Unit 3 Exam

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11565310/Police-investigate-construction-firm-after-complaints-from-passer-by-over-wolf-whistling.html

A building firm was investigated by police after a young woman complained about “lecherous” men wolf-whistling at her in the street. Poppy Smart, 23, said she was upset and humiliated by the builders’ behaviour and the “disrespectful comments” she endured every morning for a month as she walked past a construction site on her way to work. It is believed to be the first time police have ever investigated wolf whistling as a potential crime. Miss Smart, a digital marketing coordinator, secretly filmed the men whistling at her one morning after getting exasperated by their behaviour, which she said was akin to racism. She handed the video to police, warning that such taunts were “the tip of the iceberg” and indicative of a much wider problem. "People say it is only wolf-whistling but women shouldn't have to deal with it,” she said. "I think more women should speak out about this behaviour maybe it will make people think twice. "Imagine hearing someone speaking that way to your sister, mother, wife or daughter."

Sexism is still an ongoing problem in society. However, I believe with the help of campaigns to raise awareness for sexism such as Laura Bate's Everyday Sexism Project, less people will face sexism. Although, this is unlikely to eliminate sexism as a whole, but the aim is to reduce it so less people feel unsafe or uncomfortable walking past people of the opposite sex.

NDM Story #57 Ed Miliband’s Russell Brand interview is no joke for the Sun, Mail and Star

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/apr/29/ed-miliband-russell-brand-interview-sun-mail

The rightwing press is splashing on Ed Miliband, but it’s only because of his meeting with Russell Brand. After Tuesday’s front page on ‘White Van Dan’ Ware’s support for David Cameron, the Sun heads into full attack mode on Labour. Headlined “Monster Raving Labour Party”, its splash focuses on the Labour leader’s online interview with the comic. It claims Miliband was “ridiculed” over his “desperate attempts to cosy up to loony leftie Russell Brand”. It continues: “The Labour leader was accused of putting on a ‘mockney’ accent when interviewed at the anti-capitalist comedian’s £2m London home.” On pages 4 and 5, the paper unveils the “six Edded beast”, with an image of a hydra-style creature with the heads of Miliband, Brand, Gerry Adams, Nicola Sturgeon and Len McCluskey. It claims Miliband has added Brand to “his band of far-left allies in his desperate bid to become PM”.

Coming up to the elections, certain newspapers are doing what they can in order to influence audiences to vote for their party. They are therefore trying to make Ed Miliband look bad.

Section B practise

Most of the traditional media's attempts to compete with new and digital media have been too little and too late. Does your case study support this view? (48 marks)

Most of the traditional media's attempts to compete with new and digital media have been too late due to the fast moving technological society we live in. My case study is News, along with my independent case study of political activism and The Everyday Sexism Project in particular.

During the late 1990's, the internet was first introduced. Newspaper's therefore decided to put their content online for audiences to access as it helped reach a larger audience. Although newspaper institutions were able to conveniently reach audiences as they could access the news through their computer at home, they were also able to do so for free. This therefore encouraged the decline of traditional print news as the public were more likely to access news at home as oppose to going out their way to buy a traditional print newspaper which they would usually have to pay for.

In addition, some newspaper institutions often use Paywalls as a way of making profits such as The Sun and The Times. These newspapers often charge customers a subscription fee to have access to their online news content. However, it can be argued that they are too late in this as other newspaper institutions such as the BBC offer similar news for free. Audiences therefore have an alternative of using free news sites instead of paying.

Moreover, traditional record companies have also failed to see the online potential when it comes to music opportunities. Other companies such as iTunes, Soundcloud and Spotify have used their initiative to monitize the online music market. Whilst traditional ways of listening to music e.g. CD's and radios has declined, some music sites have used their initiative in providing audiences with music they can download, upload, purchase and share etc. Downloading music is far more convenient for audiences as they are able to transfer the same piece of music to their computer, phone, tablet etc.

Furthermore, the increase in globalisation has meant that news is spreading faster and places are able to know about events in another country almost immediately. For example, the recent earthquake in Nepal had reached the UK news a few hours after it happened. This has therefore lead to the decline in local news as large news institutions are providing their local area with news along with international news.

To continue, an example of the pace being too great for traditional news to keep up with new and digital media is the recent Russell Brand interview with Ed Milliband. Whilst a video was posted up on YouTube and social sites such as Twitter of this, The Sun criticised it by having it on their front page. The front page of The Sun was then retweeted on Twitter, however gained far less retweets than Russell Brand did when he retaliated The Sun's criticism. A Marxist view would argue that The Sun did this to try to keep their power, especially with the elections coming up soon. However, a Pluralist would say that the audience on Twitter were able to challenge The Sun only due to the opportunities that arise through new and digital media.

On the other hand, a recent article called News on the Tweet explained how Twitter needs legitimate newspaper brands in order to gain trust and newspapers institutions need Twitter to gain fans and increase their audience size. This would therefore go against the belief of traditional media being too little or too late as institutions are using their initiative to incorporate new and digital media to attract a wider audience.

