SSR Case: Study Analyses BJP Role In Pushing Conspiracy Theories Online

By Dilip -

A new paper authored by five researchers at Microsoft Research, India, has analysed the role played by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians and pro-BJP handles in spreading rumours and conspiracy theories about the Sushant Singh Rajput case on social media. In their study, researchers Joyojeet Pal, Syeda Zainab Akbar, Ankur Sharma, Himani Negi and Anmol Panda analysed Twitter trends and tweets by politicians, influencers, journalists, and media houses as well as engagement on the YouTube pages of mainstream TV news channels.

Their study involved the analysis of Twitter influencers in the case, which involved looking at tweets from 2,000 journalists and media houses and 1,200 politicians in Bihar and Maharashtra between June 14 and September 12, 2020. The researchers said the data they studied showed “an important role played by politicians, especially the BJP, in proposing a ’murder’ alternative to the ’suicide’ narrative”.″...the data strongly suggest that the BJP drove the insinuation of ‘murder’ since it was used more than ‘suicide’ in most weeks since July,” their paper said.

Rajput’s death on 14 June at his Mumbai home was heavily politicised in the months since then, with news channels such as Times Now and Republic running campaigns asking for “justice” to him. On Oct 3, the AIIMS’ medical board ruled out murder in the death of actor, terming it “a case of hanging and death by suicide”, the institute’s forensic chief Dr Sudhir Gupta said. In its conclusive medico-legal opinion to the CBI, the six-member team of forensic doctors dismissed the claims of “poisoning and strangling” made in the case of Singh’s death…

https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/ssr-case-bjp-tv-channel-journalist-tweets_in_5f7acd20c5b64b480ab05291

Shalini Langer: Give me Rhea’s fortitude any day // Tavleen Singh: Rhea and her family have been sacrificed at the altar of lynch mob journalism

Hannah Ellis-Petersen: Actor's death fuels media frenzy in India

Sameera Sood: Bollywood is the new JNU and Deepika Padukone the new opium of distraction / Tavleen Singh: ‘Reporters’ were so drunk with their power to smear that they failed to fulfill their primary role

 Why is Dr Kafeel Khan Still In Jail On The Eve Of Independence Day? BY BETWA SHARMA

Pratap Bhanu Mehta: The loneliness of Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Sudha Bharadwaj tells a disquieting tale

Ramachandra Guha: Supreme Court must reflect on its calling as defined by the Constitution - and the direction it is taking

First Among Equals? // Laws, legal system totally geared in favour of rich and powerful: Justice Deepak Gupta

Express editorial on SC in-house inquiry: Not justice

#HumDekhenge Trends On Twitter As People Show Solidarity With Prashant Bhushan

VAKASHA SACHDEV: In Reply to Contempt Case, Bhushan Offers Detailed Critique of SC

Anil Nauriya - The Angst of August: Reading The Recent Political History of India // Express editorial: Prashant Bhushan judgement - the Supreme Court has diminished itself

Facing Contempt Case, Prashant Bhushan Says Sorry for Just One Remark; 'Why No Helmet by CJI?'

Confrontation in Supreme Court Of India bodes ill // Prashant Bhushan on the CJI’s ‘Extraordinary Interest’ in a Matter Directly Concerning Himself


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