Marketing Ganga

Category: Media

  • Film Censorship

    The I&B Ministry proposes to amend the Cinematograph Act. It proposes age-based certification. It is a popular demand raised by the film industry. It aims at curbing the menace of piracy.

    It is proposed that sweeping censorship powers be arrogated to government through amendment of the provisions on the government’s revisionary remit.

    The HC of Karnataka has placed limits on the government directly exercising revisional powers (in KM Shankarappa). The Centre cannot exercise revisionary powers for films already certified by the Central Board of Film Certification. (CBC). This judgment was later upheld by SC.

    To overcome this, certain amendments are proposed to the Cinematograph Act. These enable the government to direct the CBFC chair to review a certification. It quotes the possibilities of complaints of violation of Section 5B post-certification. Here revisionary powers are called for. Sec 5B is equivalent to article 19 (2) of the constitution that places reasonable restrictions on freedom of speech and expression. The complaints could emerge from mob, and entertaining these could result into censorship by the mob.

    Under Section 5E of the existing Act, the government has already the power to revoke or suspend the certification of a film.

    The tribunal reforms ordinance in April 21 has closed down the appelate authority for film certification. Thus film makers have to approach the HCs to change the decision of the CBFC.

    Ideological differences could result in using the direct censorship by the Centre. This is the danger.

  • Podcasts

    It is early days for podcasts in India. At the same time, ad money is flowing into this format. Especially, the financial brands sponsor or get involved in the creation of podcasts. There is no scale as yet, but there is increasing interest. Clients demand podcast-based solutions. It is expected that what is now restricted to finance brands would extend to other categories.

  • Audio Wave

    We have moved from vinyl, casettes, CDs to iPods, digital radio and audio streaming. It is a long and rewarding journey. It has evolved over a period of time. Terrestrial radio has been our companion for generations. It has transformed into digital. Radio has been trying to establish a bond with the listeners through multiple touchpoints. Radio networks have become platform-agnostic. They have become digital-first. They have adopted audio platforms like podcasts and smart speaker solutions. Radio once had been a mantlepiece at home. These days it has become an engaging on-the-go mobile medium.

    In fact, podcast is another way of telling a radio story. Story is converted into episodes for easy consumption. Radio and audio OTTs are complementing each other. There is a new entity — social audio. Clubhouse has drawn attention of everybody. Audio has plethora of genres and formats. Audio entertainment will be redefined.

  • Signal

    Signal, as we know, is the encrypted messaging company. It has a huge following among investigative journalists, activists, politicians and law enforcement officers. This is because of its focus on privacy and security.

    WhatsApp changed its privacy policy by asking the users permission to share their data with the parent company — Facebook. That led to an exodus of the users to the rival messaging company — Signal. The surge of the new users overwhelmed a small team of engineers that managed Signal. Even some employees preferred to quit Signal leaving it understaffed.

    Signal’s founder Moxie is a cryptographer and technical genius but he is an obstinate individual. He exercises strict control over the Signal’s under-lying code and services. That leads to employee dissatisfaction. Of late, Moxie relaxed his tight control over the infra and has delegated authority to other employees with the freedom to modify code and access the servers and encryption keys.

  • ASCI’s Guidelines for Social Media Influencer Marketing

    In May 2021, ASCI has issued final guidelines for influencer marketing, three months after sharing its draft guidelines. Influencers must label branded posts, or else both parties are accountable. The disclosure label should be clear, identifiable and prominent. The guidelines also define influencers and what establishes a connect between the influencer and advertiser. It identifies the words permissible to call it a sponsored post.

    It advises the influencers to satisfy themselves that the advertiser is in a position to substantiate the claims made in the advertisement.

    ASCI will detect the violations by using AI-based tools.

    Influencers feel that mostly the advertisers are responsible for being reluctant to put disclosure labels.

    ASCI is a self-regulatory body. The guidelines are not legally binding. It can guide and mediate, but it cannot compel.

