Web 2.0- Participation or Hegemony?

Web 2.0- Participation or Hegemony?

• Web 2.0 is a medium that allows audiences to become producers of media texts

• Blogs allow audiences can use to produce, and share, their own work.

• We no longer have to rely upon professional organisations to act as gatekeepers.

• 'dumbing down' of audiences

The Political: Ian Tomlinson

• One of the best examples of the 'political' impact of amateur video posted on the web was the death of Ian Tomlinson 

• The reality is that Twitter is an information-distribution network, not that different from the telephone or email or text messaging, except that it is real-time and massively distributed

• The internet has given the people a potentially powerful tool to communicate with each other, and so to challenge their rulers

• In their research into YouTube, Jean Burgess and Joshua Green (2009) found that 42% of the sample they analysed comprised of extracts from ‘traditional media’; and most of those had been uploaded by ‘users’

•  the clips were uploaded by fans rather than the traditional media companies themselves.

• Tube allows users to create their own ‘channels’

• What appears to be happening is that YouTube is now used more frequently as a commercial network for promotional and catch-up purposes

Co-opting the amateur

• Youtubers may create entertaining forms of media but they wouldn't be given the same status as celebrities created by traditional media

THE TRIVIAL: ZOO VISITS AND LAUGHING BABIES

Graeme Turner (2004) argues:

Even when ordinary people become celebrities through their own creative efforts, there is no necessary transfer of media power: they remain within the system of celebrity native to, and controlled by, the mass media. (Burgess and Green 2009: 23)

  Who’s got the power?

•  The audience – no longer have to rely upon the token ‘access’ traditional media offered us, such as newspapers
• Audiences can now easily produce texts themselves

Question

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 development

New and digital media has evolved drastically over the past decade, which has enabled many platforms for people to express their views. These people are now both powerful and ordinary people. Examples of these different platforms are Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc. I will be focusing on the extent audience have been empowered due to these developments.

One of the greatest benefits of the developments to new and digital media is the level playing field being introduced in society. This is because in the past it was usually the wealthy and more powerful people who's voice mainly counted. However, due to social networking and blogs being extremely popular has empowered ordinary people who wouldn't usually be heard in the past. Many examples of these changes is the rise in UGC. This allows ordinary people to tell their news story which they have found. This is more empowering to them as gatekeepers are now less reliant on. Therefore, mediated texts to manipulate viewers are far less. 

Secondly, new and digital media now has a huge impact on politics. In the 2012 US election both Obama and Mitt Romney made it their priority to get social media users attention by creating blogs and twitter pages. They now understand that they need to keep up with technology in order to keep peoples attention in society. Blogs also now allow people to express their views without any fear. It isn't just well educated journalists who produce texts for audiences today. Anyone with a computer and internet now has the ability to reach out to the world and express their views. This is the power audiences have now gained from the development on technology. 

Virtual Revolution Notes

Virtual Revolution Notes

• Paypal founder: Peter Thiel, 1990's- 'New world currency'
• Paypal allows ordinary people to transfer money
• Facebook- 350 million users, equivalent to 3rd greatest population if it was a country

Negatives

• Islamist use it to give out messages 
• Through propaganda 
• 'web acts as a virtual portable homeland
• web allows them to live in their own world
• cyber balkanization- reinforce their extremist
• web can be devisive 

Estonia 2007

• Most wired country in Europe
• Cyber attack to bring down Estonia institutions 
• Cyber warriors bombard networks with requests (Denial of Service)
• Banks, businesses and governments webs were shut down
• cyber war- no one knows who's attacking
• Person responsible claims it was 'Cyber Self-defense'
• Ross Anderson- 'Its a danger as we become more connected'

1/4 of planet connected

• Stephen Fry: Social Networking could help bring down a regime
• Web: 'Incredible opportunity & Incredible Responsibility'

Weekly Media News Story: 7

Phillip Schofield to continue This Morning after list mistake

After his list blunder This Morning got legal complaints from Lord Alpine.

However, The ITV directors decided to stick with their long serving presenter.

I believe this was the right choice because of they decided to fire him it would've brought a lot of negative publicity to the show. This emphasises the importance of being professional throughout a whole show on tv because the smallest mistake could be very costly.

Newsnight Scandal

Newsnight Scandal Summary

• The newsnight scandal has to be one of the biggest scandals of the past decade.
• It began when Newsnight had enough evidence to break the Jimmy Saville incident but had a slot to have a tribute act for him
• This was very controversial as they decided to opt out of revealing anything as they believed that their reputation would be damaged. 
• With Newsnight already being in a bad state they decided to do the foolish thing to accuse Lord Alpine of child abuse, using tweets as evidence.
• These accusations were obviously wrong and has had a drastic effect on Newsnights programme
• It is now being considered as to whether the show should be cancelled or not.  

