New Delhi: In India, the largest democracy of the world, media especially electronic media plays a key role in shaping public opinion.
In many cases, a few Indian media channels try to impose their opinions on their viewers.
After Pulwama attack which took lives of around 40 CRPF Personnel, many channels started conducting debates without even waiting for the official statements of authorities in the government.
It seems that these channels are struggling hard to be in competition due to the rise in the number of national and regional news channels.
Another platform which is being used to shape the public opinion is social media especially WhatsApp. The messaging app plays a crucial role in spreading information.
Although, WhatsApp had restricted the forward message option to 5 users at a time, still messages become viral on the messaging app.
It may be mentioned that in the 2014 General Election, the internet had played a major role in impacting public opinion.
As the next General Election is scheduled to be held in May 2019, social media is expected to play an important role again.