News Corporation: research

1) Research News Corporation’s response to the growth of new and digital media by listing each of the institution’s brands (Sky News, Times etc.) Have any closed, changed or been in the news in the last five years for any reason?

News corporation's response to the growth of new and digital media has affected its institutions, these institutions are: The Sun Newspaper/Sun on Sunday, The Times/Sunday Times, BSKYB. All have been affected by the growth of new and digital media. The first to be affected was The Sun on Sunday, before Sun on Sunday, audiences had access to one of News Corp's oldest newspaper; News of The World. The Newspaper that ran for 168 years was closed down after the revelations of the Phone hacking scandals involving the previous editor of News of The World; Rebekah Brookes, who is currently on trial for the phone hacking scandal. Murdoch then decided to close down News of The World and instead go with the Sun on Sunday's. This change in the news industry allowed News Corp to keep on carrying out news on Sundays. The Sun and The Times decision to go behind a pay-wall was seen on the 1st of August, The Times however had gone behind a pay-wall 3 years prior to this. This decision was further advertised by The Sun using the goals app to attract subscribers. Sky News has also affected by the growth of new and digital media. Sky recently revealed their decision to make channels seen via broadcast to be put on there App: SkyGo and on-demand, this option has allowed people to access Sky news anywhere, thus portraying a positive impact of new and digital media on the Sky News, further allowing Sky News to broadcast there news in different ways.     

2) Develop examples of the impact that new and digital media has had on News Corp’s brands (paywalls, readership figures, audience share etc.)

New and digital media has had a great impact on News Corp's brands. Firstly, one example of this is seen through Citizen Journalism; new and digital media provides institutions with user generated content, providing a way for them to cut costs, making it much cheaper and risk-free for institutions. Staff costs are cut due to the fact institutions do not need as many journalists. Furthermore, The Sun, Times and Sky News all have Twitter accounts, social media has given them a way to convey their news to audiences. It also gives news on demand, meaning that you are able to access news whenever and wherever, in addition to this, news on demand has been portrayed through BSkyB's option to put shows on demand. To get 24 hour news, people would usually have to watch the Sky News channel, the developments in new and digital media have meant that people are able to watch this 24 hour news wherever they want. The bringing about of SkyGo allows audiences to watch news anywhere thus rendering a positive impact new and digital media has had on news. The Sun's decision to go behind a pay-wall was met with criticism but they used the new and digital aspect of Phone app's to help them get subscribers, Murdoch again used main-stream football to help promote his institutions. If people pay the subscription fee and sign up to The Sun's online-app, they can access premier league goals.    

Why and with what success are traditional media institutions adapting to the challenge posed by new/digital media?

New & Digital Media: Week 14 / Week 9 IN&DM

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/weird-news/shipwreck-british-woman-saved-by-google-earth-theres-something-fishy-about-story-of-gemma-sheridan-rescued-from-desert-island-9205385.html - Woman saved from deserted island after kid sees SOS message on Google Earth

Gemma Sheridan was apparently deserted on a desolate island after being shipwrecked, the woman from Liverpool had apparently been stuck on the island for 7 years where she survived through her natural instincts and by learning to hunt, and she had written SOS in big on the island Incase a plane flew past, after 7 years Sheridan had however given up hope and believed nothing was to happen but, a boy playing around on Google Earth saw the message and quickly informed local authorities and she was rescued, they told her on sight that she had Google Earth to thank but she had no idea what it was. Many people however believed that this was a hoax and no man or woman would stay save after staying on a desolate island for 7 years. The story has been going around on Twitter for the past week where we have seen gullible hashtags such as '#thankyoutechonology' and #'truestory'. If it is true it is remarkable how new and digital media can help save lives.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-distraught-families-told-by-text-message-to-assume-beyond-doubt-no-one-survived-9212722.html - 

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370: Distraught families told by text message to assume ‘beyond doubt no one survived’

For the past few weeks since the 8th of March people have been keeping a close eye out for news on the missing plane. The plane went of radar and many countries have been searching for any seen of wreckage for Flight MH370. Just this past Monday however a cruel message was sent out to the families of the missing and it informed them they believe MH370 was lost and no one survived, this being bad enough, those families concerned were informed by a text message. This was however met with vast ridiculing from other countries and protests from some of the family members. 

