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Streisand Effect

Barbra Streisand and her bungalow


Streisand Effect is a kind of boomerang. I had no idea about this until I read an article in a Malayalam weekly this morning. The article was discussing the BBC documentary on Modi and the Indian government’s response to it. The writer of the article says that BBC should be grateful to the Modi government for all the publicity it got because of the government’s attempts to ban the documentary in India.

There is nothing new in the documentary. Whatever is mentioned in its both parts together is already known to anyone who has cared to study the 2002 Gujarat riots and their aftermath. Most people wouldn’t have taken the documentary seriously had it been left to its normal course.

The article mentioned above cites the example of what happened to American singer and actress Barbra Streisand. She filed a case against photographer Kenneth Adelman and got results that were just the opposite of whatever she wanted.

Adelman was the founder of the California Coastal Records Project. He photographed the coastline of the state from a helicopter for the project. The photos were posted to the Internet and made copyright-free. There were 12,000 photos one of which was of the bungalow belonging to Ms Streisand. The lady took Adelman to court for allegedly violating her privacy. She demanded $50 million as compensation.

She lost the case. Worse, she was asked to pay $175,000 to Alderman for covering his expenditure related to the case. Still worse, until the case was filed only six people had downloaded the concerned photo and two among the six were the lady’s lawyers. But within a month of the filing of the case, 420,000 people downloaded the pic.

What Ms Streisand wanted was to protect her privacy. What she got was wide publicity. This is known as Streisand Effect. Britannica Encyclopaedia defines Streisand Effect as a “phenomenon in which an attempt to censor, hide, or otherwise draw attention away from something only serves to attract more attention to it.”

If the Indian government had just left the documentary alone, it would have just come and gone like any other TV programme. But the government’s kneejerk reaction kicked up a lot of discussion and debate on Modi’s actual role in what came to be labelled by many as ‘genocide’. India’s censorship of the documentary drew global attention, says the article mentioned above. All prominent news agencies gave it much importance.

Will Modi ask Mukesh Ambani to buy up the BBC now?


Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanFebruary 5, 2023 at 10:13 AM

    Hari OM
    The BBC does not require such increase of awareness; it is one broadcaster that is known the world over. The point is well made, though. We had an example of the Streisand Effect here when the ex-chancellor decided it was wise to threaten a journalist with lawsuits for bringing to light the possibility of his having done dodgy tax stuff whilst in office. He is now out of office. No smoke without fire and all that! YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 5, 2023 at 10:37 AM

      Of course, the BBC has its worldwide recognition as well as popularity. When we were young, we were made to listen to the BBC news in order to improve our English and also to give us the most reliable kind of news. The credibility of the broadcaster is beyond question. Nevertheless, this documentary on Modi wouldn't have got such publicity had it not been for the censorship precisely because it doesn't add any new info about the issue.

      Delete
  2. Pandian RamaiahFebruary 5, 2023 at 8:15 PM

    So far, the negative publicity has worked to the advantage of the magician Modi. It is uncommon to see him afraid of a documentary, which has only increased its publicity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 5, 2023 at 8:45 PM

      Publicity matters in the end, even negative publicity!

      Delete
  3. Rajeev MoothedathFebruary 5, 2023 at 10:31 PM

    I read this up recently when Shashi Tharoor referred to Streisand effect in an interview with Barkha Dutt on the BBC handling fiasco. Your last line in this post is classic!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 6, 2023 at 4:24 AM

      Tharoor is both knowledgeable and principled. We need more people like him in politics.

      Delete

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