Letter to Rupert Murdoch

Letter to Rupert Murdoch 

Dear Mr Murdoch 

As you may be aware of, technology is constantly changing and this has lead to consumers being able to consume their news regularly for free on the net. This is due to many platforms of news being made available due to the rise of digital media. It has come to my attention that you are considering charging for your online content, which is what I will be discussing throughout this letter.

From my understanding I believe that you once said, "The world is changing and newspapers have to adapt". I don't agree that by charging for your online content isn't the right way of adapting because it will only decrease the demand for your services. The Internet has now become a place where users are given the ability to experience news through many ways for free. These include news sites, twitter    feeds and podcasts. The you shouldn't charge for news as I believe it takes away the little power users now have in media. Also, users have now become so used to having free news online that you would only be losing your existing customers to your competitors. 

As you said newspapers should adapt and I believe a way of adapting by developing a very innovative and unique source of news which would be worth paying for. I know it's easier said than done but at least your customers would feel they are getting value for their money. Also, as you own a billion dollar conglomerate, by charging for news wouldn't have a massive impact on the revenue you are already making.

By having a paid subscription for your content would just be a way o big institutions colonising the net and would just put off audiences from subscribing and eventually just lead to to other free news outlets online.

Thank you for reading this and I hope you take into considerations of the implications of charging for the online news.

Yours sincerely

Ahmed 

Weekly Media News Story: 6

Lord Alpine Wrongly Accused of  Pedophilia on Twitter

• Twitter was full of tweets of people claiming that Lord Alpine was a child abuser without any adequate evidence 
• and now action is being considered against a "very long list" of Twitter users who wrongly named the former Tory politician, thought to include comedian Alan Davies and the Commons Speaker's wife Sally Bercow.

Weekly Media News Story: 5

Obama Wins Election on Twitter

• Research shows that if the election was done on Twitter, Obama would've comfortably won the election and be re-elected.
• It is done based on the mentions made on Twitter.

Opinion:

• I believe this research shows how powerful social media has become over the years, especially Twitter. This is the first Twitter US election and I believe it plays a huge role on the successful president because people all around America and the world can share their views on Twitter.   

This chart shows the states which would've voted for Obama or Romney:

By clicking on each state you can see the % of mentions.

Weekly Media News Story: 4

 

Google Set to Downgrade Piracy Sites on Search

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/nov/05/google-downgrade-piracy-sites-review

• Government are set to implement a new legislation to stop illegal sites being found on Google search

• This comes after entertainment groups raised concerned on how easy it is to found illegal downloading sites on Google.

• Entertainment groups, comprising the film, music and publishing industries, complained that top Google search results remain dominated by pirate sites despite repeated assurances from the internet firm that it would push them down. 

My Opinion

• I think this is a great idea as it decreases the amount of piracy which heavily affects the entertainment industry.
• However, many people who do use this site could lose out when they are looking to download illegally, being made to pay.

Examples of UGC/Citizen Journalism

Examples of UGC/Citizen Journalism Making the News

Arab Spring

• The Arab Spring began with a mostly bloodless and quick revolution in Tunisia in late 2010 and early 2011. 

• In October, 2011, the Enhahda Party, an Islamic organization, won a plurality in an election to form a Constituent Assembly

• Rebels in Egypt grew significantly more powerful shortly after the revolution in Tunisia. 

• This UGC by rebels protesting

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/mar/22/middle-east-protest-interactive-timeline

Gadaffi 

• Gadaffi came to power in 1969
• 2012 rebels were extremely against Gadaffi 
• He was killed that year an it was filmed via mobile phone

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/oct/20/gaddafi-killed-sirte-falls-live

Ian Tomlinson

• Ian Tomlinson was in the middle of the G-20 protests
• He was pushed by a police officer and died
• This was caught on camera

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/sep/17/simon-harwood-sacked-gross-misconduct

Bus Driver Uppercuts Passenger

• This is a recent incident where a bus driver was caught on camera having a heated argument with a passenger
• This lead to the bus driver punching the women after she hit him
• This video was released on WorldStarHipHop.com

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/12/cleveland-bus-driver-suspended-punching-teenager

Racist and Drunk Person on Tram

• This incident occurred in 2011 where a drunk women on the tube was caught on camera being very racist and disrespectful to other passengers
• This incident lead to her being arrested after investigations
• This UGC made the news (citizen journalism)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/29/my-tram-experience-croydon

Newspapers- The Effect of Online Technology

Newspapers- The Effect of Online Technology Notes

Newspaper in decline:

• Newspaper are in competition
• However, it is becoming more difficult because paper based news are having to compete with the rise of e-media news
• Over the last decade, the UK’s daily newspapers have lost some 2.25 million readers. 
• In the last 10 years, advertising revenues have fallen by about 20%. 
• Some within the industry predict that within the next 10 years we could even see one or two of Britain’s biggest daily newspapers close.