Developments in New&Digital media mean that audiences can now have access to a greater variety of views and values.

Developments in New&Digital media mean that audiences can now have access to a greater variety of views and values. To what extent are audiences empowered by these greater developments. 

Pluralists argue that we live in a classless society and media organisations are responsive to an audience and are economically determined whereas, Marxists believe that the mass media are a tool used by ruling bodies to maintain hegemonic control over the masses and a class divided society. Both do however agree with the fact that developments in new and digital media have meant that audiences are able to have a greater access to a variety of news and values.

Developments in new and digital have resulted into audiences having access to a greater variety of views and values, thus empowering its audiences. The empowering of audiences allows them to have their own views on a topic or even changing the landscape of the topic. One way in which this is possible is through audiences sharing and commenting on online websites such as The Guardian or The Mail; on both websites audiences are able to see news articles. Under the articles we see comments, and audiences are able to comment under the article which in a way empowers them.  If the article has a problem with it or if it offends someone then we see opinions of readers that ridicule it. This can result into the changing of the article or the complete removing of it.  An early example seen of this was after the death of the Boyzone member: Stephen Gately. The Daily Mail was ridiculed after columnist Jan Moir wrote an article that described events leading up to Gately’s death as ‘sleazy’, and she believed that the natural cause of the death was not a natural one. The article was soon removed from The Daily Mail's website and resulted into The Daily Mail being ridiculed by general readers. This showed the empowering of audiences and provided us with a way that illustrated how developments in new and digital media has not only allowed audiences with a greater variety of views and values but now it has also empowered the general audience to an extent that proves that if the they believe something is wrong and offensive, it may lead up to the ridiculing of the writer.  Another key factor that has helped embody audiences is Blogposts. Blogposts  empower audiences to an extent which allows them to get across their views and also gain a vast majority of readers. The online format is also seen through The Guardian's webpage. The Guardian allows those in job professions to weekly/daily put up a Blogpost that puts upon their current views on an issue. One example of this is through The Guardians Teacher blog, which allows teachers to speak about something funny or wrong in their school. Following this, other teachers are able to comment under this and this is a weekly thing. This social circle between teachers creates entertainment for those in that profession. It also empowers an audience to an extent which provides them with a source of entertainment further showing power in the favour of audiences.

Another way to argue that media organisations are responsive to an audience thus making them economically determined is through the new and digital aspect of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Late 2013, ex-footballer Stan Collymore took to Twitter to get his views across on controversial Liverpool player Luis Suarez and regarded him as a 'diver'. This was not taking pleasantly by many die-hard Liverpool fans also using Twitter. Seeing that Collymore once played for Liverpool they expected him to have a bit more favouritism towards them, however Collymore's impartial views were met by major racism. Collymore was taunted for his views. Many fans did not agree with him and took to backing up their own team player by racially abusing Collymore. This led to Collymore deactivating his Twitter account and calling for the major institution to do more to tackle racist and sexist abuse towards users. Collymore also received death threats and this showed how the empowering of audiences may not always be a good thing. One key aspect of Twitter is that is allows users to get their own views across and this is not met with any harm but the empowering of audiences does allow abuse to get through. Rendering the fact that even though audiences are now empowered by the developments of new and digital media, it is not always a good thing.

The empowering of audiences is further shown through 'Citizen Journalism' and Murdoch's quote where Murdoch believes that 'the world is changing and newspapers have to adapt'. Citizen journalism coincides with the pluralist way of society. Where there is a belief that media organisations are responsive to an audience resulting them to be economically determined. With the rise of new and digital media, we are able to see news events happen easier, and it is cheaper and risk less for institutions. An example of this is seen through the Woolwich murder, the murder of Lee Rigby was recorded by citizens going by their daily life, and a statement was made by one of the killers which was recorded by a citizen. This was sent into ITV and they immediately showed it on live TV, many people were able to see this statement and this was all due to the sending in of a video by a normal citizen. Citizen journalism has helped empower audiences, they can now view footage of something that is happening right at the moment. Murdoch's quote on 'the world is changing' further reverts the fact that audiences have been empowered by new and digital media. Especially by citizen journalism. Globalisation is also becoming an increasingly important concept for the media, and the digital revolution means that we can socialise differently, this revolution has also resulted in the rise of video cameras thus indicating audiences are able to record videos and send them in rendering them as citizen journalists.

