Insights

It’s clear that the media landscape is rapidly changing. But how do companies actually maneuver through the digital transformation in their own industries? Perhaps no one is better equipped to answer this question than the panel of experts at our Future Assembly conference this past April. In this talk, Professor Bharat Anand speaks with Nicco Mele of the Shorenstein Center, Jake Shapiro of Radio Public (and formerly PRX), and Justin Williams of Turner Broadcasting about how digital has impacted such industries as newspapers, television, and radio. The takeaways may just surprise you!

One of the most pressing issues facing the news & media today is how to navigate and define journalism’s evolving relationship with giant actors in the platform economy like Facebook, Google. As the 2016 presidential election and the skyrocketing of fake news show, these platforms wield enormous power in shaping the societal dialogue around critical issues, and publishers must grapple with the ramifications of being disintermediated.

Professor Bharat Anand offers some germane and timely advice for media companies (hint: all companies are media companies now) in the digital age. Namely, Anand revisits newspapers and reveals some surprising facts about what really caused the industry’s decline. Professor Anand’s insights are useful for anyone looking to play in the digital landscape and leverage the power of connections to develop profitable business models and avoid falling into the “content trap.”

On October 11th, 2017 the Digital Seminar series hosted Anja Lambrecht from London Business School. Anja gave a talk called “Algorithmic Bias? An Empirical Study into Apparent Gender-Based Discrimination in the Display of STEM Career Ads.”

On September 27th, 2017 the Digital Seminar series hosted Marc Rysman from Boston University. Marc gave a talk called “A Structural Model of Network Formation: World Air Services Agreements.”

Thinking that fancy math and big numbers will increase our safety online? SEAS Professor James Mickens urges you to think again. In this talk from our 2017 Future Assembly conference, Mickens helps us understand how precarious the current state of cybersecurity is.

With the number of major cyber breaches in recent years (Equifax, Sony, DNC anyone?), the Target breach of 2013 may seem like ancient history. But this case from Suraj Srinivasan, which focuses on how Target managed/could have managed the attack, offers many much-needed, highly-relevant leadership lessons for today.

Related: cybersecurity issues are completely transforming the way that international security is handled. How will these changes impact international governance and norms and alter the way that the public and private sector alike handle cybersecurity? Faculty affiliate Derek Reveron has some ideas.

In addition to having a responsibility to be thinking about cybersecurity as a strategic priority, executives should be collaborating with IT to address cybersecurity within their organization. When the C-Suite and IT are in alignment with regards to cybersecurity, organizations are much better equipped to effectively handle threats.

Governments have turned to export controls to block the international transfer of malicious software and limit its harmful effects. However, these export controls are failing to check the spread of malware for a variety of reasons. This proposal from the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs highlights 10 recommendations for things states could be doing to address the spread of malicious software instead.