More than 200 journalists in prison worldwide for third consecutive year

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/dec/17/over-200-journalists-in-prison-worldwide-for-third-consecutive-year

There are 32 more journalists in Chinese jails than there were in 2013, bringing the total to 44 imprisoned journalists. Almost half of those are of the Tibetan or Uighur ethnic minorities, including blogger Ilham Tohtiand seven people who worked on his website.

Iran has imprisoned the second most, with 30 journalists in jail - five less than last year. Among the jailed is Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian.

The development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view.

Social Media has enabled the audience to have a certain amount of authority it once never had. However derivatives of the social media have been constructed by the elite nations.


Social Media has contributed to the power of the audience, by allowing users to have more flexibilty to express their views and opinions. However another argument supports hegemonic perspective of elite nations influencing the majority of the public.

The Pluralist view has exposed how people of the elite nations have been put to shame by the power of the user. an example of this is the phone hacking scandal in which Rupert Murdoch was exposed and social media was used to amplify to expose his intentions.

The statement of Al Gore "The internet is an empowering tool...an exciting and revolutionary prospect" supports the increase in  citizen journalism which has allowed individuals to provide their own news stories. This has only been made possible by developments in technology. Examples of this include UGC by those who witnessed the attack of British Army Soldier Lee Rigby. In which the UGC gained immense amount of hits on Youtube and Vimeo that helped gather awareness for the topic.

The statement by Murdoch “The Internet has given readers much more power… The world is changing and newspapers have to adapt” supports the pluralist view of how consumers are given power by the developments in technology. The internet gives the consumers more pwer than ever to interact with people from other audiences. An example of this could be a comment section of the blog where people are allowed to comment and share their opinions and by this they can influence other people. If the comment is very popular or has a very distinct and powerful view the elite nations may take this into consideration and may change or alter the content that is put out by them. This can also be linked to Todorrovs theory in which an equilbrium is broken as a disequilibrium is formed and then there is a new equalibrium.

Livingston and Bober (2005) who say “38% of UK pupils aged 9-19 never question the accuracy of online information” showing that the views of the elite class will be showcased to younger generation regardless of the platform they are accessed through. The statistic by Lin and Webster “ top 5% of all websites accounted for almost 75% of user volume” meaning that despite the vast variety of resources available online to access news, it is still selected by the elite class.

Due to the developments in the production and consumption of media the Marxist view is that of  the elite and controlling class will always in control. This is evident through the change of news being accessed via word of mouth to a newspaper lead to the controlling class quickly jumping ‘on the bandwagon’ and harnessing the opportunity of providing their biased views to the masses. This is still reminiscent in the current newspapers today of which some take slanted and biased view which has been inherited. This is due to the relentless submission of the elite classes’ views onto the founder’s younger self of paper which is then precipitated down into the newspaper and its readers who adopt the view of the elite class.

In conclusion, I believe that despite the facts of the Marxist view that new and digital media is another platform for the elite class to assert their power and influence on, new and digital media developments such as the internet have made consumers more powerful than ever as they can post their own opinions online from which they can influnece a wide amount of people. This has been showed evident from  user generated content and online blogs from which users gain more popularity than some elite nations. 

Instagram now has 300m users sharing 70m photos and videos a day

When Facebook announced it was buying Instagram for $1bn in 2012, the photo-sharing app had been downloaded by more than 30m people. Two and a half years on, the app now has more than 300 million active users.

The milestone was revealed on Instagram’s blog, alongside the announcement that the app is launching “verified” badges for celebrities, sports stars and brands, while also planning a crackdown on “spammy” accounts.

“We’re proud to announce that there are now more than 300 million Instagrammers. Over the past four years, what began as two friends with a dream has grown into a global community that shares more than 70 million photos and videos each day,” wrote chief executive Kevin Systrom.

Government must fund hyperlocal news, urges new report

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/dec/08/government-must-fund-hyperlocal-news-urges-new-report

It is time for the government to provide financial backing to Britain’s emerging hyperlocal online news start-ups, urges a new report by the Carnegie UK Trust.

It argues that community-run news websites have significant potential to help fill gaps in local media left by the closure of local newspapers and they should be encouraged to flourish.

I agree with this as by putting up local news on the internet, people will still be informed of their local events whilst not having to pay for it, this could help local communities feel more appreciated by elite nations. 

