Impact of New and Digital Media!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/184XNCRFlA4j7vaUzVG3knq-GMLSfe6_Kd3DPjl_LXYU/edit

Question 12...

Consider theoretical perspectives in relation to the impact of new/ digital media in your case study. E.g. Representation of certain groups as a result of changes, Marxism & Hegemony, Liberal Pluralism, colonialism, audience theories etc.

Marxism – proletariat who are the passive working class people, have gained power due to new and digital media. For example, Gillmor talks about the concept of “audience revolution” which suggests that audiences are no longer “passive” but due to social changes have become “active” and have the ability to reject a certain text and have an oppositional reading. Also they are equally able to construct media products like the producers and make them appear to the wider audience e.g. due to UGC they can make use YouTube and upload their videos online and pass their message across. This shows how new and digital media is benefiting their audience as they have gained more rights.
Hegemony – use of ideologies which producers use to maintain control. As the reception theory states, individual interpretations will vary according to personalities and personal experiences. This suggests that they can reject dominant ideology and accept alternatives or subcultures. For example although homosexuality is seen legal, it’s still seen anomie (not normal) in wider society however if you belong to a gay and lesbian households your acceptance of alternatives will increase. This shows how personal experiences effect you interpretation of a text. Hence, media is increasingly beginning to show alternatives and subcultures more frequently, which makes the audiences aware about contemporary society.
Plurism- society has become diverse in terms of what values that holds; also they have been fragmented into smaller groups. As a result there’s more competition amongst institutions to entice as many audiences, possibly niche audiences as possible. This is a good thing for audiences as they have more variety to choose from, which suggests that they have become increasingly important in shaping what the media produces.

Question 11...

Are there any cross-cultural factors and /or effects of globalisation involved in the impact of new technology on your case study? E.g. the internet has been said to be ‘globalising culture’ through its promotion of the English language.
Globalisation is the interconnectedness of different societies across the world. This is due to the development of technology which has made communication easier and quicker. For example people can sit across the world, away from each other however they can communicate face to face via Skype, communicate via social networking sites or emails. This culture has diversified, however some countries are still deprived – less economically developed countries. Sherry Turkle adds to this by talking about the concept of “global village”- due to globalisation little “villages” have been created behind our computer screens. This is explained via the digital divide, which shows that some countries are more technological advanced other. Other factors such as education, language barrier and economy of the country have a major input in how much access different countries have to technological facilities. For example countries such as China and Japan are developing countries and have gained enormous success in establishing a name. This is evident as they have produced many technological goods that have been distributed worldwide – this success was achievable because of literacy and educational facilities which suggest Chinese and Japanese people are the clevest ethnic group.

Question 10...

What issues may there be regarding media effects and /or regulation/ censorship as a result of changes due to new and digital media?
Censorship is when you have the ability to ban a programme or an advert because it has offence reference or discrimination to individuals. Organizations such as OFCOM have the responsibility to ban the advert as it may cause controversy in wider society. This organization was introduced in the late 2003, and every since they have been running successfully and have been meeting needs to their audiences. No doubt this has put restrictions on what the institutions can produce, and due to these limitations and threats they may struggle to entice new audiences. This is evident as many adverts and music videos have been ban in the past which can cause a lot of financial loss to institutions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B18dtXWTHG4&feature=related this trailer which was initially promoting the GHD product however it was ban. This was due to the religious references it contained, which was clear due to the imitation of the phases “thy shall not”, which created controversy in wider society as the christans felt as if they were being mocked. Also the ideology was unrealistic – “wealth old man’s weak heart fall in love with me”, which was used to indicate that the dead man will come out of his grave, which is seen unethical.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/handouts/tobacco_advertising/censorship_in_media.cfm

Questioon 9 ...

Consider the effects so far, and possible effects in the future, on media institutions involved in your case study (media production).

Considering my case study is based on audience responses to media institutions and its texts, recently audience have become more “active” in the sense that they question the text. This is explained by the reception theory- different audiences interpret texts differently based on individual experience and their intellectual levels. This may be seen as a major concern for institutions as they are constantly threaten by active audiences rejecting media products. Statistics show that citizen journalism has increased which will put pressure on institutions to sustain their survival in media- this will become increasingly difficult as people are going out there and constructing their own products. Furthermore this has become even easier for active audiences to spend their message across due to the UGC – such as YouTube which allows us to upload videos for free.

Threat to media institutions –
· Competitors
· Active audiences producing their own products; mutualisation
· Democracy
· OFCOM – censorship

Question 8...