The Everyday Sexism Project and political activism has also used new and digital media to heighten their audience and participant size. For example, Laura Bates the creator of The Everyday Sexism Project produced a website as well as Facebook and Twitter pages. This helped create awareness for her campaign, as well as encouraging people to share their stories and experiences. Without using new and digital media, less people would be aware of sexism and the project overall and less people would be fighting for their rights and beliefs.

To conclude, most of the traditional media's attempts to compete with new and digital media have been too little and too late. Institutions therefore have to ensure they are able to keep up with technology and the way society use new and digital media in order to gain recognition and retain an audience.

Monday 20 April 2015

Section B Exam question plan

New and Digital media offers media institutions different ways of reaching audiences. Consider how and why media institutions are using these techniques (48 marks)

1) Introduction:

The first industry that I have been investigating is news. Traditional print news has faced a decline in recent years, while new and digital media has allowed news cooperation's to remain successful through news online and paywalls. In addition, I have been researching political activism and focusing on 'The Everyday Sexism Project', founded by Laura Bates.

Technological convergence has allowed audiences to access the internet and several applications through one device. This includes smartphones, tablets and computers. Media institutions are using new and digital media to reach audiences as it has become easier to reach them due to technological convergence. It has increased convenience for audiences, as well as success and profits for institutions.

2) Social Media-Snapchat:

Social media sites allow audiences to access news as well as being able to view, comment, like pictures and interact with others through messages. Snapchat in particular has recently introduced a new page to the application where audiences are able to view the latest news of different companies. These include: Sky News, Yahoo News and Mail Online. The reason these News institutions use Snapchat as a platform to share their news on is because they are aware of the popularity of the social app and therefore helps them gain an audience. Moreover, Snapchat allow these companies to share their news with their users because it increases their profits.

3) Social Media-Twitter:

Other social media sites such as Twitter also work together with news institutions in order for both parties to gain publicity. For example, a recent 'News on the Tweet' article stated that Twitter and news companies must trust one another as news uses Twitters platform to reach audiences. Twitter is therefore good for news companies as they gain a larger audiences, as well as being beneficial for Twitter as people use the social site to read news.

4) Marxism and Pluralism

A Marxist view would argue that institutions are in power, have the control and it is all an illusion for Pluralists. Whereas, Pluralists would say that in fact audiences are even more empowered now as they can choose how to view media e.g. news, music, videos, programmes etc. For example, audiences can choose whether they want to support artists by watching their videos on YouTube, helping them gain views and contribute to their success by purchasing their music on iTunes.

5) Paywalls/Globalisation

Most online news companies such as The Times use paywalls in order to gain revenue, through audiences paying a subscription fee to access their content and news. It has proven successful with some institutions as audiences have been willing to pay for their news, however others have seen a fall in profits. The Guardian make revenue through advertising and sponsorship and have expanded into Australia and America. This can be linked to Globalisation. It has also meant that local areas are becoming the same as everywhere else and moreover, the local economy dies down. This is because audiences are able to access international news on a larger scale, therefore do not bother to purchase local newspapers.

6) Flip the question. It has also enabled audiences to reach institutions..

Feminist movements such as 'The Everyday Sexism Project' has allowed audiences to communicate via website and social media and protest together. It has also allowed them to share their issues and problems and gain advice from one another, using Twitter and Facebook as well as the Everyday Sexism website created by Laura Bates. Furthermore, citizen journalism has evolved and allowed audiences to challenge content created by news institutions. For example, a couple of weeks ago a boy was shot in South Carolina. Walter Scott had been murdered by a white police officer who killed the boy, then handcuffed him whilst he was dead and dropped a taser next to him. However, a man had videoed the event, therefore citizen journalism proved the police officer guilty so he was punished for murder. This may not have been possible without the footage as elite people such as the police officer would have made out that Walter did something wrong, therefore justifying his death.

7) Conclusion

Overall, I believe that new and digital media is used by institutions to reach audiences on a wider scale and gain a larger audience share. However, it also gives audiences a way to reach institutions e.g. through Twitter. This therefore allows audiences to challenge dominant forces and elite people/institutions as the Walter Scott shooting has shown, as well as cases in the past like the shooting of Ian Tomlinson.

Thursday 2 April 2015

NDM Story #56 Twitter's new quality filter removes abuse from your timeline

Abusive behavior being reported on Twitter

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/11491485/Twitters-new-quality-filter-removes-abuse-from-your-timeline.html

Twitter is rolling out a quality filter designed to remove threatening tweets alongside spam in the service's latest move to tackle online abuse. The filter aims to "remove all tweets from your notifications timeline that contain threats, offensive or abuse language, duplicate content, or are sent from suspicious accounts", and was first spotted by Twitter user Anil Dash. Twitter told the Verge that the filter was currently only applied to verified users, which tend to be high-profile individuals or those working for specific organisations. The new feature could result in celebrities and other public figures receiving significantly less abusive tweets than they are currently subjected to.

It is positive that Twitter are doing this as it will help prevent people from suffering from online abuse.

Unit 3 Exam

Wednesday 6 May 2015

NDM Story Summary Categories

NDM Story Summary

Tuesday 5 May 2015

NDM Story #58 Police investigate construction firm after complaints from passer-by over wolf-whistling