On the other hand,  there is also the Marxist belief that the mass media is a tool that is used by ruling bodies to maintain a hegemonic control over the masses and a class divided society. One way in which this is done via the developments of new and digital media was through The Sun newspaper. Murdoch's newspaper has been known to reveal breaking news. A few weeks ago after the England football game, journalists from The Sun newspaper revealed on Twitter  that in the Sunday edition a gay footballer would be revealed, one who featured in the game.  This resulted into many people being the Sunday edition of The Sun, but they decided not to publish an article about this. This portrayed the manipulation of audiences and conveyed how just through a tweet and new and digital media, audiences were manipulated into buying The Sun. This coincides with the Marxist theory how the mass media is a tool used by ruling bodies to maintain a hegemonic control over the masses, it also subverts the fact that new and digital media has meant that audiences have access to a greater variety and values. It in a way renders how everything read on social networking sites must not be believed.

Another example of a Marxist belief that conveys new and digital media to have resulted into audiences having an access to a greater variety and values is through the Crimea crisis. The media has had audiences believe that Russia are the antagonists without giving them an actual view. In the day and age we live in, audiences are able to access news anywhere. Applications on phones and the 'most important medium of the twentieth century'; the internet, has resulted into audiences being able to access anything on the internet, and in the past few weeks audiences have been become infiltrated with news of the Russian invasion being bad. The manipulation of the media is being shown here and it conveys to audiences that they are not majorly empowered by these developments. Audiences are seen as bystanders when the Prime Minister comes out and regards this a bad thing, and this is usually what the news organisations lead with creating moral panic, yet it doesn't in any way empower the audiences in any ways, it just keeps them as bystanders.

To conclude, to some extent, audiences are empowered by the digital revolution. It gives them access to a greater variety of news and values, and it lets them access news anywhere and everywhere, but there is still that Marxist point of view where the mass media are the ones dominating things and they can put anything in the news and audiences are resulted into being bystanders. We see both Pluralist and Marxist theories in the rise of the new and digital media and both empower audiences to some extent, yet not to a point where they media organisations are responsive to an audience.    

Globalisation & News

1) Is our news influenced by American cultural imperialism? What examples can you think of?

To some extent news has been influenced by American cultural imperialism. This is seen by Sky News' 24 hour channel. CNN were the first news corporation to have featured a 24 hour news channel and this was later copied by Sky News, as they presented a news channel which pretty much had the same layout as CNN news. Another influence seen by American cultural imperialism is award shows such as the Oscar's in contrast to the Brits, famous award show: Oscar's made news worldwide, things such as the Oscar selfie also made worldwide news and was even seen as breaking news on British News. 

2) Has the increased globalisation of news improved the audience experience? How? Why?

The increase of globalisation has helped improve news for audiences. The media plays a vital role in helping us experience worldwide news. We are able to view live events such as riots in Ukraine and even sporting events. The Olympics would be a great example for this. The whole world being able to watch a global sporting event is a great thing for audiences and institutions. Increasing globalisation allowed many British TV institutions to broadcast this sporting event. We are also able to see natural disasters happen live due to the globalisation of news and this has vastly improved the audience experience. 

3) Has globalisation benefited or damaged major news institutions? How? Why?

Globalisation has both benefited and damaged major news institutions. The benefits of globalisation of major news institutions is that they are able to get news from anywhere. The increase of local journalists in worldwide countries allows major news institutions to get a greater variety of news, this could include natural disasters, or even wars that are currently going on in different countries. The fact that news corporations can get this news as soon as possible, it gives them a major benefit. Even though this is a benefit for major news institutions, this is also very damaging to the local news institutions. Local Gazette paper's for small towns are not able to compete with the quality of news that major institutions are conveying, thus portraying how there is not much time left for the small companies and with the increase of major news institutions, they will be closing down soon.     