The future of marketing depends on ideas, not tinkering with technology

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2014/dec/08/future-marketing-ideas-digital-technology

What if we were obsessing over the tools and not the idea? I’d like to see a move to empathy over technology; perhaps it’s time to reduce the dominance of digital people.

This article sums up how consumers are taking more time using apps that are more involved with technology than those concerning real world things. For example it says that there are hundreds of apps that allow females and males to communicate however not a decent app to buy flowers. 

I think that this article does have a decent point as the creators of some apps maybe trying to hard to be innovative when in actual fact they just need to think about what normal people want and need and therefore they are likely to be more successful in creating aps that are actually useful. 

Microsoft and Yahoo respond to European 'right to be forgotten' requests

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/01/microsoft-yahoo-right-to-be-forgotten

Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing search engine have begun responding to “right to be forgotten” requests for search result deletions in Europe, joining Google.

Bing published its request form in July, but the first removals have now taken place according to reputation management firm Reputation VIP’s Forget.me site, which helps people submit requests.

“There have been 699 demands for ‘search engine result’ removal requests on Bing handled via Forget.me since the 23rd of July, representing a total of 2 362 URLs. So far, 79 requests have received an answer from Bing,” explained the company.

For now, such removals are taking place within Europe on the local versions of search engines. However, European data regulators are expected to tell Google – and by extension, its rivals – to apply these search deletions outside Europe too.

I think that the right to be forgotten campaign is a great thing as users of the internet will fill more secure in the future and they will be less afraid of people finding personal information or history about them that they dont want to know.

Digital journalists have great chance to develop much-needed transparency

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/sep/05/digital-journalists-have-great-chance-to-develop-much-needed-transparency

Digital media outlets can improve the quality of journalism by using new tools such as the CSI-style verification of social media posts and by allowing the reader not only to comment but to correct articles, media researcher Kellie Riordan argues.

These methods are being used by both traditional media outlets such as the BBC and digital natives such as the US business site Quartz, which launched only in 2012 but is already competing with the Economist and Bloomberg.

Far from the internet destroying quality journalism, digital has given the media lots of new tools to improve it, Riordan says in her study, Accuracy, independence, and impartiality: How legacy media and digital natives approach standards in the digital age.

This article focuses on how the news articles online are now allowing for users to edit them. This questions the role of a journalist as multiple people are allowed to edit articles. I think that this could make bigger companies like BBC to improve the quality of their articles as they would not want ugc to be better than their content.

Alain de Botton on the News

1) To what extent do you agree with Alain de Botton's views on the News?

I agree with the view that sometimes the elite nations give a bias view as they control the media and can impose their views on the rest of the public.

2) How can you link Marxism and Hegemony to de Botton's criticisms of the News?

Marxism and Hegemony can be linked to Alain de Bottons views as it is the elite nations with the most power and it them who are imposing their ideologies on the rest of the public/viewer's. We can also link Paretos Law into this as it is a small number of institutions who control the rest of the market.

3) How could you use Pluralism and new technology to challenge de Botton's views on the News?

The idea of pluralism can be linked to new technology as this gives the public different ways to express thier views on wide platforms from which instituitions can act differently and slightly alter the material they release.

4) Choose two news stories from the last six months - one that supports de Botton's views and one that challengeshis belief that the News is used for social control. 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/aug/10/alain-de-botton-in-quotes-the-news-promotes-a-toxic-society-of-envy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14493497

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 developments?

Developments in new and digital media have meant that audiences now are able to have a wider reach to opinions and views which can influence their own ideas. this can be an example of Hegemony as the elite institutions still influence a a large amount of the audience with views that sometimes not even in the favour of them. this might be because the audience is too scared to voice their own opinions as they may be against what the elite institutions have to say. This is an example of how elite institutes have psychologically brainwashed the majority of the public.However, new and digital media has allowed individuals to form views that backup pluralism as there are platforms where individuals can voice their own opinions while staying anonymous. Examples of this include the Scottish referendum where both views of hegemony and pluralism where being displayed on the television for everyone to see even though some broadcasters had bias views. 

