week 12: story 24

https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/dec/01/metro-climbs-to-second-place-in-the-circulation-league
Metro climbs to second place in the circulation league

For the first time in ages we see some potentially 'positive' news coming from the circulation of Newspapers. The metro has risen in circulation and has passed the daily mail and is now catching the Sun. 

Despite Metro’s 9% fall in revenues and 12% drop in profits, as reported today by its owner, DMG Media, its £15m profit looks rather healthy compared to many a national title. Advertising, as we all know, has fallen off a cliff this year.

If any newspaper were to rise in circulation in the times where newspaper sales are in decline it would be the metro because you can't go on public transport and not see someone reading it. In my personal opinion, the only time i ever see someone reading a newspaper is either on the bus or train and 9 times out of 10 it is the metro so it's no surprise it has had to increase it's circulation to pick up the demand left out by those who are unable to meet it.

week 12: story 23

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/26/new-zealand-media-merger-risks-growth-of-glib-click-bait-coverage-say-editors

New Zealand media merger risks growth of 'glib, click-bait' coverage, say editors

This article looks at the potential aquisition that two of New Zealands largest media companies are going to partake in. The equivilent to the UK's CMA (competition and markets authority- a regulartory body set up to to deal with collusion in Industry) the commerce commision are against the merger and have the authoirity to stop it from happening because it would significantly affect New Zealands news environment and it could put consumers ay a disadvantage.


The two largest News organisations in New Zealand (NZME and Fairfax Media) are deciding to merge together to rise up against lower advertising revenues and falling newspaper sales. This would indefinitely give them much more control which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because in a time where the internet is rife with click bait stories and hoaxes it may be beneficial for an audience to start consuming acceptable news. This can be linked to Gramsci’s theory on hegemony as in this case a large media organisation is in control and therefore can influence other classes and groups and especially in the age of the digital revolution where people don’t know what news to trust they may start going back to traditional media platforms like Broadcast and when they do they may accept the values and ideologies as common sense once mor

week 11: story 22

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/24/daily-mail-jailing-jo-coxs-murderer-front-page

Why didn't the Daily Mail put the jailing of Jo Cox's murderer on its front page?

This article, which is from the Guardian (an important point to make) is about how the Daily mail was one of two large newspapers in the UK to NOT post a piece about Jo Cox's  murderer on its front page the day he was sentenced. Even some newspapers did include a small picture even if it wasn't there main headline.

We can link this to news values. This case here is an interesting one because the gatekeepers of the Daily Mail would've had to of considered it and it was evidently dismissed as 'unimportant' because the story first appeared on page 30 of the newspaper. I personally don't see why it wasn't posted sooner because not only was the person who died and arrested British, it was recent and it was shocking news because no other politician has been killed in quite some time, and it makes you wonder whats going on at the daily mail.

week 11: story 21

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/29/putin-china-internet-great-firewall-russia-cybersecurity-pact

Putin brings China's Great Firewall to Russia in cybersecurity pact

This article from the Guardian looks at how Russia are not following China's initiative of putting up a 'firewall' to block and restrict certain material found online which the state deems unnecessary or problematic. Russia are looking at calling it the red web and says its doing it in attempt to stop cyber crime. The state of Russia is driving the offensive against internet freedoms and they want China's help because they do not possess the technology to deal with this alone because of sanctions from the west.

In my opinion. this is not a good thing in terms of peoples privacy and there freedom of what they do online, neither is it a good thing for countries like America and the EU as they are the ones who tried to stop this happening as it went against there own interests. With Russia and China forming this partnership it will worry the west. Russia also decided to start recording and keeping data for 6 months after usage, this is not so similar to what the UK did when they decided to record and store all Internet hits for at least a year for 'security' but does this mean were not so different from Russia?

Marxism & Pluralism - homework essay

The development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view. 

This essay will explore the ways of how new and digital media empowers an audience in terms of what they consume and how they now create media products. More recently then ever has the media ever seen changes quite so dramatic. The Internet has now caught on and as a result pushed out older traditional media platforms like the print platform into decline. This 'new' platform has given audiences more power in terms of what they choose to consume and produce.

