New and Digital Media :INDEX

1) Institution: the impact of Google on the newspaper industry
2) Audience and Institution: how news consumption has changed
3) The future of newspapers: Build The Wall analysis
4) The decline of newspapers: the effect of online technology
5) Citizen journalism: Media Magazine article and questions
6) News Values: theory and updating them for digital media landcape
7) Marxism & Pluralism: Media Magazine article and questions
8) Media Conference: notes from speakers
9) Marxism and Pluralism: views and values question
10) NDM Section B essay on blog - consumption and production question
11) Marxism and Pluralism: Alain de Botton on the news - lecture and questions
12) Globalisation: questions and blog task
13) Globalisation: Media Magazine - Google Glass, techno-panics and data mining
14) News on the Tweet report and questions
15) Audience and Institution article and questions
16) Institution case study: NDM and News Corporation

NDM: WEEK 13(ii)

€50,000 for CCTV video of Paris attack

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/25/mail-online-us-almost-doubles-advertising-revenues

The Daily Mail has been accused of paying  £35,000 to obtain video of one of the terrorist attacks in Paris that had been encrypted by French police to prevent it being made public.Representatives of the Mail are then believed to have destroyed the original source material from the CCTV cameras inside the besieged Paris cafe to ensure no other media organisation could obtain it

• Asked by Petit Journal presenter Yann Barthès why he had decided to tell his story, Aoudia replied: “I think we are in a very painful period, a very difficult and sensitive period. People can buy pictures, of course people do buy pictures, we’ve seen that.
• “But we are in an atmosphere of terrorism here and I think people should maybe think twice about broadcasting this kind of material – the more so because at least until it was broadcast, it was confidential to an ongoing investigation.”

In my opinion the daily mail is presented as a powerful and money thirsty media conglomerates. They desensitised by the attacks and therefore, cause controversy when covering these sensitive topics.

NDM case study: News on the Tweet

QUESTION ON NEWSPAPER REPORT:

• Why are respected news brands good news for Twitter?

"59% of users follow newspaper brands". Google Glass was controversial as it impending arrival of the new gadget as sparked some outrage and debate. There is a sense of alienation flowing from the arrival of the product that it might just dehumanise us. i.e desensitise us and also make us less social in terms of connecting with people in real life for instance. Its is also very pricey within its thousand pound ranges and it is rumoured that more competition is on its way from Microsoft and apple, which will bring the price down.

• Why in turn is Twitter good for respected news brands?

This is because trust is created from the consumers and well known brands being on social media means they have instant access. Therefore in order for consumers to get this immediacy they would need to have a social media site to meet the needs f the consumers quicker making them more convenient. Therefore it allows newspapers as a result the audiences have a wider variety of analysis and opinion, giving a balanced and diverse view on a issue, allowing the community to be connected. Twitter, meanwhile, offers instant access to the ever-changing news landscape, the diversity and balance to open up their users to a variety of newsbrands and journalists, and a means of connecting with the newsbrands and their content that could never have happened in the pre-Twitter landscape.

• The report suggests that old and new media “are not, in fact, in direct competition, but often work extremely well together to enhance both the media eco-system and the consumer experience”. What evidence do they provide to support this idea? Do you agree with it?

Together, Twitter and newsbrands can address the needs states and expectations of the demanding news audience far better than individually. When the three connected elements of the newsbrand eco system work to get the best out of the unique platform that Twitter provides, there is a synergy that really does create a whole that is stronger than the sum of its parts. Newsbrands bring trust, access to deeper analysis and expert opinion, as well as content and brand markers that can identify communities of like-minded people.

• On page 24/25 of the report, the focus turns to 'gossip' or 'banter'. What example tweets from journalists are used to illustrate this? 

                      - Dan Wootton @danwootton • Feb 20 Red carpet awks moment from last night as my                               microphone chord gets stuck to @KlassMyleene’s dress!

                       -I reveal the shocking truth behind Jennifer Aniston’s new hair

• Do you think the increasing amount of 'gossip' or 'banter' is harming the reputation of news and journalists?

