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Article Summary HW

Article Summaries

BBC website rise article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20678217

This article shows a time line which shows the increase and decrease of the bbc website use. It co uses on events happening in the worldwide and also how technology has evolved over the years. It shows that the website had its highest views in 2010 when the UK general election took place. It had 2,200 million views at that point. This was also the time when tablets took off. The chart also shows that as technology has evolved over the years the views has increased immensely. This is possibly because of people now being able to go on the BBC site on the go with technology today.

UK newspaper advertising facing bleak forecast for 2013:  http://m.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/dec/11/uk-newspaper-advertising-bleak-forecast-2013

This article discusses the decline which is occurring in the print industry today. It has been forecasted that newspaper sales a going to have a decline of 9% which will result in a fall in sale revenue which is predicted to be £1bn. I believe this is inevitably going to get worse in the next couple of years. This is because e-media and technology has become so dominant in media which decreases the demand for print as people can just access the news on the web for free and quickly.


Sunday Times's circulation falls below 900,000 for the first time: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/dec/07/sunday-times-circulation-falls

All the Sunday titles are recording a loss. The Sunday Times which is the market leader in Sunday newspapers reached the 900,000 sales mark for the first time.

• I believe this was eventually going to happen as the rise of social media has decreased the demand for print as news is now available online. 
• In my opinion, I believe print figures will continue to drop over the years.

Some Newspaper Figures

Sunday Telegraph

Headline circulation: 432,315

Month-on-month change: -2.90%

Year-on-year change: -7.11%

Overseas: 10,086

The Observer

Headline circulation: 236,179

Month-on-month change: -0.77%

Year-on-year change: -11.46%

News Corp's publishing arm to focus on losses at Times and Sunday Times: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/dec/07/news-corp-slashing-losses-times

Weekly Media News Story: 8

Leveson Inquiry Report

Guardian breakdown of Leveson Report: 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/interactive/2012/nov/29/leveson-inquiry-report-speed-read

The Full Original Report: 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/interactive/2012/nov/29/leveson-report-volume-one

• Lord Justice Leveson's reveals a report on the 'culture, practices and ethics of the press' of his findings on the scandal

• Its a 1,987 page report on his findings in his 17 month inquiry

• His report covers:  the press regulation, phone hacking, press culture, victims, Rupert Murdoch, Jeremy Hunt, Politicians and the press, police and the press, media ownership and the internet

•   He claims that. "that the internet is a game changer and that therefore the old laws no longer apply,"

• He believes, 'The perception that the relationship between senior staff at the Met and News International had grown too close' but he does praise the police for their ongoing support within the enquiry

• Treading carefully, Leveson suggests that the lack of statutory regulation is partly to blame for the fact that

“politicians’ interests would find themselves highly aligned with Mr Murdoch’s”

• He draws attention to Murdoch’s ability to demand “face to face” meetings, such as that in 1981 with Margaret Thatcher, which led to his takeover of the Times.

Opinion

I believe this inquiry is a huge breakthrough to solve the constant problems occurring within this scandal. This report reveals many issues in the media, government and powerful which should be addressed.  

Participation Debates – The media and democracy

Participation Debates – The media and democracy Summary

• Morag Davis believe Media 2.0 has opened up new up new opportunities for democracy

• Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible people have an equal say in decisions

•  It is the system of government used in most countries in the world except one-party states such as China; dictatorships such as (until recently) Libya; and non-symbolic monarchies such as Saudi Arabia.

• An example of media democracy is the X Factor where 15,488,019 million voters were there in 2010

• Simon Cowell said,  The great thing is when you start seeing it in places like China and Afghanistan. It’s democracy. We’ve kind of given democracy back to the world.

• Now, the digital revolution and Web 2.0 have given users the ability to communicate with people around the globe

• On a more political level, some commentators have claimed that the uprisings in Egypt and Libya couldn’t have happened without the use of Twitter and Facebook, with young people using social media to bypass the old regimes and organise demonstrations. In fact, it was probably the mobile phone and its evolution into a convergent device that enabled these uprisings – protestors could communicate on the move and keep one step ahead of the authorities

Web 2.0 Question

Is the media more democratic as a result of new technology?

Tim O'Reily said that 'Web 2.0 was an attempt to re-brand the internet business'. In my opinion I believe the internet has completely been re-branded as a result of Web 2.0. One factor of the re-branding is the voice given to ordinary people through mediums of the internet such as social media sites. This has created a democracy on the web as there's more equality and voices heard from all kinds of people. Another factor is the revolution of user-generated content (UGC). This has allowed individuals to create media and be apart of  the media by posting their views on blogs, Youtube videos and Tweets. Their content is now seen as being very important in society today. Citizen journalism has also played a huge role in the democracy in media. The web is now dominated by producers of media who capture their own news. This is often unedited and un-mediated, takes away power from gate-keeper in society. Rupert Murdoch was quoted saying,

"Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media élite… now it’s the people who are taking control." 

On the other hand, it could be argued that there's still a digital divide in media today. This is because big companies still make a profit out of the content of the users. They still create most of the Big Media and gatekeepers still decide most of the content in media.  

Six questions about Media and Participation

Media Seminar Article Summary

In the age of media six questions about media and participation

Web 2.0 Six Questions

What's New?

• Web 2.0 was an attempt to re-brand the internet business by Tim O'Reily
• By liberating the social media the internet was able to give 'power to the people'
• To remove the power of the governors and big organisations
• It allowed ordinary people to have a voice in society through UGC
• The danger is that the internet could bring about a revolutionary social change

Who's Participating?

• Young women are leading the way in the blogs being produced
• While men tend to dominate video sharing
• young people from wealthier backgrounds do produce more than less financially stable people
• There's still a digital divide
• The most active people in Media 2.0 are the people who are already privileged 

What are they doing?

• The web is dominated by producers of amateur home family videos, celebrations and holidays
• The videos are often not edited at all
• These videos aren't seen as a challenge to Big Media

Who's making the money?

• "Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media élite… now it’s the people who are taking control." Rupert Murdoch
• The two richest global media companies are Google and Facebook
• Youtube to 5 years to first make a profit
• The internet is now a medium for niche marketing and individual consumers

Who's doing the work?

• Much of the marketing on the web is UGC or interactive
• Viral Marketing
• Companies usually create competitions for user generated content to promote their products
• Fan pages have become a negative and a positive
• it allows fans to create their own media 
• But they have issues with copyrighting- e.g J.K Rowling and Warner Bros for Harry Potter

Will media 2.0 save democracy?

• Media 2.0 has created a period of significant change
• Some people are benefiting more from media 2.0 than others. 
• These are usually the big companies