Also, the extent to which audiences are empowered depends on the website they receive the opinions and views from. For example most of the internet is owned by Google, this can be linked to Poreto's law where 80%is controlled by 20%. This is also a hegemonic theory .An example of was the Scottish referendum in which the BBC was supposedly providing a balanced argument but was leaning towards their own  views for a NO vote. There are pluralistic views that are apparent where on blogposts and articles it is available for users to give their opinions by posting a comment. This can be seen by other users and thus may influence them with their views. this is an example how audiences may encourage other parts of the audience. Also if the comment or post is very popular with a certain opinion it is likely that the institution will see this and can therefore mould there future articles to satisfy the taste of their audience

What’s the right relationship between technology companies and journalism?

http://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2014/nov/23/silicon-valley-companies-journalism-news

“at news organisations the central organising principle is usually to produce something with social impact first ahead of utility or profit”

we have entered a world where the way we see news is dictated not by what’s on the newsstand or even what leads the 6 o’clock news, but what we see on our phones through another filter, increasingly through Facebook

 In the 2014 report of the same metrics 30% reported getting their news primarily from Facebook alone. That is a very rapid rate of migration in just two years.

This article emphasises how new and digitial media is affecting journalists and their roles in the industry. research has shown that UGC is more popular and is still increasing in popularity compared to news which is shown on the television. This may be seen as an advantage for some journalists as they may be able to use new technologies as different platforms for their stories. However I think that if they do not take advantages quickly then it will be too late to break through and be a successful journalist. 

YouTubers ads for Oreo banned for not making clear purpose of videos

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/nov/26/youtube-ad-oreo-banned-advertising-lick-race

A campaign for Oreo featuring a host of British YouTube stars has been banned by the advertising watchdog for not clearly telling the public their videos were ads, following a complaint from a BBC journalist.

Mondelez, the parent company of Oreos, signed up a number of stars to promote its product in videos where they took part in an “Oreo Lick Race”.

The campaign featured some of the best-known British YouTubers including Phil Lester and Dan Howell, on the AmazingPhil channel which has 2.2 million subscribers, who were hired to present a Radio 1 show in 2012.

This article basically sums up how a journalist thought that there were a number of people who were trying to promote the Oreo brand were not seen clear by the attacking journalist. The journalist made a big deal about it how he thought that oreo had secretly asked people to promote their product through YouTube however all the youtube video makers had clearly stated that they were working with the oreo company in the description.I think that this article and issue has been slightly blown out of proportion as youtube can be an informal marketplace, and should not be taken so seriously by some officials.

Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony

1

The traditional view would be the police are seen as the elite people as if they have no faults. They seem to be the people who have control over the public. There was a suggested lck of control of the k9 police dog as he was a threat to society. According to new and digital media Ian Thompson was seen as being anti-social. As this is how his body language was shown.

Ian's family attended today's Metropolitan Police disciplinary hearing of PC Simon Harwood, held in public in west London. Speaking on behalf of the Ians Family Campaign, Ian's son Paul King said:

"We came here expecting a disciplinary hearing. There has been no hearing. We expected the Met to rule on whether it's officer killed Ian. The Met has basically gone 'no comment'.

It's a whitewash. It's like they have just let PC Harwood resign. The conflicting verdicts of the inquest and criminal court still need to be resolved.

We haven't given up, we will now be looking to the civil courts for the final judgement on who killed our dad."

A website was set up by his family that showed how an officer resigned or had his position in the force dropped because of the incident. This supports a hegemonic view of society where advantages of the public can be taken and no real punishment is made on the superior people.

2

The author argues that without 2.0 it wouldn't have been possible to take Harwood to court, and it would not have been possible to create awareness about the situation.

I believe that that new and digitial media does reinforce dominant hegemonic views as the institutions are the elite nation themselves and therefore what they put out has a view of their own in wish they can convey their views in the public eye. However I do think comment sections allow the audience to challenge them as these are interactive ways of sharing opinions, and if popular enough the institution may be aware of them.

Copywriting is dead? Don’t tell the journalists

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2014/nov/06/copywriting-dead-content-marketing-journalism

Last week the Direct Marketing Association hosted a thought-provoking evening looking at the state of copywriting. They produced a film to go with it that compared two generations – those that thrived in the mad days of the 1980s, and those now ascending the greasy advertising pole.

The new breed explain the realities of working in new media, how copywriting has evolved and now means writing and responding as part of the brief.

Why do so many bland campaigns emerge, without the clear creative streak that so characterises ads developed thirty years ago?

Old school copywriter Patrick Collister who is now the head of design at Google gave a talk about the different types of copywriters and how they are successful. He says that the ones who actually do nothing are the most creative copywriters opposed to the ones who are typing hard without thinking. He emphasises on how there is a lack of creativity now and things are not being effectively advertised now as they once were.