Gossip and banter about celebrities, sports or political scandals are all part of the entertainment and are often turned to when news brand followers want to relax.this may frustrate the reader rather than humour them as these are 'click baits' rather then truthful stories, so this is a way of newspapers being greedy and looking for  ways to make money.some examples of 'click bait' (examples above).  

• What does the report say about trust in Twitter and journalists (look at pages 34-39)?

techno-panic is a moral panic that centres on fears regarding specific contemporary technology or technological activity.

• Finally, do you think new and digital media developments such as Twitter have had a positive or negative impact on traditional newspapers?

I don't agree with this as I think that MNC's already have so much media power and control over us that for us as consumers to be giving into the temptation of such a new gadget would just be wrong. Its a violation of our privacy and its a way of slyly finding out information that we all would rather chose to keep quite private.

LR: Essay

WWW: There is the structure here for a good essay but we need to seriously work on the clarity of your writing. Despite this, you’ve got some good examples, statistics and covered a variety of topics within new/digital media so plenty to build on here.

EBI: The key aspect holding you back is the lack of focus on the question – this means you can’t get out of level 2 (D grade or lower). Although you mention the wording from the question (‘production and consumption’) a couple of times, it really feels like an afterthought and doesn’t link to the majority of your points. Without that clear thread or argument running through the essay you will struggle to reach the higher grades.

• You need a proper introduction that answers the question broadly and introduces your case study. You seem to launch straight in and that adds to the feeling you’re never in full control of the essay.
• Linked to the previous points, your topic sentences need serious work. A topic sentence should be clear, simple, relate to the question and make the reader absolutely sure what the following paragraph will address. Not enough of your topic sentences do this. Did you plan the essay? I wonder if the lack of thread running through it is down to a lack of planning the argument? Just a thought.
• Finally, you are lacking quotes and media theory. With this particular essay written online with full access to your notes I am quite disappointed to only see a couple of quotes and very little theory. Much more required for the next assessment.
• Although you’ve got some good examples and statistics, where are your examples of citizen journalism? This feels like a missed opportunity – particularly as you don’t go on to discuss the potential benefits and drawbacks of citizen journalism in any detail.
• Marxism paragraph confused – it seems to suggest 20 years ago the mainstream media was left-wing? Not sure if that’s what you meant – or indeed if you can back that up.

LR: Publish this feedback on your blog. Then, write two new sections for this essay – a strong introduction answering the question from both sides and clearly introducing your News case study. Then, re-write the Marxism paragraph bringing in Gramsci’s Hegemony, a variety of examples (recent election?) and linking clearly to the question.

Learner Response:

The Developments of new/digital media has made audience more powerful as they are now actively producing their own content on the internet and therefore have more freedom. Online blogs, forums, global information and social networking sites has increased self-expression for the audience which establishes that they are active consumers and therefore are powerful.  Through the developments of new/digital media “the web has the power to show people’s different views” (Kroteski 2012). It could be suggested that the audience are no longer passive as they can now actively challenging to dominate ideologies through social media. Meanwhile the new and digital media doesn’t always lead to a positive views and values, it allows allot of young people to access things they shouldn’t see such as pornography or to get to attached to pop culture influencing them negatively, and according to the hypodermic needle theory new and digital media as a massive influence on society today.    

Marxist perspective would argue that audiences are not empowered through the development of new and digital media. As Marxists argue that mass media are a tool used by the ruling bodies/elite that reinforce this statement made by Gramsci who used the concept of hegemony to describe the dominance of one social class over another e.g. the ruling class. Furthermore, Chompsky's theory also stems from this hegemonic view as he talks about 'manufacturing consent ‘and the ruling class brainwashing people into believing that something is 'natural or common sense' (hypodermic needle model). In addition, the global village promoted dominant ideologies and some can argue that whether this is good or bad, focusing particularly on Americanisation and Western ideologies is new and and digital media becoming more diverse or re more cultures being subordinated by Americanisation. This links well with major media conglomerate such as Google with 50 billion revenues, Facebook with 5 billion and New Corporation with  33 billion. 