A Pluralist perspective may argue that; in terms of News consumption the E-media platform has been a significant help in giving a chance to all of the start-up and 'cottage Industries' who want to produce news content. The internet and more specifically social media (Facebook, Instagram) can be described as the "Technological blossoming of the culture of freedom, individual innovation and entrepreneurialism" (Castells, 1996) because for an audience it not only gives them far more sources of news to choose from, which is in favour of pluralism as  Pluralist's see society as consisting of competing groups and interests, none of them predominant all of the time; but it also gives them a platform which is largely out of state control so they can report and talk about news stories uninterrupted. However this may be an issue in some states where the Government in control has more of a Marxist view and restricts access to views which go against their own ideologies, for example Russia and China have now both gone into agreements about cohesively expanding there firewalls to restrict and monitor content over the Internet. This of course is a Marxist view and clearly shows the view of a capitalist society as being one of class domination. Going back to look at how audiences consume media, in particular; where they view there News on the Internet as looking at the OFCOM report of national viewing statistics it stated that around 43% of people who use the Internet for their News use social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Facebook and Twitter are both sites which many established news organisations use to present their news but it is also a platform for citizen journalists who write what they see and this is why social media has such high user traffic because audiences can trust this and not accept the norms of a dominant culture which is what they might get when following larger news organisations.

A Marxist perspective would argue that the so-called “information revolution” has done little to benefit audiences or to subvert the established power structures in society. Far from being a “great leveller” (Krotoski, 2012) as many have claimed, it has merely helped to reinforce the status quo by promoting dominant ideologies. The most popular news website in the UK by a considerable margin is the ‘Mail Online’, which receives more than 8 million hits every month and is continuing to expand rapidly – with forecasts that it will make £100 million or more in digital revenues in the next three years. Similar to its tabloid print edition, the website takes a Conservative, right-wing perspective on key issues around gender, sexuality and race and audiences appear to passively accept what the Marxist theorist, Gramsci, called a hegemonic view. When one of their chief columnists, Jan Moir, wrote a homophobic article about the death of Stephen Gately in 2009 there were Twitter and Facebook protests but, ultimately, they did not change the editorial direction of the gatekeepers controlling the newspaper.

On the other hand, a Pluralist’s perspective would say that no one class can be deemed better than another and that the state does not control and force it’s values on the masses. In fact, the theorist Gurevitch stated that ‘audiences are seen as capable of manipulating the media in an infinite of ways according to their prior needs and dispositions and as having access to what Halloran calls ‘the plural values of society’ enabling them to conform, accommodate, challenge or reject.” This reinforces the idea that audiences have the power to interpret and produce media content in the way in which it conforms to their own values and ideologies and they don’t just accept news as common sense; which is what Antonio Gramsci proposed with his theory of hegemony. Audiences can choose to view news in terms of what they feel they believe in, for example the uses and gratifications theory suggests that Audiences actively seek out different things from media content, for example ‘surveillance’ where people choose to view the media to reassure there security. Developments in New and digital media has given audiences the means to create media content, for example apps that are owned by mass media conglomerates and start-up companies give people to ability to upload and share content to news sites around the world. This leads on to the argument about the great citizen journalist. You cannot be more empowered as an audience member if you have the opportunity to have your own content put across world or national news. The first major example of citizen journalism was the Rodney King case in America where an unarmed Black man was beaten by Police. The thing that made this case really stand out was that it was captured on tape and given to a news organisation. This led to outrage and the start of the LA riots. This empowered audiences so much more because of the impact it had on society, it also acted as a gateway to other people, who sometimes risked their safety to record footage which usually governments didn’t want people to see.

However, a Marxist perspective would argue that even though Audiences are now to an extent ‘empowered’ by developments in new and digital media that the control still lies with in the top organisations. This can be backed up with Pareto’s law and it states “A minority of (media) producers always serve a majority of consumers”. This means that although it may seem as though the audience can be selective over where they choose to view their news , ultimately they are being shown a piece that has been passed down from one organisation. Lin and Webster once stated “Top 5% of all websites accounted for almost 75% of user volume”, this is evident in the fact that companies like Facebook are buying up other news sharing and producing sites like Instagram (a social media app) which could be said ‘gives them an advantage’ and some pluralists may see this them removing the competition at the risk of exceeding the concentration of power. Another example of this is the two largest News organisations in New Zealand (NZME and Fairfax Media) are deciding to merge together to rise up against lower advertising revenues and falling newspaper sales. This would indefinitely give them much more control which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because in a time where the internet is rife with click bait stories and hoaxes it may be beneficial for an audience to start consuming acceptable news. This can be linked to Gramsci’s theory on hegemony as in this case a large media organisation is in control and therefore can influence other classes and groups and especially in the age of the digital revolution where people don’t know what news to trust they may start going back to traditional media platforms like Broadcast and when they do they may accept the values and ideologies as common sense once more.  

