Harini Calamur's Writings
All things Digital
“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.”— A.J. Liebling Today, that freedom belongs not to journalists, but to billionaires. In the past, owning a press meant printing influence. Today, owning a platform means owning perception. Elon Musk…
This year, as the rich and powerful, the famous and influential, gather at Davos, the world seems in an even more precarious position than ever before. If last year saw the war in Europe – as Russia invaded Ukraine – this year…
Elon Musk bought Twitter a month ago, and ever since that incident, it seems like a free for all slugfest. Musk conducted public polls to restore the accounts of many, including former US President Donald Trump, American Rapper Kayne West, Canadian Psychologist…
This appeared in the FPJ on the 5th of November. And, this column like many others, appears dated in a fortnight – as the hellsite goes through multiple shocks to its system. $44 billion. The price to buy the blue bird, that…
Layoffs are a part of life – it doesn’t matter if you are in a Capitalist setup, a communist setup, or some combination of the two. There is a point beyond which it is not feasible to keep employees on the payroll,…
The news business models are broken. What remains are platforms that are trying to create strife to keep people watching. I write in the FPJ on this phenomenon Towards the end of May, on a televised live debate on a leading news…
The Attention Economy is based around monetising our attention and engagement. But, we the user, are getting increasingly distracted. I write for the FPJ on the 28th of April Way back, in the early days of the internet, the technology landscape was…
I mostly shop online. My groceries, my monthly supplies, my clothes, my toiletries, my furniture, my electronics, my impulse buys. It gives me the convenience and choice that physical shopping does not. Like many lakhs of people, I went in to shop…
Facebook’s control on data is worrying, and it is time regulators began talking of breaking up the conglomerate. I write for FPJ on the 17th of October. Facebook owned Instagram lures in teenagers, plays with their mind, and leads them down a…
This appeared in the FPJ on the 9th of August 2021 The role of social media in spreading vaccine hesitancy cannot be understated. Scholars and experts blame social platforms for increasing anxiety, sleep disorders, and vaccine hesitancy. And, despite multiple outbreaks, these…