hurdles of space and time to reach vast audiences. Positive
media coverage is something that can make politicians envy and a must-have weapon for the
political arsenal. This is where populism comes into play and the strategies of populist leaders use
media as a tool to launch their careers to great heights. The media of today is a defining feature of
the contemporary wave of populism from the populism of the 20th century.

5 GAPS
The scholarly literature focused on the use of media by populist leaders, but it was one-sided focus.
The literature only focused on the critique of media on the populist leaders15 but not on examples
where the media is under the control of the populist leader. The use of media in the election phase
was missing from the literature and not much attention was given to the media coverage before,
during, and after the elections.16 The populist literature on Modi although vast failed to see the role
of media in his rise. The literature talked about populists being against the established authority
but whether the media is an independent player or not was missing. The type of media being used
in the states run by populist leaders is also not talked about, is the media elitist or pluralist?
Although the personalistic aspect of a populist leader is present in the existing literature, but the
ascension of the populist leader through the mass media is inherently absent. Much literature has
over-emphasized the relationship between nationalism and populism while ignoring other features
and elements of populism.17 One of the most recurring gaps was that the literature is mostly
focused on the populist phenomena in Europe or the West and has ignored the rest of the world.18

15
Robinson, “10. The Role of Media and Public Opinion.”
16
McCombs, “The Agenda-Setting Role of the Mass Media in the Shaping of Public Opinion”. In: Mass Media
Economics Conference. London School of Economics, London.”
17
Precious N Chatterje-doody and Rhys Crilley, Populism and World Politics, Populism and World Politics (Springer
International Publishing, 2019), https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04621-7.
18
Sven Engesser et al., “Populism and Social Media: How Politicians Spread a Fragmented Ideology,” Information
Communication and Society 20, no. 8 (2017): 1109–26, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1207697.
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Another aspect that was nowhere to be found was that the media spreads populist rhetoric
intentionally as well as unintentionally, the concept of supply and demand is also applicable in the
media.19 The people want to see the popular discourse and the populist rhetoric holds an attraction
for viewership and helps in filling the coffers of media houses.

6 CASE STUDY: NARENDRA MODI IN INDIA

In this paper, we will study how the media played its role in framing the popular image of Modi in India.
For that we have taken the data from India’s most popular and read English newspaper “Times of India”
and the time frame we selected is that of before the 2014 electoral period. To study the media strategies
after coming into the government, we have checked the archives of the same newspaper and saw the
surveys conducted in the pre-electoral period of 2014 and tried to analyze how the media frames the
image of Modi in public. Also, we visited some surveys conducted by the different news channels and
research centers about public support in India. Through this article, we will try to analyze what kind of
media strategies were adopted by Modi to become a populist leader in India.

Here is the result of a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in December 2013 and January 2014,
which covers the 16 states including Delhi20. People were asked about the Lok Subha election and their
support in the election. The questions were about the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and Indian National
Congress and their respective alliances. Through this survey, we were also able to know that people in the
pre-electoral period think that BJP is a problem solver.

Problems faced BJP (%) INC (%) Difference

Combating corruption 56 17 +39
Creating job
58 20 +38
opportunities
Limiting inflation 55 17 +38
Reducing terrorism 56 20 +36
Helping the poor 54 21 +33
Ending political
47 19 +28
deadlock

This survey result shows that the majority of the population thinks that BJP will combat corruption, the
reason behind that is the 9-year tenure of INC with its allies under Manmohan Singh was considered a
corrupt regime because many of the scams and corruption cases were highlighted through media during
that period. During that time, the Indian government faced the loss of billions of dollars. Narendra Modi
gauged that issue and highlighted it many times and also advised the government to adopt the “Gujrat

19
Gianpietro Mazzoleni et al., “Populism and the Media Populist Landscapes,” 2008, 49–50.
20
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/02/26/indians-want-political-change/.
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developmental model”. Through that model, Gujrat witnessed a growth of 12.9% in 2011-12 with an
investment of about 400 billion Gujrat became one of the growing states of India and Modi highlighted
his achievement many times during his political campaign. As per the previous record of Narendra Modi,
people moved to vote for BJP21. Also, the polls show that the popularity of Modi increased and the
majority of the population wanted Modi as the prime minister of India in 2014. Modi is a member of
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and a Hindu radical leader who supports the ideology of Hindutva in India.
One of the BJP’s members said that he was very enthusiastic to do that by saying that terrorism could be
ended through terrorism and for that, we have to build a Hindu terrorist army. From the beginning of his
political career of Modi, he was trying to portray himself as a simple and ordinary man to show that he
was among the poor and working-class before becoming the Chief Minister in Gujrat.

By seeing the result of the survey conducted in the pre-electoral period and comparing it with the
newspaper we can see how it was trying to change the perception about the Modi government. For that
purpose, we looked at the India’s most reputed English newspaper “Times of India”. The time frame of all
these newspaper headlines is from December 2013 to March 201422.