Why is the Newspaper Industry in Crises?

Some of the reasons have to do with the way the newspaper institutions reacted to changes in technology, namely the internet.

 Financial Times, there are five reasons why the newspaper industry is in a deeper crisis than it should be:

1. Ignoring Signs of Change: Since the early 1980’s, institutions have been able to access real time news through networks.  This was more than a decade before the Internet took off.  Most newspaper executives ignored these early signs of changes in news gathering techniques.

2. Dismissing unconventional competitors: Newspapers ignored a steady stream of innovations that they might have imitated to enhance their own business model, e.g. distributing news through multiple media (terminals, television, Internet, and periodicals)

3. Experimenting too narrowly: Some newspapers did spot the rise of digital technology early and experiment with alternatives.  However, most of these companies limited the scope of their experimentation to replicating their paper offering on-line rather than encouraging audience interaction.

4. Giving up on promising experiments too quickly: Promising business models take time to become successful in many cases and the process entails many setbacks.  Some newspapers did not give new ideas time to build.

5. Embarking on a ‘crash course’: Many institutions felt they were not embracing technology quickly enough and pushed for mergers which did not work.

Should News Be Free?

• James Murdoch has been critical of free news
• He quoted, “expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision,”
• He also said ,cope of the BBC’s activities and ambitions was “chilling” and that news on the web provided by the BBC made it “incredibly difficult” for private news organisations to ask people to pay for their news.  “It is essential for the future of independent digital journalism that a fair price can be charged for news to people who value it.”

James Murdoch

• “The internet has given readers much more power.  Everybody wants choice and thanks to the personal computer, people are taking charge of their own lives and they read what they want to read or what they are interested in and young people today are living on their computers.  The world is changing and newspapers have to adapt to that.”
• He believes that the internet has made it easier than ever to access news.

Cramer’s comments highlight several things:

1. Advances in technology mean that audiences can chronicle news and offer it to news institutions as a means of creating a story
2. New institutions have to recognise the validity of eye-witness audience accounts if they are to be successful
3. The journalist’s role has to be about the checking and verifying the content of an active audience rather than researching and relating the news themselves.  This will have implication for journalism as a profession.  This calls into question precisely what the role of a journalist should be in the future.

New & Digital Essay Feedback

New & Digital Essay Feedback

L4

WWW: Good, balanced answer, Ahmed, with some quotes/examples (on the first page). On the whole, fluently written.

EBI: More detail needed- missed opportunities to use keywords/theory: Rewrite introduction and add another paragraph, being more specific (dates, terminology)

Learner Response

Audiences experience of viewing media has changed immensely over the past decades through the way new and digital media has allowed this to happen. Our way of getting access to the three media platforms (e-media, broadcasting & print) and other forms of media has been revolutionized and has a huge impact on many different groups of people. This essay will be assessing how far this revolution has brought about a positive change.

    

The Rise & Rise of UGC

The Rise & Rise of UGC

What is meant by the term 'Citizen Journalism'?

Citizen journalism is a term used to describe when a normal individual captures footage which is seen as news.

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

One of the first incidents of news which was generated by 'ordinary people' was the Rodney King incident where a citizen filmed him being beaten up by police officers.

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

Some formats that are now offered by news organisations are: blogs, comments sections, Q&A, twitter feeds, apps and polls.

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

Professionally shot footage is footage that has been edited by media producers to give an angle to a story, where as, UGC is normal footage that hasn't been edited in any way. 

What is a gatekeeper?

A gatekeeper is someone who makes the decision on what angle a story should take in the media

How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?

Gatekeepers role in media has a major role in media because they make the decisions on what is acceptable to show. 

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

The biggest concern for journalists over the rise of UGC is that the need for normal journalists has decreased. This is because news organisations now rely more on UGC for their stories.

Rodney King

Asian Tsunami

Mumbai Bombing

Hudson Plane crash

Virginia Tech Shooting