I agree with this article as now things on the internet pretty much have the same information as other articles and there is no distinct differentiation between most articles.

Jennifer Lawrence: 'I will never get Twitter. The internet has scorned me'

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/12/jennifer-lawrence-twitter-internet-hunger-games

In an interview with BBC Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw, Lawrence was asked by a fan: “Why don’t you have Twitter and will you ever get it?” To which the star emphatically and quickly answered: “I will never get Twitter.” Sitting alongside her co-stars Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, she elaborated: “I’m not very good on phones or technology. I can not really keep up with emails, so the idea of Twitter is so unthinkable to me. I don’t really understand what it is, it’s this weird enigma that people talk about. And it’s fine, I respect that, but no, I will never get a Twitter. “And if you ever see a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram that says it’s me; it most certainly is not”.

 I think that it is impossible for celebrities to fully avoid social media sites as they will always be a source of entertainment upon these platforms, however because jennifer lawrence is already so popular due to various films being released, she does not necessarily need to keep intact with her fans at the moment because she is almost always in the limelight at the moment. I think that as her career starts to slow down she may start to use social media to maintain a brand image. 

Spotify CEO speaks out on Taylor Swift albums removal: 'I'm really frustrated'

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/11/spotify-ceo-taylor-swift-albums-daniel-ek

“We started Spotify because we love music and piracy was killing it. So all the talk swirling around lately about how Spotify is making money on the backs of artists upsets me big time,”

‘Here’s the key fact: more than 80% of our subscribers started as free users’

We’re getting fans to pay for music again. We’re connecting artists to fans they would never have otherwise found, and we’re paying them for every single listen. We’re not just streaming, we’re mainstreaming now, and that’s good for music makers and music lovers around the world.”

Ek also claimed that a top artist like Taylor Swift can expect to earn $6m a year from Spotify streams; criticised YouTube and SoundCloud for their lack of payments to artists for every stream on their services; and cited the likes of Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Calvin Harris and Daft Punk as examples of artists who have sold lots of albums without windowing their releases from Spotify.

I think that Spotify has made alot of progression as most of their users once started with free membership and have no updated for subscription packages. It is also a good way to tackle piracy.

Video games are not making us more violent, study shows

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/10/video-games-violent-study-finds

The study concluded that playing video games coincided with a fall in violent crime perpetrated by those in the 12-17 age group.

Christopher Ferguson, a psychologist at Stetson University in Florida, carried out two studies into media violence. In the first, his team correlated US homicide rates between 1920 and 2005

Screen violence inversely related to homicide rates in the 1990s.

“Society has a limited amount of resources and attention to devote to the problem of reducing crime,

This article focuses on how video games may potentially cause psychological imbalances resulting in players feeling more aggressive. So far there have not been any direct links strong enough to support this analogy. The reason why it is worth looking into is that the same age group who play video games of a violent nature are part of the same age group that have an increasing crime rate.

 “There is a risk that identifying the wrong problem, such as media violence, may distract society from more pressing concerns such as poverty, education and vocational disparities and mental health. This research may help society focus on issues that really matter and avoid devoting unnecessary resources to the pursuit of moral agendas with little practical value."

INDEX

1 ISIS militant

2 Apple Watch

3 Ios Update

4 Microsoft Job Cut

5 Apple buying Beats

6 Iphone 6 bending

7 Cassete Boy vs Cameron

8 Internet taking jobs

9 Snapchat Ads

10 Google Tax

11 Google develops device for cancer

12 Vodafone joins EE with 4G

UK joins world’s fastest mobile internet club with next generation 4G+ rollout

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/30/uk-joins-worlds-fastest-mobile-internet-club-with-next-generation-4g-rollout

EE joins Vodafone with mobile data speeds five times faster than average UK broadband in London, with Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool added in 2015

More people in the UK are going to get mobile internet speeds comparable with South Korea and US with the launch of EE’s next generation 4G+ network.

“The UK is now back to being a world leader in mobile networks,” said EE’s chief executive, Olaf Swantee. “Just two years since we were behind every developed market from the US to Japan, we’ve invested in innovation, driven competition and given people in London a mobile network that’s as faster than almost any other in the world, and even faster than most fibre broadband available here.”

EE has the largest 4G network in the UK covering 300 towns and cities and 75% of the population and with six million subscribers. O2 and Three have yet to confirm plans to follow EE and Vodafone.