“No communal riots under 10 years Modi rule in Gujrat and 2002 riots are the results of legacy of
congress”

“No other politician faced such criticism from the local, national, and international media as faced by
Modi but he stood still and got nerves to tackle that criticism and moved forward to craft policies that
were beneficial for the state. The congress ended because it lost the representation as a government or
as opposition, they never understood Modi”.

“Salman flies kite with Modi, Salman khan called Modi a good man, a great man and acknowledged his
developmental work in Gujrat and asked let the rule of great man this time”.

“BJP collection funds for Modi for PM funds in which different people of communities and even some
students of IIT are involved”.

“BJP delegate wearing the caps of Modi for PM, who had come to attend two-day national council meet
claimed that they were convinced that Modi effect would grip the entire nation ahead of 2014 Lok subha
election”.

“Modi challenged rival congress with his “idea of India” that set out an ideological framework of
equality and growth but which steers clear of doles, privileges and sectional giveaways”

21 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/explained-how-pm-modi-changed-bjp-indian-politics-in-21-years-of-public-

life/articleshow/94262723.cms.

22
The Times of India: Archives. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/archive.cms. Accessed 23 Dec. 2023 .
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“Dalit leader Udit Raj joins BJP, BJP chief said India could not be a powerful country if a community
continued to remain backward and marginalized. Raj said he believes in inclusive growth and the
welfare of the last man in the queue, Raj accused Congress for causing disparity in society during its
rule”.

“Modi’s Guwahati rally biggest since 80s people in assam, as in other part of the country, want changes
from congress rule at the center and in the state. They are aware of the development Gujrat has seen
under Modi and it’s natural that they should want to see and hear him”.

“BJP leader leads protest by displaced farmers and said farmers affected by land acquisition by the govt.
for Loghara oil refinery factory should be given adequate compensation and employment”.

By analyzing all the collected data from surveys and newspapers, we will try to find how media played its
role in framing and cultivating the image of Narendra Modi as the populist leader of India. From the start,
we can see that the news shows that Modi faced criticism on the 2002 riots at the national and
international levels but he stood still and joined hands to work for the betterment of the state and to
show that he could absorb the criticism. Then showed that the riots of Gujrat in 2002 were not the fault
of the Modi government but it happened due to the legacy of division and marginalization created by the
Indian National Congress. After the 2002 riots in Gujrat, there were no other riots that happened in Gujrat
under Modi’s government. Then to show that a famous Indian actor with a great image and following in
public mainly in minority groups showed his support for Modi as PM and titled him as a great man who
worked for the development of Gujrat and to let him do work for the country. Modi through his party BJP
started collecting funds from different parts of the country and the people belonging to different
communities and different professions joined them to collect funds for Modi and to do his campaign. The
reason behind it was to show that Modi gained support from different parts and the youth of India and
the people wanted to change the face from the dynastical politics of Congress to some other party. The
Indian National Congress along with his UPA alliance was portrayed as outsiders and the birthday of Sonia
Gandhi was called “The Betrayal Day” and people burned the cutouts of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

During that period, Congress was under severe criticism due to its dynastical nature and cases of
corruption and scams came into the limelight and due to that people from different parts of India wanted
to change their leader and select someone who would work for them and Modi portrayed himself like
that leader the people wanted a simple and ordinary man, and he did that through the media. Also, to
gain the vote bank he met with the representatives of marginalized communities and asked that India
would be a developed country if the depressed communities also got the same treatment from the
government. BJP blamed Congress for creating that kind of disparity among the communities in the
country23. By covering Modi’s speeches and his rallies, it was shown through media that people love to
see and hear Modi and major gatherings of history joins to listen to him.

After coming into power in 2014, Narendra Modi first tried to resolve issues like corruption, inflation, and
poverty as the main problems in India. He tried to analyze the problems and to end them like to end
inflation he created 20 zones in different areas where the poor will get daily to day necessities with low

23“How Narendra Modi Has Almost Killed the Indian Media.” Quartz, 12 Mar. 2019, https://qz.com/india/1570899/how-
narendra-modi-has-almost-killed-indian-media
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costs. Narendra Modi after getting elected as the Prime minister of India adopted some media policies to
build his image in public. for that in October 2014, Modi started a program the name of which was “Man
ki Baat”, through all India radio station and later on by DD News Modi interact with people. It was
conducted in Hindi and translated in many local languages to transfer the message to everyone. The other
media strategy adopted by PM Modi is “Digital India”, the purpose of this project is to connect rural areas
with internet connections and the major reason behind that project is that Modi wants to get a maximum
number of voters from rural areas and to convey his message or campaign to these areas, Modi started
this program. The other strategy adopted by Modi was the nationalistic view, in which he tried to talk
about the national security and national interests of the state and refer himself different from other
politicians by referring to some incidents like the Balakot strike in February 2019 to kill the terrorist in
Pakistan. Also, the Indian media is owned by the businessmen of India and all these businessmen have
good relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi24. Like the owner and anchor Arnav Goswami of
“Republic News” and “Times Now” , there are also many other great figures who support Modi and have
ownership in the Indian media.

