MEDIA: THE VOICE OF

DEMOCRACY
Business, Government and Society
Session 6
Press
• Newspapers
– Total is ~$155 mn worldwide
– Shrinking in the developed world
– Increasing in India
Circulation: World
Indian Market: Breakup
Which is the most widely read newspaper?
Digital vs print
Language break up of access (non-English)
Limitations to access: Reasons
Access to TV in India
States with most access
Freedom of press: FHI 2017
Who owns Indian Media houses?

• Politicians
– Ex. Sun Tv, Jaya TV
• Real estate
• Chit funds
• Large corporations
– Reliance-Times now
Social Media: Facebook
CASE
Facebook’s Free Basics: Free in India?
Reema Khurana, 2016
Facebook’s Free Basics Initiative- ‘Connectivity as a Right’
• Internet.org- an initiative launched by Facebook as a joint venture with
Samsung, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera and Qualcomm

• Free Internet access to people especially who wanted information on

news, health, travel, jobs, sports and governance

• Major objectives of Internet.org were

– Make internet access affordable through use of smartphones
– Work with telecom companies to provide internet access to underserved communities
– Make the transmission of data affordable through data compression, better network
efficiency and data caching techniques
– Create more business opportunities for app developers and mobile device
manufacturers

• By Jan 2016, the platform was available for 8 million population in 9

countries

• “Have some access than none”

Net Neutrality- ‘Open and free internet’

• The idea that Internet Service providers should treat all data on
the internet equally regardless of content, user, platform,
application or device.
• When net neutrality is not honored, some websites would be
favored over others and differential pricing could result.
– Telecom service providers could charge for otherwise free calls
– Service providers could also charge for data heavy services such as
Netflix and the service would push that additional cost to the customer.
– Leverages for some platforms than others thus creating security and
privacy issues.
 Internet in India-User base

• Digital India Programme

– To transform the entire ecosystem of public services in India by using information
technology
• Opportunities in India and Africa

• It was projected that mobile internet users in India would almost double by 2017
• As of November 2016, 40 million people are using
internet.org across Asia, Africa and South America
• Service permanently banned in India since February 2016
• What are the impacts of innovative approaches like Free
Basics on the digital business industry with small and
large players in a developing countries like India?
• Why was it acceptable in other developing countries and
not in India?
• What could be changed in the Facebook’s Free Basics
platform or in the definition of net neutrality to make it
feasible and viable?
SOCIAL MEDIA REVOLUTION: THE
INFLUENCE OF SECONDARY
STAKEHOLDERS
Michele urgens, Pierre Berthon, Linda Edelman, Leyland Pitt, 2015
Who are the Stakeholders?

• Primary Stakeholders: Customers, suppliers,

creditors, employees
• Secondary stakeholders: general public,
communities, activists' groups.
– Three characteristics:
• Isolated from the firm-no physical or personal connection
• A diverse group of people with diverse interests regarding the
firm- it could be firms air pollution standards or waste
disposal mechanism
• They are primarily concerned with bringing about
institutional change or field level change
Social Movement theory suggests that the key elements for gaining momentum
in a social movement are for those involved to assemble evidence about a
perceived wrong and to develop sufficient self-justification for mobilization.
 Understanding social technologies and movements

• Social Technologies Revolution #1

• Information asymmetry is the normal state of affairs between the firm
and secondary stakeholders

• Social Technologies Revolution #2

• The second impact of social technologies has been the facilitation of
the rapid development of injustice and identity frames
• This then gets refined in two ways to appeal to a broader audience
• Multiple iterations of framing through user created content
• Once influencers get the message, they can impact the public
opinion

• Social Technologies Revolution #3

• The ability of social technology to act as mobilizing structures for
protest and action groups.
Embracing the new reality

• Strong, publicly active secondary stakeholders can act

as an effective counterweight to overly and privately
demanding primary stakeholders
• Monitoring of the firm’s activities in social media and
internet is easier for large corporations who have
multiple, geographically spread divisions.
• Social media taps directly into public opinion about the
firm and its practices facilitating connections to the
markets and information about competitors.
• An unsolicited recommendation from a happy customer
offering free publicity