 In conclusion, I do believe that to a marginal extent, Institutions and governments still have more control over audiences and they are not as empowered as they are led to believe. This however, would not have been the case 20-30 years ago as the extent to which Institutions were in control was not ‘marginal’ but it was to a rather large extent. Therefore it is true to say that developments in new and digital media has definitely made audiences more powerful in terms of consuming  and producing media but ultimately the large media organisations and state controlled media still holds the majority of power.

Marxism & Pluralism: Alain de Botton on the news

1) To what extent do you agree with Alain de Botton's views on the News?

I agree with most of what he's saying, especially the part where he says that there is a plethora of news and that the same stuff keeps being circulated round and round and that we as an audience must recognize this. I also agreed about how with new and digital media that hierarchical structures in newspapers were being broken down, for example on front pages of newspapers and online news sites celebrity news and gossip can make headlines and maybe more political and 'important stuff' is placed further back.   
2) How can you link Marxism and Hegemony to de Botton's criticisms of the News?

In the speech he talked about how economic news is very important but then he linked it to Marxism soon after. But this wasn't his only criticism on the news. Marxism and Hegemony suggests that there is one ruling class over other groups and that the mass media is a way of communicating there dominant ideologies in favor of the ruling class which is usually socialist and capitalist views. They do this to appeal to another dominant class to avoid rebelling against them. The use of the mass media helps spread there views to be accepted as a 'norm', for example Patriotism and Gramsci mentioned the compulsory school system.



3) How could you use Pluralism and new technology to challenge de Botton's views on the News?

De Botton sees the News as a Monolith and something that isn't interested in change or interested in the people. However Pluralism and the new technology change that statement. This is because ndm can change the power audiences and institutions have resulting in Institution mainly having to change the way they deliver news, for example being biased to cater one particular group or being balanced like the BBC and exploring both arguments.


4) Choose two news stories from the last six months - one that supportsde Botton's views and one that challenges his belief that the News is used for social control. 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/prince-england-rugby-team-lead-9247994  This link challenges his belief that the news is used for social control, the article is about The royal family and the English rugby team lead remembrance ceremonies.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/20/indian-train-derailment-kills-dozens-and-injures-over-100  supports de Botton's views

NDM work Index

#1  Institution: the impact of Google on the newspaper industry 
#2 Ofcom report: how news consumption has changed
#3 The future of newspapers: Build The Wall analysis/future of newspapers 
#4 The decline of newspapers: the effect of online technology
#5 The future of journalism: John Oliver and Clay Shirky
#6 The decline of newspapers: Media Magazine case studies
#7 Citizen journalism and hyper-reality: Media Magazine article and questions/ Hyper-reality and the digital renaissance
#8 News Values: theory and updating them for digital media landcape
#9 Marxism & Pluralism: Media Magazine article and questions
#10 Alain de Botton on the News: lecture and questions

week 10: story 20

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/31/politics-digital-technology-brexit-donald-trump

Politics has gone wrong. Is digital technology to blame?

The article is pre-US elections so the author talks about how unlikely it would be that Donald Trump would become president (little did he know). But still it is a relevant argument as it talks about Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn.  Here is a quote from the article about new and digital media "Digital technologies make it far easier than it has ever been to find out what people want – their likes and dislikes "  this shows how audiences could take it for granted and not think to much about what they see and where they see news for example on the internet.

In my opinion i do think the Internet is very influential for younger people in comparison to people in the older age demographics as they didn't grow up with the Internet being there main source of news. Therefore younger people trust it more and they may believe more of the stuff they find on the Internet then say 40 year old and above would. This can also apply to people in different socio-economic groups, for example people in the ABC1 category would be more inclined to trust the traditional news platforms more, for example newspapers and TV, because they've been fact checked more. People in C2DE groups may be more prone to view there news on social media and this is a problem because that is probably the biggest group full of people with different views and values who interpret what they see on the internet either or real or fake in different ways.

week 10: story 19

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/16/bbc-world-service-to-broadcast-news-programmes-in-north-korea

BBC World Service to broadcast news programmes in North Korea

This article looks at how and when the BBC propose to expand it's broadcasting service, they plan to double there audience and expand there languages it broadcasts in, including Korean. They want to be able to reach over 500 million people by 2022, which would be its 100th anniversary.

