Straight bat: Do stars really get an edge?

Thiruvananthapuram: Curious to watch whether TV channels would sex-up popular shows Badai Bungalow, Sell Me the Answer and Comedy Express in the run-up t0 Assembly elections to make Mukesh and Jagadeesh more endearing to voters in Kollam and Pathanapuram.

Jagadeesh’s main rival in Pathanapuram, K. B. Ganesh Kumar, had already done such a makeover. For 15 years, he hasn’t donned the role of a villain on screen. During this phase, he also reunited with his estranged wife. It may have helped him in getting elected three times from Pathanapuram.

But there is no direct correlation to establish that Ganesh Kumar’s screen image was the single-most important factor to his electoral success. Smart players could synchronise their screen image, as in the case of CPM candidate M. V. Nikesh Kumar, who as the head of Reporter channel choreographed his hop from the newsroom to the poll arena, making the makeover perfectly suitable.

The television-election symbiosis has so far been successful in Kerala. But in Andhra Pradesh the late N. T. Rama Rao had tasted both success and defeat despite his high popularity rating as a matinee idol.

In all elections, a celeb candidate has seldom been able to withstand the impact of a wave and script a story that is different from the general voter sentiment.
The debate on the extent of the screen image impact on a candidate’s poll prospects has become crucial as the Election Commission remains clueless.

Complex and multiple communication platforms, including the internet, make the EC job difficult. Stars on regular entertainment shows enjoy much airtime, which take them closer to the domestic audience (potentially voters) and add to their “recall value” as a public figure.

They enjoy a certain advantage over their counterparts, who are not actors or game show hosts on channels. Does it call for a fresh set of dos and don’ts, though acting/hosting shows is their profession and not linked to elections?

Says Prof S. V. Srinivas of the School of Liberal Studies at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru: “The EC could possibly think of a 48-hour lock-in period ahead of the polling day, banning candidates from shows that are encrypted with self-promotion. But it is easier said than done. EC will have to work with internet service providers to effect the regulation. It will have to approach Facebook to check campaigning on the social media. What if interested parties circulate ads on Whatsapp?”

There is no denying the fact that TV is the major source for news and views for the majority. Social media are yet to catch up. People are least likely to be influenced by social media and magazines, with Facebook the leading influencer for just 7 per cent, followed by Twitter at 4 per cent and magazines at 2 per cent, according to the UK-based Panelbase survey.

A separate research has shown that social media can often serve as an "echo chamber" for peoples’ own views, “since we usually surround ourselves online with people who think along the similar lines”.