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DTW
During the Week, we celebrated World Press Freedom Day. Every year, 3 May is a date which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom, to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
We all must do more to address the risks and seize the opportunities of the digital age. On this World Press Freedom Day, I invite Member States, technology companies, the media community, as well as the rest of civil society to come together to develop a new digital configuration – one that protects both journalism and journalists.
— Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day
We are still to hear the final word on #MuskTwitter saga but this points to another malaise in the whole freedom of press discussion. As I wrote earlier, we can visualise this relationship in three ways- One, Platforms as aggregators of news/views ; Two, Platforms as user engagement channel for news media ; and Three, Platforms as Arbiter of Truth !
Digital Platforms have transformed news media through influence over four major forces of hyper-localization, bundling, WTA and distribution.
We live in an era where audience are interested in global and local simultaneously. Print media was early to catch onto the trend of hyperlocal news with their simultaneous city or even city zones supplements even in early 2000’s but it is with the advent of news aggregators which have completely revolutionised the hyperlocal news collection and discovery. Interestingly, advertisers are keen on hyper-local news and are willing to pay top dollars for geo-targeting their advertising efforts. An interesting offshoot of this relationship has been the rise of local language news content and thus solving the long tail problem for migrant population w.r.t local news from their native geographies and in their native language. Neighbourhood commerce platforms like Nextdoor helps businesses and public agencies drive measurable outcomes by creating meaningful connections with a uniquely engaged local audience.
Platforms have visibly changed the news media by unbundling and rebundling the offerings. Traditionally, the news media offered all-you-can-eat-buffet products for a fixed price. Platforms have called, pushed and ultimately forced the news media to unbundle their offering and start offering standalone features and/or news stories to interested readers. News Aggregator platforms like Dailyhunt and InShorts gained large customer traction as they helped readers get access to multiple news sources in an accessible fashion. Journalists and news analyst have taken additional roles of being on twitter and sharing individual news stories to bring traffic back to the news media original websites. Aggregator platforms have also created product bundles like the one offered by Everything Bundle, a Substack devoted to productivity and business strategy. This writer’s collective has eight newsletters in the bundle.
This unbundling process also points to another important change brought about the platforms- unshackling good writers from media businesses! Talented writers in politics, business and culture are charting their own paths and are moving away to create niche corners where they are the best and thus indispensable for the interested readers. I mean what’s better on technology than Ben Thompson , finance than Matt Levine or American history/politics than Heather Cox Richardson ! Platforms have created these unicorn-like genius writers because as the cost of the audience’s attention rises, focus on niche area pays off. The current subscription model makes it so much easier than ever before to profitably concentrate on exactly one topic, and build a one-person monopoly on niche space.
This is possible because platforms have fundamentally and irrevocably transformed the news distribution. Both iOS and Android have helped news media organisations create engaging apps for the news consumers. Almost all the Indian news media organisation have presence on YouTube , Facebook, Twitter and TikTok (suspended now) !Tech Platforms including Amazon have helped news organisation to build a subscription business by leveraging on platforms’ customer base running into billions. Apple through its news app has helped in creating more engagement through innovative offering like news narrations.
Platforms with their black box algorithms have also wrought havoc on the revenue and profits of news media. More than just livelihoods which have been destroyed in local news media, platforms have also brought the trolls onto hapless journalists with some even threatened with rape and death.
Prof Scott Galloway talks about Twitter and Facebook as rage machines and argues for strict regulations of their algorithm when their revenue/business/engagement model depends on propaganda/hate speech. Platforms claims of not being a publishers and hence not responsible for the content published on their sites flies in the face of evidence that they tweak their algorithms to allow/promote certain content over others and thus “"Control the Narrative”.
OTW
Over the Weekend, I was part of an annual running event conducted by LVPEI and supported by Hyderabad Runners. As discussed in my earlier post, Whitathon Run is L V Prasad Eye Institute’s annual cause-related event focusing on raising awareness and funds for early diagnosis and treatment of Retinoblastoma – a Life and Vision-threatening Eye Cancer in Children. It was heartening to see close to 1500 people signing up for the event and supporting the cause.
Many participants from Peerancheruvu Runners and Icfai Bz School Runners registered and competed the run. Great event by the volunteers at LVPEI and Hyderabad Runners. Congratulations to all the finishers.
Instead of pictures from the event, let me share my motivation to run at any event near People’s Plaza in Hyderabad on any Sunday. That’s the only day in week when good folks at Tewari Bros serve mouth watering Jalebi and Club Kachori! This is satisfied US after the main event aka breakfast at Tewari! BTW, I also ran 10 km at the event!
I Love You
Shailendra
OTM
Opportunities through MountainSpeak are available through the Digital Street Project.
Our first event is on Leveraging Digital Technologies for Street Vendors- Challenges and Opportunities on 19th May 2022 at New Delhi. Do let me know if you would like to contribute to the discussion or share this with somebody who could help us in framing better questions.
The Centre of Excellence for Digital Transformation (CEDT) at IFHE, Hyderabad is proposing to work on a project titled “Digital Street” in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). This action research project focusing on digital transformation of street vendors in the tourism industry is proposed to be conducted between May 1, 2022, and November 30,2022. Please let us know if you would like to contribute to the project.
The likely participants may have experience in digital transformation, informal sector, travel technologies, Tourism, street vendor issues amongst others. They may come from government, academics, consulting, corporate, policy making, start ups, non-profit and advocacy groups. I would also request you to also recommend experts and stakeholders for the project.
Please reply to this email with a copy to your recommended guests OR alternatively, fill in the Google Form to help us to contact them directly.
https://forms.gle/Lyz8nsx7Gehf1TR58
PPS-
The title of the newsletter comes from this old time hit about college life! You know what I mean!
Tumko Pata Hai
India stands 150 out of 180 countries in press freedom . Not sure its something Indian journalists would celebrate.