Thread by @joyopal

We tracked journalists retweeted by politicians in 2019 to plot preference for journalists / their stories by politicians

We find that @asadowaisi among LS members and @MisaBharti from RS members engage the press the most

Details: joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu/indian-politic…

@DibyenduMishra 👏

Elected Lok Sabha members do not engage significantly with the press, confirming a declining direct engagement of politicians with mainstream media

Parties w/o legislative representation are most engaged with journalists' work eg @_YogendraYadav @kavita_krishnan @Shehla_Rashid

Parties prefer different journalists. @AdityaRajKaul consistent source for BJP politicians, @PankajJainClick is most used source for key AAP leaders.

@rohini_sgh most preferred by non-BJP, @manakgupta @sardanarohit most preferred by BJP

The preference for journalists among Indian politicians is extremely polarized. For most major journalsts, 2/3rds of their political interactions (retweets) are on either side of the spectrum.

@rahulkanwal and @nistula are least polarized by this metric

Same media group may have commentators preferred by different sides. @ShivAroor is heavily retweeted by BJP leaders, particularly @rajeev_mp , while @sardesairajdeep tends to be preferred by non-BJP leaders.

Most journalist engagement tends to come from IT cells/ outreach specialists such as @SureshNakhua of BJP @khushsundar of INC @asaravanan21 @ptrmadurai of DMK, @preeti_chobey of SP, @Shivsena_Amit of Shiv Sena, @RamaAIADMK of AIADMK etc

A visualization of the most active intersections with highly followed politicians shows that a small number of journalists monopolize the retweets from major politicians