Examiners Report

1) How many of the examiner's points did you manage to cover in your answers?

In my first question, I did well enough and covered quite a few of the examiners points in my answer which helped me get 6/8 and the report may help me improve this mark by one or two in the exam, in the remaining questions, I did not use as many, the 3rd question was a real weak point and I used music examples rather than actual movie ones.

2) How many examples did you provide in your answers that did not come from classwork?

I believe that I gave a range of examples in the first question from the actual text, it was near enough the same for the second but I failed to convey the importance of an 'Outsider', and in the third question I referred to Beyonces album and The Sun's paywall decision which didn't really relate to the movie industry.

3) What will you do between now and the exam in June to ensure you have a wide variety of examples to refer to in questions two and three?

To ensure I have a variety of examples to refer to for June, I will read through my blog and look at my new and digital media stories then categorise them into an order that shows which of them relate to the Movie industry, Music and other, this could help me in the final exam as I will have a range of answers for the question that comes up.

New & Digital Media: Week 13 / Week 8 IN&DM

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/manchester-united-manager-david-moyes-3254599 Moyes vs Giggs revealed on Twitter

On Sunday afternoon English team Liverpool turned the tables and actually beat champions Manchester United, who haven't really been having the best of seasons after the resignation of Club Legend Alex Ferguson, and many have been calling for the resignation or sacking of new manager David Moyes, this feeling for the calls was heightened when the news that club veteran Ryan Giggs had a bust up prior to a meeting after the Liverpool game, the news was broken online by TalkSport and it showed how Moyes was now losing trust, and for such a big team to have this revealed on a social networking site would be damaging.

Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen says he is 'considering' bringing app back

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/flappy-bird-come-back-creator-3232207

Flappy Bird owner Dong Ngeyen made news a few months ago after revealing he had decided to remove his notoriously popular game 'Flappy Bird' off the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, he believed that all the hype surrounding his game was unhealthy, after the news was broken that a boy stabbed his own brother was broken, Ngeyen thought it was time up for the game which was generating a profit of $50,000 per day. Ngeyen now wants to bring the game back but believes that by deleting it he has sent a message out that people should be taking a break, the app if put back onto App Stores will have a message throughout the game saying take a break and disallow those who have been playing for too long as Nyegen believed that the game was only designed to be played for a few minutes not hours.

Learning Response: Mock Exam

Mock Exam: C - 16

Q3

Official and unofficial websites have been said to have contributed to a films box office success, as seen in the trailer. Both movies endorsed their websites at the end of each trailer. The audience therefore saw a link to a websites and we saw how Eclipses site feature the trailer, link to community links and an online store, this was also the same as Let the Right one in which also featured all and an online store, this online store would help contribute to the films box office success. After the DVD is released, we will also see the DVD available for sale on the website. Many other films also use official websites to help generate films box office success. Films such as Dark Knight, ill Manors and Skyfall have all used  official websites to help contribute to their films box office, unofficial websites such as IMDB and Rotten tomatoes also do help contribute to a films box office but unofficially, as there is phone apps and websites for IMDB, audience members are able to see movies and see lists and reviews people have put up about the movie, the trailer on the website allows them to see what it is about and lets them understand the narrative of the movie, it usually also has the official link to the website allowing users to see the official site too and see online stores and other features. On the other hand there is also films such as Star Trek which have already got a fan base, this separates them from other audiences and movie institutions as fan bases such as the Star Trek one will always go to the cinema to watch the movie and see what the difference is, another example of this is James Bond, every few years they have a new actor who plays the 007 agent, yet we still see people going cinema and watching the new part of the movie. Official websites do usually help new movies as it allows them to promote movies thus generating a profit but movies with fan bases also have official websites but do not have to rely on these as much as new movies might have to. Unofficial websites such as forums also help generate a box office profit, but this can also be seen as a negative thing too, this happened with Johnny Depp's Lone Ranger, the movie had huge expectations and the money it took to make it also galvanised audiences, however the movie got a lot of negative reaction, people were tweeting about how bad it was and movie forums also suggested that they wouldn't recommend watching this movie thus degrading profits for movie institutions.