This could mean a lot for the people of the UK because this could be quite costly we wonder what the BBC will intend to do in order to be able to broadcast there service to more of the world. This raises concerns over whether they will raise the price of the TV license or scrap it all together and choose to get funding from advertising, however now may not be the best time as advertising revenues are falling year on year especially on TV. New and digital media has helped do this, which is a good thing because now people all around the world no matter what leadership style governs them can potentially have access to other news with different views and opinion over subject matter.

week 9: story 18

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/02/18/mobile-giant-three-to-block-online-advertising/

Mobile giant Three to block online advertising

Although this happened earlier this year, this problem does affect the whole industry as other companies have followed on from what 3 proposed. They proposed to block online advertising on there network. The Chinese owners first put this forward and it was evaluated by the board and they decided to go through with it.

Of course this is not good for the advertising industry online, however this may just end up pushing these advertisers back to traditional methods like advertising in newspapers and on billboards, although this sounds updated it will be much cheaper then paying for hundreds of online adverts over various sites which may end up not being seen by anyone because they're being blocked by 3 and other ad blocking sites. 

week 9: story 17

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/17/fake-news-google-funding-fact-checking-us-election 

Fake news clampdown: Google gives £150,000 to fact-checking projects

This article further explains how Google plans to invest the money they proposed a few weeks ago. This plan is to invest in UK companies that are trying to tackle how journalists can tell if a piece of news is 'fake'. They propose to invest around £1500000 in 3 UK businesses to help them create a fact checking tool so they don't make mistakes.

I believe this is a good thing for the industry because even recently iv'e been seeing a lot more fake news circulating around, especially during the US elections i was fooled by a piece myself. It happens to a lot of people now and it is quite hard to differentiate between whats real and what isn't because were not really given a reason to suggest that a piece of news is fake if it comes from a source. Therefore, having professional institutions do the fact checking means we may be more likely to trust it more, however we may never be able to fully trust the news we find circulating around on social media as there aren't many procedures around to stop people from posting fake news stories. The problems with social media sites like Twitter is that if people start re-tweeting and liking a post it will no doubt catch on and when it does it can spread around everywhere and if the news is fake then it can impact many people. 

NDM: Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony

1) Research the Ian Tomlinson case. What would the traditional, hegemonic view of the police be in a case like this? How did new and digital media create a different story? What does the police officer's subsequent acquittal suggest about the power of new and digital media?




The Ian Tomlinson case was about an unarmed and innocent passerby who was struck in the back by a police officer on duty during the G20 summit. Ian Tomlinson subsequently died as a result of his injuries. The first stories arising about this was that he had died from natural causes, but later video footage emerged to show a police officer hit and push him to the ground. Traditional hegemonic views that have been presented by the media over a period of time in the UK that the police force is a force of good and that it is there to protect us. However, new and digital media has meant that things can now be challenged and that dominant hegemonic ideologies are not immune from scrutiny, as video footage which showed what "really" happened unpinned those moral and ethical values that the media portrays the Police to be.



2) What does the author argue regarding whether hegemony is being challenged by Web 2.0?


Traditional media, like Newspapers and billboard advertisements were used to reinforce an ideology from a group in power, but from what i understand, hegemony is a theory which states that audiences are conscious in there decisions to follow these views and to not challenge them. However, new and digital media is challenging this as it gives audiences the choice to challenge and to actively participate in talking out against the values that have been passed on. For example, I read about how the BBC portrayed the British royal family as a group of people to look up to and that they represented everything "British", these values are still around today, they are hegemonic views because we have accepted it as a society and choose to believe it, NDM has not made a significant difference in challenging this dominant ideology.



3) In your opinion, does new and digital media reinforce dominant hegemonic views or give the audience a platform to challenge them?


New and digital media can both reinforce dominant hegemonic views but it can also give the audience a platform to challenge them. New and digital media has given us a new medium to spread our views and values. Social media has given anyone the opportunity to spread whatever they please, whether this be people who still wish to reinforce dominant hegemonic views or those who wish to challenge them. That's not to say that reinforcing dominant hegemonic views is a bad thing some of them are good and are what we base some of our moral and ethical values on but now we know that we don't have to accept them as common and normal anymore because of new and digital media.