I think that this will make the phone market more competitive meaning that the public will have less options to choose from if they wanted a high quality broadband with 4G connection. Also this could lead to EE and vodafone charging more for their deals as they are one of the companies that will have more to offer.

Google is developing a cancer and heart attack-detecting pill

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/29/google-cancer-heart-attack-detecting-pill

Google is working on a nanoparticle pill that could identify cancers, heart attacks and other diseases before they become a problem.

It is part of the move away from reactive medicine, which treats diseases once they have become serious enough to cause symptoms for patients prompting them to go and see a doctor and towards pre-emptive medicine, which catches signs of disease much earlier, before it becomes a problem

I think that this is just another business venture in which google can invest in. this will cause a decline in people going to see the doctors if this is successful but i think people will doubt the product in the start and this product may be looked down upon by doctors and the NHS. On the other hand it could be that the product is such a success that it could be sold to large health organisations and therefore increasing the profit made by google.

Spain moves to protect domestic media with new 'Google tax

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/31/spain-newspaper-google-tax

The Spanish government has successfully passed a new copyright law which imposes fees for online content aggregators such as Google News, in an effort to protect its print media industry.

Failure to pay up can lead to a fine of up to €600,000.

Google defends itself by claiming that it 10 billion views to newspapers’ websites every month.

A similar law passed in Germany saw Google removing the affected newspapers from Google news altogether – before the publishers eventually came back and asked to be relisted after seeing their traffic plummet, a step they said they had to take because of the “overwhelming market power of Google”.

I think that this is a great way to save journalism in certain countries however it may be easy for someone to copy all of google's news stories and post them somewhere else in which people may be able to evade the tax 

News Values

Immediacy

As there has been such an increase in technology and digital media platforms it is easier for the public to engage with news stories via these platforms. Meaning that news stories and UGC are now much easier accessible and are viewed by the public faster than ever before.

Familiarity 

I think that it is easier for people of all cultures to see news and digital media stories as the internet is a worldwide feature. 

Amplitude

Globalisation means that the internet is exposed to international events from social media platforms. and despite the size of the event we will still gain some form of information about it whereas before without new and digital media we would not.

Frequency

As the internet has such a huge archive of things that have happened in the past it is almost possible to find any story from a year so long ago. 

Unambiguity

Places on the internet like forum's and blogs can give us another story to the stories we have seen on the Tv and can help the public make up their mind about what article to believe. 

Predictability

Due to social media sites and other platforms on the internet it is likely that the public may predict events instead of waiting of official statements.

Surprise

Global reach new and digital media provides stories that may be surprising to the public like celebrity deaths. Whereas un going wars are less surprising.

Continuity

Digital media is informing people faster than ever before so by the time the story gets on to the news channels people may classify the articles as old news.

Elite Nations and People

The counties that are focused on the most tend to be countries with larger economies and power. for example if there was a news story about America and Zimbabwe, Americas story would be prioritised 

Negativity

Generally the highlighted news articles that appear on platforms are informing us of unfortunate events. 

Balance

It is hard to have an accurate balance of positive and negative news as the news stories are spontaneous  and not planned. 

Citizen Journalism

Examples

LA Police Dept
Asian Tsunami
London bombings

Institutions may benefit as it may be likely for them to receive ugc meaning that their popularity will increase whereas the audience may benefit because they are more likely to believe ugc as it will have an unbiased view. If institutions continue to upload ugc then it is likely that the company will gain popularity.

Social

Social media sites like twitter allow for news stories to break out fast allowing for a higher population reach.

Historical

Updates and improvements in technology mean that there are more ways now to view things that it ever once was possible.

Economical

The fact that most things on the internet are free mean that it is harder for news firms and journalists to make profit.

Political

The wide range of things that can be seen on the internet may have an influence on the governments decisions as it is now easy for them to see exactly what the public want due to their comments and blog posts on social media sites.



1. A citizen journalist is a member of public who plays a role collecting, reporting or analysing news.

2. One of the first examples was when LA police chased a speeder.

3.FAQS
Social Media
Chat room
Online Forum
Online discussions

4. Professional shot footage may take time to prepare and plan meaning that a director could influence his/hers views on the footage making the clip potentially bias whereas UGC is footage that has been recorded naturally without a bias view.

