Uber's entrepreneurship discourse and its neoliberal appeal: analysis of coverage in English-language dailies in India

Abstract

This study examines how the top two English-language newspapers in India constructed the entrepreneurship discourse used by online cab aggregator firm, Uber Technology Inc., in India, its second-largest market after the United States. A critical discourse analysis study of related news coverage in The Times of India and the Hindu newspapers was undertaken in three stages including an analysis of media texts, discursive practice and social practice. This paper unravels how the dominant discourses reproduced and reinforced Uber’s entrepreneurship rhetoric, embedded in the neoliberal assumption that the self-reliant, individual entrepreneur is the ideal person who will play an important role in the story of India’s economic growth. Counter-discourses that challenged such assumptions were limited and found primarily in a few opinion pieces in the Hindu newspaper. While media-centric factors such as news values and journalistic routines often privilege established sources of news, in this case, Uber officials, this study also highlights the influence of a media organization’s corporate policy and economic imperatives on news discourses. Further, this study highlights how Uber’s entrepreneurship discourse was strengthened by political actors eager to reap rewards from portraying a greater role in generating employment and attracting investments.