Thread by @heyproto

A loud welcome to everyone this Friday at PROTO’s world headquarters. Today we explore the various ways in which journalism can do more to drive impact that keeps institutions accountable and sensitive to citizens' issues. #MediaCredibility

We are only a few minutes late as @ameyann introduces the theme of the meetup, the speakers, and the @heyproto model of co-learning for solutions to the problems facing #civicmedia today. #MediaCredibility

Sunetra has started her talk on measuring the impact of communication by introducing us to the different purposes of the different types of communication, and the kinds of evidence we need to measure their ability to achieve that purpose. #MediaCredibility

Kinds of measurement: Qualitative versus quantitative, macro-level versus micro-level; theories of agenda setting (the degree to which we are not talking about development because we are talking about patriotism) #MediaCredibility

Difficulties for measuring the impact of journalism - (1) are we talking about a single story because one story can lead to a cascade, (2) what is the time frame - because the Nirbhaya case continues to have a ripple effect. #MediaCredibility

Impact of WhatsApp and Facebook is not verifiable, partly because these businesses will lose their models - @sunetrasenn in response to a question #MediaCredibility

Our next speaker, Sandeep Phukan (@fewcan), is Deputy Editor at The Hindu. He will talk about the frameworks newsrooms should use to articulate or claim a project’s impact. #MediaCredibility

@fewcan .@fewcan adds a caveat that he speaks as an editor primarily. "Let me start with what we’re not expected to do: we are not expected to make the life of our advertising guy easier, we are not supposed to be browbeaten by authority." #MediaCredibility

@fewcan "One measure of a story’s effectiveness is pressure on peers: It is taken forward by your competitors, force your rivals to follow up." #MediaCredibility

@fewcan "Second is the impact of your report on influencers: does it generate a debate among opinion makers and columnists who would then influence policy." #MediaCredibility

@fewcan "For example, @the_hindu’s interview with Rahul Gandhi during the elections led to a conversation on Priyanka Gandhi’s candidature and her role in the revival of the Congress in UP)" #MediaCredibility

@fewcan @the_hindu "Third is relentlessness - keep doing stories till the government or authorities are forced to take action. The Indian Express kept publishing on the petrol pump scandal during NDA1." #MediaCredibility

@fewcan "Fourth - constant scrutiny and instant feedback can empower citizens. My mistakes on air have been called out by viewers. A ‘fake news’ tweet by a journalist got more attention that the apology." #MediaCredibility

.@gauravchoudhury is the Deputy Executive Editor with @moneycontrolcom, and he will talk about whether the media has set the agenda for governance and policy.

@gauravchoudhury @moneycontrolcom "Average retail inflation in the past 14 months has been 3.36% Anything below 4% is a comfortable level. But is this because food prices have come down significantly?" #MediaCredibility

@gauravchoudhury @moneycontrolcom "The curse of productivity has led to rural distress and food inflation has been negative. Headline inflation numbers have masked 7.29% inflation in healthcare. Doctor visits have been significantly costlier." #MediaCredibility

@gauravchoudhury @moneycontrolcom Why aren't we talking about this? We're so overwhelmed by the fall in food prices (and headline inflation) that we haven’t held the government accountable. “Getting by isn’t getting easier and the media hasn’t forced the government to make policy interventions.” #MediaCredibility

@gauravchoudhury @moneycontrolcom "Curious conspiracy to not talk about the environment. For the media, it isn’t glamorous and for the political parties, it does not gather votes. A similar story is real estate - the media doesn’t talk about undelivered houses." #MediaCredibility

@gauravchoudhury @moneycontrolcom "What do we do?" a seemingly helpless question from the audience has all the speakers contributing their reasons for why the media have not attempted stories that show a mirror to the government. #MediaCredibility

.@nandinidurga, now a Senior Director for Communications and Partnerships at @ChangeOrg_India, used to be a journalist. She is talking about media as a pressure point for citizen movements and how it can ally with citizen advocacy. #MediaCredibility

@nandinidurga @ChangeOrg_India It was difficult to convince editors about the importance of citizens movements. After working with Amnesty, she realized that the space for media campaigns for advocacy was being depleted. At Change.org, there was more space for acceptable media campaigning.

@nandinidurga @ChangeOrg_India “What are the kind of issues we want to highlight? Is it merely to latch on to something that has already captured the public imagination or should we be setting trends?” Durga asks. #MediaCredibility

Subhash Rai (@onlinejourno), Editor Digital at Asiaville, will now discuss the opportunities for accountability journalism in digital media. #MediaCredibility

@onlinejourno "On Comscore, where the Times of India leads Daily Hunt and NDTV, data shows us how the offline biggies end up being online biggies as well. One of the factors is the investment required for it." #MediaCredibility

@onlinejourno You can be a great journalist with great information but if you put it up on a small site, it will struggle to get page views. We have no chance of beating the big guys. We have to stop thinking of digital journalism as a great equalizer. Without Google, the change won’t happen.

Ranpal Singh, an experienced health professional, and national program manager at @PCI_India_, is currently working on the eradication of filariasis. He will talk about whether the media helps or restricts development goals. #MediaCredibility

@PCI_India_ He starts off with some positive news. "During the introduction of a new vaccine, we had a media briefing and during the following months, we noticed an increased amount of enrolment for routine immunization that emerged from the coverage of that vaccine." #MediaCredibility

Some bad news: negative coverage of a child’s death as an adverse effect following immunization led to a fall in coverage. When it was discovered that the death resulted from pre-existing diseases, the media did not cover the clarification to the same extent. #MediaCredibility

"Journalists are all rounders, not specialists. They need to understand evidence-based reporting. Recently, the measles rubella vaccine got a bad reputation because of misreporting. Media is playing a big role in the issue of vaccine hesitancy." #MediaCredibility

.@RemaNagarajan gives us a brief defence of the media: the government’s response to any adverse effect following immunization is to deny that anything happened - this makes it difficult for the media. #MediaCredibility