Media sans Frontiers

Technology has disrupted this pattern and along with it the culture of watching together. Viewers, now have the liberty to choose and watch from a plethora of genres from several different OTT platforms and that too at ones own convenience. It is no surprise then that the OTT media has grown by 30% in the number of paid subscribers from 22.2 million to 29.0 million between March and July 2020 (IBEF, Knowledge Centre, 2020).

Accumulation of soft power is in any case costly, difficult, and time consuming. Solid reputations are only made over years. Soft power has its drawbacks, though: it constrains as much as it enhances power. Honour a term much used by governments of yore - dictated unpalatable political choices by excluding e.g. the possibility of compromise. As many an actor knows, furthermore, image is very constraining. The public expects behaviour in conformity with the image - sudden deviance may lead to severe loss of image. Coherence too, however, may be treacherous - solidity may be perceived as boring.