Vernacularization of Digital Marketplaces: A Broken News
by Saurabh Shinde
Durham University
https://zoom.us/j/6834690808
Meeting ID: 683 469 0808
Abstract
Mainstream journalism in India (print and TV) follows a strict status hierarchy: English-speaking journalists are at the top echelon (with more salaries, more political connections, and higher social status) compared to their vernacular counterparts. With the advent of Web 2.0, we are seeing en masse platforming of vernacular content creators and consumers. Using netnographic data collected over three years, this research tries to understand the vernacularization of digital journalism from the Bourdieusian lens of distinction. In doing so, we highlight the significant role of the attention economy and media in the capital conversion process. Our first contribution is the concept of Epistemic Narrative Object – a continuously unfolding carrier of cultural capital. Second, we delineate the distinction strategies using less explored linguistic capital in marketing literature. Finally, we locate vernacularization as an outcome of four ongoing processes – politicization of media, mediatization of society, postsocial relationships, and democratization of knowledge.