7 CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this research has successfully addressed the questions posed at the outset. It has
articulately highlighted the spread of populism in this complex world. The focus has been on the role of
media and how it has been exploited for the promotion of populist agendas. The hidden motives and
methods of populist leaders for crafting the political perception of the masses have been debunked. key
findings of this research highlighted the evolution of media in different phases and its importance.
Information has always been a vital need of human life.

Now in this globalized world, the modes of information dissemination have evolved to their modern
shape. Here this article has only taken the prominent role of print and electronic media and its critical role
in shaping public opinion. According to Oxley the shaping of public perception is a process by which a
communication source gives meaning and frames a political issue or a public controversy. Media framing
is the setting of tone for any news in a certain way that influences the opinion of people in a certain way.
As Walter Lippmann terms shaping public perception is the controlling of images in our heads.

There is a scholarly debate on the definition and application of populism. This research has explored the
point of view of both groups of scholars. According to one group of scholars, populism is an evil to replace
true democracy. While the latter argues that it is a product of democracy itself. There is no specific
acceptable definition of populism because the left and right divide has made it more complex. The power
of media has been used by populist leaders. This power is manipulated for the projection of their soft and
positive image. Here the case study of Narendra Modi shows he enjoys a popularity not less than the
founding fathers of India. He is enrooted in RSS ideology and has used the false flag of nationalism. The
creation of a divide between Hindus and minorities has promoted this agenda.

24https://scroll.in/article/992808/narendra-modi-used-indias-media-elite-for-his-own-advantage-sanjaya-baru-
explains-how-he-did-it.
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The media of this era is a critical factor in framing the current waves of populism. The existing literature
merely highlighted the criticism of media on populist leaders but the manipulation of media in elections
and its phased is missing. The literature talked about populists being against the established authority but
whether media’s role in it is free or not is undiscussed.

The qualitative research methodology has well articulately discussed the impact of media on public taking
the case study of Narendra Modi. He raised the first non-Congress Indian political party to power and
completed two terms. He has sharply spread the ideology of Hindutva and managed any type of resistance
through populist discourse. Framing theory and cultivation theory is applicable on the strategies of Hindu
populist leader. These frame works are evident from the media and news content analysis in the pre-
electoral period.

The surveys and statistics showed that majority of the people were of the point of view that to fight
corruption there is only one solution and that is BJP. Congress men were seen as the reason behind the
bad governance and major challenges. During this time Modi sold his narrative by giving the example of
Gujrat development model. Instead of presenting the actual news of criticism from international
observers, the media twisted the news in his favor and made him hero. The discourse of anti-dynastic and
rule of a common man was spread through different projects such as Digital India and Man ki Baat in
different languages to get the sentiments of marginalized communities.

The nationalistic views were promoted in people through anti Pakistan narratives. Like Balakot strike and
surgical strikes to prove himself as the guardian of national security interests. People started believing BJP
as the mere solution to all the problems of India. Modi arose a populist leader of India two times with the
chances of third term in government.

8 WAY FROWARD/ RECOMMENDATIONS

Humans have a long historical development. Understanding these changes is very intricate. The era we
live in is complex and its problems are even more. Populism has posed a serious threat to the world.
Because it presents a simple and one-step solution to these problems ignoring the complexities. Populist
leaders appeal to the sentiments of the common masses and make decisions without considering the
long-term consequences. Moreover, populism is a serious threat to the democratic world. It bypasses a
due process of intuitionalism which can lead to a weak judiciary and gives birth to authoritarianism. It
promotes the Us versus them mentality. In such a situation, the global peace and environment of
cooperation can be disturbed leading to chaos.

To avoid such a situation there is a dire need to promote free press and independent journalism. People
must be educated to critically analyze information so that they can differentiate between facts and
misinformation. International collaboration on independent journalism and free press must be promoted
to create a suitable environment for this global village. In this regard, international organizations can play
an important role by creating a common agenda and holding responsible those who violate it. In this way,
the true intentions of populist leaders can be analyzed and a biased approach can be discouraged. The
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challenge of this modern world is the accountability of social media. To counter this challenge, users of
social media must be educated through digital literacy programs so that they can differentiate between
authentic and unauthentic information. Moreover, the need of the hour is the promotion of investigative
journalism to inform the audience with factual information instead of becoming a tool for populist
agendas. By encouraging more and more media houses the control of information to a few sources can
be limited and a better understanding of populist figures can be achieved.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/03/11/its-not-just-trump-
authoritarian-populism-is-rising-across-the-west-heres-why/?utm_term=.2fb81c3fb86b

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/17/problem-populism-syriza-podemos-dark-
side-europe

‘Strong leaders’, authoritarian populism and Indian developmentalism: The Modi moment in historical
context - ScienceDirect

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