  • Social Media and IT Guidelines

    As we know, in India, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 were notified on February 25, 2021. Vide these rules, the Government had granted three months to comply with new IT rules. Therefore, a significant social media intermediary has to appoint a chief compliance officer, a nodal contact person to coordinate with law enforcement agencies and a resident grievance officer. The social media intermediary has to identify the first originator of problematic content. A significant intermediary means one with over 5 million registered users. On May 25, 2021, these guidelines came into force. Social media can lose their intermediary status (pursuant to Rule 7 of the IT Rules, 2021) if they do not comply with the guidelines. This could make them responsible for third party content hosted on their platforms. The protection had been granted to them under section 79(1) of the IT Act, 2000. It enables intermediaries to protect themselves from liability for any third-party information, data or communication link made available or hosted by the intermediaries.

    significant social media intermediaries have made representations to the government prior to May 25, 2021 deadline. They have asked for an extension. The Government is expected to work with the stakeholders to formulate S0Ps or standard operating procedures. There is a possibility of the imposition of criminal liability on the employees of the intermediary. This is at odds with the modern corporate liability jurisprudence that leans replacing the criminal liability with monetary penalties in the interest of ease of doing business and better enforcement.

    This development is not to be seen in isolation. It is a global trend. In the initial days of Internet, platforms were given immunity from liability by the US for content posted by users. This law, Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, provided a global template. The playing field was deliberately kept uneven between mainstream media and social media. This social media could become a dominant player which hurt credible journalism and news dissemination. Today social media operates with rights but without responsibilities. Even in the US, the relevance of Sec-230 is being questioned.

    WhatsApp has challenged the new intermediary guidelines in Delhi High Court stating that the ‘new requirement under Rule 4(2) is ‘unconstitutional, illegal, and ultra vires the IT Act.’

    It contends that this forces it ‘ to break end-to-end encryption on its messaging service, as well as the privacy principles underlying it, and infringes upon the fundamental rights to privacy and free speech of the users’.

    The Government says new rules will be used in exceptional cases, e.g. prevention, investigation or punishment of very serious offences. It will not affect the normal functioning of WhatsApp. The rule to trace the first originator of information is mandatory for each and every significant social media intermediary.

    Wider public consultation is called for before implementation. The Rules gave only three months. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation allowed for two years.

    Apart from social media platforms, the newb rules affect Slack, Zoom, LinkedIn, YouTube and mainstream news sites, which carry reader comments.

    Under these rules any content flagged by the government must be taken off within 36 hours of notice. Though this would curb the fake news, there is likelihood of its being misused. Of course, all fundamental rights are subject to reasonable restrictions, but the issue is who decides what is reasonable. In the new rules, the final arbiters are the government officials. Maybe, an independent institutional mechanism is called for to bridge the trust deficit.

    Social media firms now run the risk of facing increased litigation from users and social activists on content perceived as offensive. On non-compliance with the guidelines, the management becomes vulnerable as they lose the immunity to the third party content.

    Google has filed a case in HC saying it is not a social intermediary and is an aggregator.

    To follow the government guidelines the Big Tech companies are appointing nodal officers. However, this has tax implications. These companies pay tax on cost plus basis, on about 8-10 % of total revenue. There is an equalisation levy — 6 per cent on advertising revenue and 2 per cent on digital transactions. This could change since appointment of nodal officers changes their legal statues to permanent establishment (PE) in India subject to Indian tax laws. They are seeking a way around this. In defence, they can contend that the compliance is mandated and does not create PE status.

    Except Twitter, others have complied with the guidelines and have appointed the requisite officers. Facebook has even submitted a report of the takedowns after receiving the complaints and investigating them.

  • Radio

    Radio advertising constituted 4 per cent of the total advertising revenue. However, over the last three years, the share slipped to 2 per cent. The revenue of radio advertising was Rs.3360 crore in 2018. Due to economic slow down, it came down to Rs.3100 crore in 2019. In 2020, the pandemic brought it to less than half — Rs.1430 crore (FICC-EY Report). In the developed countries, radio commands a share of 10 percent of the total revenues.

    The radio is not taken seriously as it faces many alternatives. Earlier, it was used as a frequency builder.