NDM: WEEK 13 (ii)

Sun apologises over misleading ‘Six days to terror’ story

The Sun has apologized for a story that asserted a correspondent had set out from Turkey to France without his passport, in the wake of conceding the data was manufactured. In a rectification on page 2, the daily paper said it had been "deceived" by previous marine and independent writer Emile Ghessen, who asserted he had figured out how to dodge all security checks amid a 2,000-mile venture along an outcast trail from Turkey into western Europe. In any case, Sun insiders said that, after the Croatian powers denied the record, with outputs of his visa to demonstrate it, Ghessen admitted that he had truth be told flown from Croatia to Paris keeping in mind the end goal to manage a "local injury" perhaps including his youngsters.

• ITV News has taken down a related online report about Ghessen’s travels, released before the Sun published, titled “Devon film-maker crosses European borders as Syrian refugee to prove how easy it is”.
• Ghessen’s YouTube channel, as well as Twitter account, has been taken offline since the controversy over the Sun story.
• “I apologise to all that were offended and I should have been more transparent with my work,” 
• When contacted by the Guardian, the Facebook user who posted the apology replied: “I can’t really talk due to legal stuff.”

In my opinion, this just comes to show the level of decline newspapers are facing for them to make-up fake headlines in order to attract readers. 

Globalisation and the media

1) Why was Google Glass controversial?
It was considered controversial due to is being accessible to anyone, and the class being used to do everything, therefore they had a techno panic thinking that this device would cause people to act like zombies, and utilise this product too much. Furthermore people consider it as controversial as that small item has access to everything about the individual, including what they get up to daily by recording it.

2) What are the positive elements to Globalisation that the article highlights?
It is more accessible therefore consumers can buy this product anywhere, also because its from a well known brands consumers can trust this products buying the product. The main advantage of gloalisation outlined in this article is because its from google producers would just buy it thinking it may have possitive effect, allowing this business to have more retained profit.

3) What are potential negatives to Globalisation?
Globalisation puts pressure on less established business, also for the google glasses it makes similar products harder to enter the market, as it would make it really hard for them to compete with a well established business such as google.

4) What is a techno-panic? How does it link to moral panics?
Techno panic is similar to moral panic but from a technology preservative. this is the belief that people are become more dependent on technology making consumers lazy. So it is an exaggerated thought that the technology is having a threat on the humanity expectations such as communicating with one another verbally rather than virtually.

5) What is your opinion on the privacy debate and major corporations being able to access large quantities of personal data?
I think this is due to peoples increase dependence on the internet, and the fact that every think is accessible and more convenient on the internet, therefore leading to more and more people going using more data. I would be surprised if the UK govt could insist a non-UK multinational comply with such a request - it would be outside of their jurisdiction. The only outcome I could see there would be for the multinational's product being banned for use in the UK. I think this would just make criminals smarter in passing their messages to each other.

NDM case study: Globalisation

1) Is our news influenced by American cultural imperialism? What examples can you think of?
I think that our news is influenced by the American cultural imperialism. This is because most content produced in the UK's news is mainly american based. For example, Obama is very popular in the UK as the news always produce facts about him, celebrities from the USA are shown on the news too and many more.

2) Has the increased globalisation of news improved the audience experience? How? Why?
I think that it has improved the audiences experiences as they are being able to access a variety of information, which could get out of control as they are seeing and hearing more than they should be. Globalisation allows you to get different views and opinions on situations etc. and this is up to you whether you want to believe if its true or not.

3) Has globalisation benefited or damaged major news institutions? How? Why?
I think that it has not benefited news institutions as there have been a variety of different views and opinions and other resources over the  internet which can cause institutions to go into a decline as the public will be using other sites.

Marxism & Pluralism: Alain de Botton on the news

Questions:

1) To what extent do you agree with Alain de Botton's views on the News?
I agree with Alain de Botton's view on the News to a certain extent because he makes a few valid points. The news is in fact the most powerful force out there and we only seem to concentrate on news that is put into some sort of disastrous imagery. The news "parachutes us to disastrous places" as we are familiar with the area around us. The news only shows us what they view as priorities and, in a way, has replaced the role of religion, as it guides people now. Recently, people feel helpless and manipulated by the news. Some news content is biased and due to the level o negativity thrown at us, people flee to the government and view them as a refuge. The news always sends a moral panic (Cohen).