5. A gatekeeper is an organisation that help finalize the news list.

6. Due to a rise in usage of the internet and other media platforms, it is easy for anyone to submit their views on a subject which means that gatekeepers will have to keep this into account so they can choose what the audience wants

7. An increase in UGC may mean that journalists will lose jobs as it is easier for people to record videos and take photos of events on a first hand basis.

Snapchat messaging app gets its first ad... and it's very creepy

This article focuses on the fact that social media platform snapchat will be using advertisements now to make money as so far they have 100m users and do not make money of the app in any way. So far they have started advertising certain brands via the platform by showing advertisements as stories. The advertisements will only however be available to view for 24 hours.

I think that this is a good way for snapchat to make money however some users may find this annoying. I think by advertising for only the time period of 24 hours is a new way of advertising and may even start to be beneficial to firms.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/20/snapchat-messaging-app-ad-creepy-ouija

The internet is after your job

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2014/oct/15/the-internet-is-after-your-job-video

This article emphasises how the internet is taking over even jobs of people in the middle class including lawyers, accountants and even doctors to some extent as there are so many facilities on the internet that act as an alternative for these proffesions. Applications have been made that allow people to interact with proffesional bodies virtually and therefore this is resulting in an increase in unemployment. The video also asks the viewer the question of how long will it be before there will be a real struggle to find a secure job.

I think that this video is very accurate and does have some causes for concerns and may make people think about how they have to adapt to new forms of technology just so they can get a job within the competitive market of the internet. It also creates a cause of concern about how secure jobs may be and as there is such an alternative, firms may not be able to compete with the free competitiors and therefor may have to shut down.

Murdoch Pay Wall

I think that the BBC should be able to post news for free online as they are providing an informative platform for a wider audience who may not be able to afford a subscription fee. I think that other newspaper companies may see this as a weakness and therefore they do not like the BBC. However as they are in the private sector there aim is to maximise their profit whereas the BBC (even if believed is a biased organisation) are funded by the government through TV taxes and therefore aim to educate the public

I think that Rupert Murdoch as a businessman has tried to use full potential of the facilities of the internet in which he is trying to maximise his profit. It is good that he is also keeping up to date with technology and is looking for innovative ideas that will try and help him increase revenue. I think that he is using technical economies of scale in which he is cutting costs of items such as labourers and yet increasing the production of the newspaper however the production is slowly being shifted to a new platform of digital media, which will be beneficial for him as a businessman in the long run.

Build the Wall Analysis

Section 1

This targets the New York Times and Washington Post about how they are coping with placing a pay-wall in relation to their audience.

Section 2

This focuses on The Times and The Post discussing if a pay wall will be effective

Section 3

This section discusses the reasons why there has been such a decline in the newspaper industry.

Section 4

This discusses the effects if The Times and The Post were to move to an online basis.

The main point of this article is to highlight the issues of newspapers and how firms may be more successful if they were to add an online paywall to their websites as this may be the only way how journalists get paid. In addition to this there was also a point being made of the quality of the newspaper and if that is said to increase then it is also likely that they will be more attractive and therefore attracting a larger audience that may not mind paying for the news. A more detailed argument also states how newspaper firms are not taking full advantage of the internet and how they are not maximising their facilities. Another strategy that the Washington Post And New York Times have adapted to is also of that if the price of their hard copy newspaper increased then they would not have to put up a paywall, however this is only possible if the newspaper has a unique selling point and is seen somewhat more attractive than the competition and alternatives.

Comment 1

I will never pay for “news” again. Most news is not truly news - it is sensationalism, hype and deception. Most news is not balanced - every editor is biased. And it is not just that - I truly can not afford to pay for news. Academics, especially with tenure, got it made in the shade and may be able to afford to follow the “news” as they are funded and it does not come out of their pockets. The question comes down to this - do we want an informed public or not. The answer, at least right now, is no. If the public were truly properly informed the American people would not allow Wall Street to gut Main Street, would not believe the lies of “the terrorists are going to destroy our way of life” and would understand that it really makes no difference - except in perception - of who holds the title of chief cheerleader - oops I mean Commander in Chief, President, which should be renamed CEO of America Incorporated. - See more at: http://www.cjr.org/feature/build_the_wall_1.php?page=all#sthash.xnNNyYHa.dpuf

I think that this comment has a fair point about some editors being biased and therefore what we are consuming is always an opinion of someone else and therefore we can not always trust what we read. However i do think that the people should be informed of the news as they will have a better awareness of worldwide issues.