4) Do recent world events such as Brexit or Donald Trump's election in the US suggest dominant hegemonic ideologies are being challenged or reinforced? There are arguments for both sides here - explain your opinion and why.


Trump being elected does prove that anything can happen. Some may say that the media probably helped him win, just like the Sun in this country when they published the headline "It's the Sun what won it", the media does have a strong influence but they don't always reinforce dominant hegemonic views. Trump is an example of such, because the values that we have been taught leads to think that what a president looks like is a man like Bill Clinton. Many people voted for Trump because they wanted something "new" and "different", New and digital media is probably the main reason people want something different because it enables the audience to challenge dominant hegemonic ideologies.

NDM: News Values

1. Come up with a news story from the last 12 months for each of the categories suggested by Harriss, Leiter and Johnson:

• Conflict

Syrian war

• Progress

Donald Trump being voted Republican presidential candidate 

• Disaster

Italian earthquake

• Consequence

Brexit vote on UK's economy

• Prominence 

Prince dying

• Novelty

Harambe 

1. What example news story does the Factsheet use to illustrate Galtung and Ruge's News Values? Why is it an appropriate example of a news story likely to gain prominent coverage?

They used the story where the first female British service person was killed in action in Afghanistan. This made the news because it was unusual to see a female being killed and also because she was British, there for the story would've gained cultural proximity as the British people would have seen this as more relevant to them than if a French soldier was killed in action,

1. What is gatekeeping?

Gatekeeping is job performed by the editors and journalists of a news organisation. They put news stories and pictures/videos of a process to determine what is and isn't news worthy. They don't do this based on there opinion. It must meet a criteria that lists certain news values, for example immediacy may be one for a lot of news organisations as people don't want to see old news.

1. What are the six ways bias can be created in news?

The six ways bias can be created in news are:

• Bias through selection and omission, when selecting or editing a story the editor can be bias by choosing whether or not to use a specific story and what bits are shown of the story as this could paint another picture if things are left out.
• Bias through placement, so where a story is placed online or in a news paper usually shows it's significance and if an important story is placed in the middle or towards the back then they maybe less appealing because people are accustomed to finding the most important stories at the front of the site/paper.
• Bias by headline, the Headlines are one of the first things that someone reads on a newspaper, however headlines can be misleading, convey excitement and express approval/disapproval.
• Bias by photos,captions and camera angles, the way a picture is taken or the way a video is shot can make a person look better and show them in a different way, either positively or negatively.
• Bias through use of names and titles, different names and labels can be given to people to make them appear different in other peoples perspectives, for example 'Terrorist' can also be labelled as a 'freedom fighter'. 
• Bias by choice of words, people can be influenced by the use of positive or negative words which carry with them certain connotations.

1. How have online sources such as Twitter, bloggers or Wikileaks changed the way news is selected and published?

To give an example, Wikileaks has become the supplier of the news 'market' and its up to the news organisations to differentiate themselves by filtering the news stories they find from Wikileaks and blogs/Twitter by adding their own news values.

1. Give an example of a news story from the last 12 months that was reported as a result of online technology - Twitter, Wikileaks or similar.

The Paris attacks were largely talked about on Twitter

Hillary Clinton's private email server was leaked to Wikileaks

1. Complete the task on the last page of the Factsheet regarding Sky News and Twitter:

• What does this reveal about how Sky views Twitter as a news source?

They're saying that Twitter has become a place where news breaks first and that is where people come to voice their opinion and share events first instead of calling up a news organisation and reporting it to them.

• What does it say about how news is being produced?

News is being produced by the people. User generated content (UGC) is becoming much more prominent and normal/ordinary Citizen journalist are more then capable of reporting news.

• What role does the audience have in this process?

The audience plays the role of editor now as they have the medium available in-order to publish what they find and voice there own opinion. Audiences are definitely more empowered. 

• Why might this be a problem for journalistic standards?

If Audiences have the tools to publish there own content for other people to see and make judgement on, there will most likely be a reduction in professional jobs available in journalism because they are not needed.



9) In your opinion, how has new and digital media technology changed Galtung and Ruge’s news values? 

