Same story, bigger play

IN Media Watch Briefs | 06/05/2015

The business press can’t have enough of e-commerce related gee-whiz stories. So on April 30 The Economic Times carried a small bylined story on page 6 on the digital payments provider Pay-U getting ready to spend Rs 60 crore in the next few weeks on branding and marketing. Essentially the same story, padded up, returned on May 4, mentioned on page one and then carried on page 6 with two bylines.

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Amazon resisting voluntary censorship

The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.

Let the games begin

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.