Audiences tend to respond to the new media by replicating their emotions upon the internet, as they tend to use social networking in a way to be heard and for people to have an outburst or a set out a moral panic within society. One major issue that has stricken the media world is the phone hacking scandal within News Corporation. This had set journalist around the world and institutions had worried, however they blamed News Corporation had fallen as they had fallen guilty for hacking into people’s phones and going against privacy rights, so that they could get their exclusive stories to sell papers across the nation. This then rippled and then further issues must of been done, therefore they done more research and they found that James Murdoch, Son of Rupert Murdoch (owner of News Corp) had been involved, which had meant that stakeholder and shareholders could strip him from his ability to take over the company after Rupert Murdoch leaves.

Furthermore this had also set out the Leveson Inquiry. This is where there was an eruption of people standing for their rights and fighting for their personal freedom as journalist, and editors have crossed the point where they are disrupting people’s lives and, stooped to a level where they have gone into J.K Rowling’s child’s bag and slipped a note into her bag, to pass messages to the writer herself.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/series/leveson-inquiry-live

Social – target mass audiences 

Question 7...

What concerns/ considerations are there (if any) for the media institutions involved in your case study as a result of the impact of new and digital media? (E.g. deskilling or multi-skilling of the workforce/ decline in workforce etc)

Audiences are concerned because they are the proletariat – wage slaves and owners of institutions such as Murdoch are the bourgeoisie. This is a concern as the owners have more power and control over passive audiences which means they have the ability to manipulate values and inject them into audience – this is evident in the hypodermic model.

Institution may also feel threatened by new and digital media, as active audiences have the ability to create their own media products; this is evident as citizen journalism has become more popular over the recent years. This is a result of UGC (people go out there and make news and post videos up on social networking sites and YouTube to share their message)

New and digital media has made it difficult for institutions to compete with one another and maintain their survival. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to win audiences as audiences have so many choices and there’s not monopoly. 

Question 6

How have the audience responded to the changes?  Is there more customer choice? Is there evidence of a more pluralistic model?  What evidence do you have to support this?

Active audiences are aware of the rights that they have, and as a result their response to texts may challenge producers based on the reception theory – based on personality and individual experiences audiences interpret texts in their own way, this is known as oppositional reading which is seen as a threat to institutions however for consumers it’s an opportunities to reject the dominant values and to get their voice heard. It is 100% evident that audiences have more choices as they have the ability to refuse certain information through the OFCOM which is a regulation organisation which has the authority to ban materials if it’s seen offensive. This suggests that audiences are no longer “dumbing down” and reflects that they are alert.

Question 5

Who are the primary target audience now and has this changed?  Who was it before and how do you know?  

Text	Current target audience	Original target audience	How do you know?
Social networking sites	12+	18	Young teenagers are becoming familiar with the adult world.
UGC – YouTube Videos	12+	18	Children are becoming more aware of how to use technology as it’s taught in many schools.
Sky Plus – Red Button	10 – children are confident with interacting with technology and recording programmes	18 – must be purchased by someone who is working	The environment at home, e.g. the parents intellectual their children

Question 4

Is the size of the audience any different now than before the impact of new and digital media (or has the pattern of usage changed)? E.G. consider for the impact of new and digital media on TV broadcasting the change in audience ratings for programmes as a consequence of the deregulation of TV.  

 Due to the impact of new and digital media, producers are able to target a wider range of audience. For example the expansion of the E-media platform has enabled produced to upload their programmes online are target their mass audiences. This helps to target more audiences because people who miss their programmes and don’t have Sky Plus aren’t able to record their programme. As a result by having these online facilities for free, it encourages audiences to view the programme. This may have lead to deregulation of TV to a small extent as people can watch their programmes online for free rather than spending money investing in a TV, paying a licence fee and then subscribing to sky.

Media today has been fragmented and has diversified in terms of what institutions offer to its audiences. For example BBC which is a government owned organisation aims to educate, inform and entertain compared to E4 which simply aims to entertain and maximise revenue. The differences between to organisations, means that the content they deliver will differ, for example commercial channels will have adverts (to raise revenue) in between whereas BBC channels won’t.

Contemporary society surrounds plurism where there are a number of things for different types of audiences. For example CBBC channels target the young audience which increases the total number of viewers.

Question 3

What impact has there been on how the media institution now has to produce the texts and the way in which the texts/ products are distributed and exhibited?  

Social networking sites –

Firstly social networking sites are a major tool used to promote an institutions. Producers make facebook pages and inform their audiences about the latest. As a result producer creates a positive brand image as they are going to audiences and informing them. http://www.facebook.com/thesun?ref=ts&sk=app_219467128113751 here audiences can also sign up to competitions in the desire to win luxury products which increases circulation as well as brand loyalty. This is a cheap way in which producers can exhibit their product.