It hasn't made any significant differences as of yet, however some of the more noticeable changes are how much more relevant some of the values have become, for example Amplitude is a much larger factor as near enough everyone has access to a newspaper, TV and or the internet. Also immediacy has changed slightly, we already had 24 hour news but now we have live feeds online that are also updated 24/7 so yes new and digital media is having a positive impact on Galtung and Ruge's news values.


10) How would you update them for 2016? Choose SIX of Galtung and Ruge's news values and say how each one has been affected by the growth of new and digital technology.


Unambiguity- We can link this with what we've been learning recently as some audiences may see or not see citizen journalism as clear and definite. Citizen journalism is only around now because of new and digital media as near enough anyone with a phone can video an event and upload it.

Elite nations and people- Because just about anyone can start there own blog or develop and app and upload there own news we have been introduced to celebrity news. News and gossip which is all about them in there everyday lives.

Continuity- News isn't always defined as news anymore as there are so many sources that claim different things, and this is a problem that new and digital media has caused with introducing the likes of twitter which has caused numerous hoaxes, news no twitter does not go through the same process of that which is seen in newspapers or on TV.

Frequency- News is now available 24 hours a day on television and online. There are now also live feeds which constantly update stories and upload pictures and videos. Also the volume of news has increased as a lot more people can create content (UGC) with the introduction of new and digital media.

Predictability- News is now more unpredictable as people can see stories from all around the world.  NDM can create new trends which people never knew would happen, for example when the media reported on the shooting of Harambe the gorilla, tags and memes were made about him.

Balance- News is a lot more balanced because of the audiences they get are able to form their own opinions on the matter and therefore to not appear badly in the public eye, News must be balanced so as to no upset the wrong group of people,

Hyper-reality and the digital renaissance

1) Read the article from Media Magazine: Hyper-reality and the digital renaissance (Dec 2009). Use our Media Magazine archive, click on MM30 and go to page 59.

2) Create a new blogpost called 'Hyper-reality and the digital renaissance' and make notes from the article under the following headings: 

• examples

The invention of the telephone led to the creations of VOIP's like Skype, which form different simulations of reality like dinner parties.

Movies, in particular silent movies 

The Internet with all its social networks 

• theories 

Jean Baudrillard's simulation/simulacra 

• positive aspects of new technology (or 'digital renaissance' 

enhanced communication 

audience empowerment - UGC

escape from reality

• negative aspects of new technology on audiences and society

very different from reality

fantasy- people are unable to differentiate 

less communication- people become unsociable 

 

• wider issues and debates 

New media technology like social networks contribute negatively by being a medium to which bullying can happen

Skype and other social networks are unmediated, meaning anything can be said on them which may go against someone else's beliefs. 

3) The article was written in 2009. Offer three examples of more recent social networking sites or uses of technology that support the idea of a 'digital renaissance'.

Instagram, with the large picture and video sharing site offers people to like rate and comment on peoples content from around the world

Snapchat- offers short videos and pictures that are available for a set amount of time, have changed social trends among young people countless times

Twitter- acts like another news station and has changed the way breaking news comes around, stories can appear on twitter long before they appear on any news channel, however it does raise the concern  over the authenticity of the news as there have been a lot of hoaxes.

4) How do live streaming services such as Periscope or Facebook Live fit into the idea of a 'digital renaissance'? Are these a force for good or simply a further blurring of reality?

I do think anything that is filmed live and spontaneously does reflect some aspect of reality and it can be very helpful in helping less powerful people beat the system rightfully.
5) How can we link the 'digital renaissance' to our case study on news? Is citizen journalism a further example of hyper-reality or is it actually making news more accurate and closer to real life?

I do think that citizen journalism is making news more accurate and closer to real life, however by sending it to another media organisation could still distort the truth through editing and other gimmicks. 

NDM News: Citizen journalism and hyper-reality

• examples

Rodney King and the four police officers, the footage sparked the LA riots which caused over billion dollars worth of damage.

The Indian ocean tsunami was largely filmed by citizen journalists/accidental journalists.

The London 7/7 bombings 

Mumbai bombings

Hudson river plane crash

• theory (audience reception etc.) 