    Radio is best suited to evolve into a podcasting medium. As RJs are now celebrities, they can be used as brand endorsers or to create stickiness around a podcast.

    Radio can expand its functions — it can provide solutions to clients, not necessarily rooted into radio. It can think of becoming event managers, do content production and do everything else to remain viable.

  • National Public Radio : NPR

    National Public Radio in the US completes 50 years in 2021. It is a radio channel which is neither government-sponsored nor private. It is not profit-oriented. It is in true sense a public broadcaster which is autonomous. It has been established under Public Broadcasting Act passed in 1967. It has been run by several thousand channels across the US. We cannot hear the channel here in India. The US has Voice of America as its international channel. As these days podcasts bring the programmes across the world on internet, even lovers of NPR can hear its good programmes anywhere in the world.

    The channel is famous for its high-quality programmes. All Things Considered is a programme initiated on 3rd May, 1971. It is still very popular. Till then, the news-based programmes were anchored by male folks. Since 1972, for the first time, this responsibility was given to female folks. The programme is known for deeper analysis of current affairs and comprehensive reporting.

    NPR accommodates different art forms and diverse subjects in its programming. Four-wheeler cars are the life line of the US. NPR’s CarTalk programme is very entertaining. It is a phone-in programme. NPR is also known for its worldwide reporting from the site of action. It exploited all the possibilities and potential of the audio medium.

    To gain wider audience and consequently greater advertising revenue, NPR has never compromised. It is balanced, non-partisan. How it retains its autonomy? The member channels contributions and other contributions fund NPR. The member channels are not commercial. They are not under political pressure. And major chunk of contributions or donations are sourced from the listeners. The donations range from $25 to $50. Apart from this, NPR is funded by corporate trusts, but against such funding they cannot expect any editorial meddling. At the most, anchors briefly introduce a sponsoring company during the programme. The rich too individually contribute to NPR but they are committed to media autonomy. Covid affected NPR too, but in a positive way. Instead of drive-in-radio, while commuting to office, the work-from-staff availed of the NPR programmes through websites, podcasts and apps. It boosted the NPR audience by 10-15 per cent. In a week, NPR reaches 6 crore people through different avenues. The younger audience is increasing for audio programmes. Amongst the 20 most popular podcasts in the US, 7 are from the NPR.

    In India too, we have a large radio-loving audience. What we lack is radio which is non-partisan, newsworthy and information-rich. Our love for radio has remained confined to listening to music. Aakashvani news is not preferred. Private radio channels are not allowed to broadcast news. We are neglecting a potential medium.

    NPR is just an example. On its lines, every democratic country can aspire to have an autonomous radio channel. Our audience should realise that getting non-partisan news is their right.

  • Value of the Content

    Always we hear that print is declining in the digital age or that the linear TV is declining because of the digital content. Question whether a great TV show’s value is declining. No, it is not. A great TV show could come to you on either TV or internet or cell phone. It remains great. The medium does not matter.

    May be, the NYT subscriptions have fallen. However, still the NYT makes money. It is consumed on digital media. It is print media which is not in print.

    Media may decline, but the real issue whether what they create is declining. The value of what they create matters more.

  • Facebook’s ‘Supreme Court’

    At Facebook, there is an Oversight Board consisting of a panel of experts who deal with crucial content moderation decisions. These experts have 20 lawyers, scholars and former politicians. Though Zuckerberg is the Facebook supremo, he is shielded by the decisions of the Board about the most contentious decisions. It is akin to the Supreme Court of the Facebook.

    The Oversight Board is funded by a legally independent trust consisting of experts of good credentials. However, these are selected by the Facebook and the company pays for them. Whether the Brand has teeth or not is a moot point. It does not have legally enforceable powers of oversight.

    At the same time, Oversight Board is not a useless exercise. They do have members with sincerity of purpose.

    Recently after the incident at the US Capitol, the account of Trump was suspended indefinitely. However, it is not a permanent suspension. The Board expects the supremo to take the final call within six months. It has not decided about Trump’s future.

    The Board is an appellate body for the users, and makes the working of Facebook democratic.