Promotion

Blair witch project is a popular example which was used to entice audiences. The producers used the narrative in real life to suggest that 3people missing, and when audiences began to identify these characters on streets, it promoted the film. This illustrates the different methods which are used to distribute products to audiences.

Question 2

What impact has there been on the way in which the audience now consume the media products/ texts involved in your case study?  How does it differ from what went before?  Consider (SHEP)

The web 0.1 and 0.2 theory explains the ways in which distribution of information has changed. First media institutions used to go to audiences to give news and build their image, however now audiences go to media institutions and pick and use the information they require. For example audiences can now access information online by subscribing to newspapers and pick out the specific information they need individually. This shows that new and digital media has offered its audiences more opportunities and facilities in terms of what they consume or what they want o consume. Also audiences are no longer only consumer; they can also become producers, as Alan Rusbridger talks about the concept of mutualisation. This suggests that audiences have more opportunities due to new and digital media e.g. UGC, which traditional media didn’t offer.

Question 1

Has new and digital media had an impact upon ownership and control of the media institution(s) involved in your case study area?  Explain in detail any impact and what exactly has changed.

Contemporary society is based on plurism where different institutions are completing amongst each other to create a unique selling point which will attract a wide range of audiences. This suggests that institutions are no longer homogenous. As a result producers feel that they have more control over audiences as they all offer different bits of information. Nevertheless this does create competition which makes it difficult for institutions to survive, this is evident as in the year 2008 60titles closed down out of the 300 that were available as the BBC shows. This reflects the impact new and digital media has had on ownership-many lost their jobs in this industry. Also due to UGC audiences have the abilities to create news which suggests that media institutions will be losing control in the long run, as consumers no longer dependent on the producers to gain information, they go out themselves and find the information. This is evident as Citizen Journalism has become more popular over the years, which once again indicates the problems producers are facing regarding their ownership in the market. To overcome these problems many institutions have attempted to merge together to maintain their survival in the market. For example in America the two biggest subscriptions based radio services are Sirius Satellite Radio  (owned by Martine Rothblatt )and XM Satellite Radio, which have recently merged to form Sirius XM Radio  to generate more audiences.

Step 3...

What will be my case study?
Audience response and contribution to new and digital media today

3 Texts that I will use to demonstrate this;
• Given audiences more rights e.g. OFCOM
If audiences are upset about certain content that has been published in the media, audiences have the right to complain and censor the product.
• UGC
Audiences have the ability to construct products online for free, for example they can upload videos on YouTube and get their message across. This has increased their participation as new and digital media offers better facilities. This illustrates that audiences are more activate and contributing towards new media.
• Citizen journalism
Moved away from traditional 1.0 web, where audiences go to producers to consume news. Now audience can go out their and make their own news. This is evident in many YouTube videos.

Social networking and relevant theories;
• Technological determination- nature of society has changed due to technology
• Sherry Turkle, Global village- small villages have been constructed behind the screen eg social networking sites
• Digital divide- technological facilities aren’t available to all countries, therefore they have no contribution e.g. internet only exists in ¼ of the planet which means that the rest are disprivleged.
• Globalisation- interconnectedness of societies
• Media 1.0 & 2.0- media comes to the audience. Audience goes to the media.
• Marxism- major institutions have power to manipulate the bourgeoisies and inject dominant ideologies into them.
• Mutualisation – audiences and producers have the ability to construct media products.

In the age of media;

How do audiences participate?

·         Blogs, forums, social networking sites, wikis

·         Audience revolution – democracy

·         Technological determination

Who is participating?

·         Gender differences – more women than men

·         Class differences – young people from middle class backgrounds

·         Digital divide – educational facilities

·         Early adopters – generation of technology

What are they doing?

·         Creating content

·         Few people are creating but consuming is always done

Media 2.0 save democracy?

·         Its empowered people

·         Creative media producers  have been driven by commercial imperatives

·         People are able to vote, for example 15 488 019million people voted on X Factor

·         Call in radio stations

·         Communicate ideas through social networking sites

·         Does this lead to a liberal plurist society – audiences influence media

Step 2...

 

Step 1...

Generate topic ideas for individual case study

·         Social networking sites

·         New media taking over traditional media – “death of  print products”

·         Role of the audience and their responses to media texts

·         Convergence

·         Technology determination; smart phones taking over

·         Media and democracy

·         Media institutions; commercials or PBC or Org etc and how they differ