Audience effects theories- Hypodermic needle model, Audiences are being fed mediated news stories it could make it hard for them to differentiate it from reality
User Generated content (UGC)- Audiences can now create there own content and share it to make something original or contribute towards something

• benefits to institutions 

Saving money on full time staff

providing a more realistic service for its viewers - using UGC

• benefits to audience

May have an unmediated News source for them 

audience empowerment 

• wider issues and debates 

Representations of Police in the media 

How mediated the news is and how this effects audiences 

• SHEP

Social -
Historical-
Economical-
Political-

3) What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?

A citizen journalist or accidental journalist is seen as an ordinary person who captures events a they are happening through the use of technology, for example smart phones or cameras. The events they capture are supposedly real and uncut and not mediated. 

4) What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?

One of the first cases was in America where a local resident happened to see something going on outside and decided to film it on his new video camera, this was filmed in the early 90's so modern technology like phones weren't really around then. What this person filmed was the police unlawfully beating a man who had taken them on a car chase across LA. Even though what he did was wrong the Police for one of the first times had been seen to exert too much of there power on a defenseless person. 



5) List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.

Comment sections

6) What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?

Professionally shot footage is usually staged and planned, so a date is set and a camera crew is gathered and a script is wrote, whilst footage taken first hand is almost completely spontaneous and some may say it isn't as greater quality as professionals as it is not always filmed by experts. But some do prefer first hand footage as it appears more real.

7) What is a gatekeeper?

A Gatekeeper is someone who controls access to something or somewhere. In terms of the news a Gatekeeper would be someone who selects stories sent in from people based on its organisations criteria and values,

8) How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?

We get an example from the Article to show how this has changed and this is from an editor of a news site who said they have to go through hundreds on pictures of kittens. There is also a way around gate keeping now as audiences who now have the means to publish what they like on blogs and forums (because of NDM) don't have to be told what they can and can't post, to a certain extent.

9) What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?

UGC are threatening journalists jobs, as people are seeing UGC as a better representation of whats happening in the real world although some may see the UGC as un-trustworthy because it doesn't come from a large news organisation but some see it as the opposite. 


10) Offer your own opinion (critical autonomy) on the following:

What impact is new/digital media having on:

• news stories

Possibly the amount of news stories we see may increase, especially online as UGC may take over and be most of the main content and because of this peoples proffesional jobs may be in danger as there is no need for them go out and investigate the news when people are already doing it for free.

• the news agenda (the choice of stories that make up the news)

There maybe an increase in choice as people from different parts of the country and world will be able to give their own opinion on an event and there are more people in the world with access to the technology which allows them to capture news worthy events.

• the role of professionals in news

Certainly the number of roles will be in danger as there is no need for an excessive amount of journalists and news organisations won't need as many camera personnel or reporters because they can just as easily get people to send in there own content for free, even if the quality is poorer, people may trust it more.

week 8 :story 16

https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/how-google-s-digital-news-initiative-is-evolving/s2/a663065/

How Google's Digital News Initiative is evolving

This article documents how Google is promoting digital news across Europe by heavily investing in hundreds of projects that attempt to focus journalists on creating news to go online. They have put forward almost £130 million to invest. They also say that Google will not own any of the content which will be created as a result of their investment. They will also not ask the grantees to promote google in anyway, so it looks like Google are doing this out of their own free will because they really want to help journalism prevail.

I think that this is a good thing, especially for a company like Google to do as they are some-what responsible for the decline in the newspaper industry which affected a lot of journalist because they were made redundant to save the companies costs. More should be done like this to promote journalism and i do think other large Internet companies may follow suit because it does seem like the right thing to do, do kick start the industry again and hopefully encourage more people to go into a career in journalism because they know there is jobs out there for them.  

week 8;story 15

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/sam-allardyce-sting-is-the-latest-chapter-in-a-new-era-of-investigative-reporting-a7335666.html

Sam Allardyce ‘sting’ is the latest chapter in a new era of investigative reporting

This article from the Independent looks at the whole ordeal with the ex England Manager Sam Allardyce. It looks more at whether it was ethical or not to use hidden cameras to uncover the truth and if its justifiable and in the public interest. Allardyce was caught but he wasn't doing anything illegal, however because the news was reporting on this ha had no choice but to resign from his position because of the power and attention the story had generated.

In my opinion i think that investigative journalism has to be done within boundaries, even if it does uncover horrible truths and corruption. If they have the freedom to investigate anyone at there own free will it could get personal and invade peoples privacy,but i do think it is an important part of society that we have mostly ungoverned bodies finding out the truth.