2) How can you link Marxism and Hegemony to de Botton's criticisms of the News?
A marxist would agree with Botton's point about false role models and how it creates envy in people and overall just adds to the negativity and misguidance that the media enforces. With news stories of people becoming successful in a certain field, it's really only a happy story for that person, whilst it leaves audiences with no life lesson from these "role models" and just more upset at how their lives aren't as successful.

3) How could you use Pluralism and new technology to challenge de Botton's views on the News?
A pluralist perspective would actually argue that the advancements in technology have greatly improved and we are now able to easily access our own choice of news as well as produce news as well. With new and digital technology, we have options of doing this anonymously which ultimately means that we , to some extent, are protected from the repercussions of voicing alternative ideologies while still challenging the 'norms' that the elite has imposed upon us.

4) Choose two news stories from the last six months - one that supports de Botton's views and one that challenges his belief that the News is used for social control. 
Challenges: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/30/sun-website-to-scrap-paywall- sun scrapping the paywall challenges de Botton's view because it is beneficial to the audience who seems to hold the power over the news.
Supports: http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2015/mar/04/the-most-important-article-youll-ever-read - this article is about how to determine which articles are important to write about, this supports de Botton as he also goes on about how some stories are presented as more important due to what is popular. this article looks at how to determine the importance.

NDM Week 12 (ii)

MPs demand meeting with Sun editor over Muslim survey story

MPs have requested a meeting with the manager of the Sun daily paper for affirming a front-page story that dishonestly asserted one in five British Muslims had sensitivity for the individuals who have left to battle for Islamic State in Syria. The 10 MPs said in a letter to the Sun on Thursday: "We are keeping in touch with solicitation a meeting with you in regards to your late story '1 in 5 Brit Muslims' sensitivity for jihadists' from Monday 23 November." Shabana Mahmood, Labor MP for Birmingham Ladywood, drove the Labor backbench require a clarification from Tony Gallagher, the tabloid's proofreader. The MPs said they were concerned in regards to the effect "imperfect" and "deceiving" stories have in stirring scorn violations.

• “Figures this week show that in one week since the barbaric Paris attacks hate crimes against Muslims have increased by 300% in the UK,” 
• this week there had been an “alarming increase” in attacks on British Muslims.
• Mahmood pointing out: “This data suggests that the views of Muslims and non-Muslims are not that different.” 
• database of 42m profiles against a list of what it described as “1,500 Muslim surnames”.
• However, the Sun defended its reporting. “People are angry because we dared to tell the truth. Bizarre, no?” 

NDM Week 12 (i)

#1in5Muslims: Twitter mocks Sun front page with 'facts' about Muslims

After the Sun distributed a front page guaranteeing one in five British Muslims had "sensitivity for jihadis", the tabloid has been hit with feedback about its surveying techniques and a record number of Ipso protests. Twitter clients, be that as it may, took an alternate tack. Utilizing the hashtag #1in5Muslims, some highly required cleverness was included as individuals tweeted their own particular made up and silly certainties about Muslims. They ran from cut of life silliness:

• #1in5Muslims use 'Inshallah' to politely avoid committing to any plan. (And it works.) "Wanna get coffee sometime?" "Sure, yeah, inshallah."
• #1in5Muslims are lucky enough not to have a red squiggly line under their name in Microsoft Word
• #1in5Muslims have accidentally munched on a packet of gelatine haribos
• #1in5muslims look like Zayn Malik, according to their mums.
• #1in5Muslims think Netflix and chill means Netflix and chill.

In my opinion, the hashtag was a fun approach to show Muslims meeting up to set the record straight additionally to demonstrate the cheerful and fun in approach to ignore such crazy cases. The message was clear - you attempt to sensationalize and trash a group then individuals force will ascend and put some rumors to rest." The Sun's survey, directed by Survation, has drawn examination from a few sources, with a few surveyors saying the inquiry did not make it clear whom "warriors in Syria" alluded to.