Comment 2

Newspapers don't make profit nor do they pay journalists with subscription revenue. Subscription revenues pay for printing and distribution.

Online advertising generates less revenue than print advertising because the ad sales folks don't know how to sell it. Or price it.

Revenue generated by cable television is itty-bitty peanuts for cable networks. The real revenue for cable networks is advertising.

Local television news programs realize no meaningful revenue from cable subscribers. Local news programs generate revenue with advertising. Local news programs are delivered free to our televisions. This is stunning in its similarity to the current internet news model.

Folks using the internet pay for access, just like cable viewers.

Here's one item that troubles me: The proposal that newspaper subscription revenue pays for journalism. This is false. Advertising pays salaries. What is it about journalism, and journalists, that makes their words more valuable when printed on a piece of paper than displayed on a screen?

The ideas presented are interesting in their naivete. Go ahead, try the ideas. In time those pay-only news organizations will realize someone has been drinking their milkshake.

- See more at: http://www.cjr.org/feature/build_the_wall_1.php?page=all#sthash.xnNNyYHa.dpuf


I think that this person is against a pay wall as they clearly despise it in their last sentence. This person seems to think that journalists are credited highly when their words are on print however they are not valued when they are viewed on a digitial basis. I think this is true to an extent as online things can easily be manipulated by other users and there is less authenticity which means everything is valued to the same standard.

Comment 3

 Newspapers were the only collective up to date source of information before the web. The only reason you are still selling newspapers is because there are still people that have not discovered how to use the web.

Who would have paid to be able to contribute to this blog?? and the ones who do not even know it exists..?(they read newspapers).

I no longer need to get my movie sports etc infor from the newspaper. I get the "news"(information) directly from the supplier when I want it.

It is no longer possible to read only newspaper snippets and have an intelligent conversation with a teenager and expect you will be the better educated person in the conversation.

CHANGE your CONTENT to point to the web. Do not try and tell me your half of the story as the whole. Get me interested and point me to where I get the best educated, independant viewpoints. Summarise, investigate and report on the information avilable and being created on the WWW.

Not all people have a hunger for information and many will read only a yahoo summary page. Imagine a 70 year old newspaper reader telling his son what happened on Facebook today by reading the newspaper. Select and reduce information and ceate a "Push to Pull" medium.

The distribution channels need to distribute product as well. Deliver my order with my newspaper tomorrow morning.

Reading your laptop while on the toilet... just does not sound right.
Reading a morning newspaper in the sun with some coffee will remain a loved routine.

- See more at: http://www.cjr.org/feature/build_the_wall_1.php?page=all#sthash.xnNNyYHa.dpuf
This person thinks that the traditional newspaper is better than online news as they think that online people can be mislead with the sharing and opinions posted by others on other sights like facebook where users can influence their opinion on a story/article.

I personally think that as advancements in technology are increasing and the traditional newspaper is being more and more neglected over years, placing a paywall on news websites is exceptional idea as it maybe the only way in the future where a journalist gets paid. However i think that it may not be that successful as a company or person may be a subscriber and may blog or expose news articles for their own satisfaction for free meaning that companies who do have a paywall will be at a disadvantage. I think the only way a paywall would work is if there was a law in place that would mean we had to pay for all of our news. I personally would not pay for news at the moment because i can find out all stories somewhere on the internet at no cost. However if there was a time where there was no free alternative then i think myself and many others would pay for the news

Future of Newspapers

The article is primarily stating that an increase in the usage and popularity of online media such as the internet is one of the main causes for the reduction in demand for newspapers. The article supports this statement by facts and figures showing a reduction in employment within the newspaper industry of 18 % between the years of 1990 - 2004. A prediction was also made that by the first quarter of 2043 it is likely that America would have scrapped newspapers completely. Signs that the industry is on a downfall include a reduction in journalists as newspaper companies are cutting costs yet still trying to increase their production. This effort is somewhat a struggle that newspaper companies are facing.

I think that it is a cause for concern however as there is still time and the newspaper industry has not yet died out there should not be that much panic. I think that people will just have to accept changes and further advancements in technology of the years to come. I think the main problem that may be of concern to some people is that people within the industry will lose their jobs and will therefore be unemployed. However i think there is still time for workers within the industry to specialise in other areas that may still be media related. Also i believe that as technology is forever advancing, workers should see this as an advantage and try to innovative with their skills

Starting a political YouTube channel? Here's what not to do

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/07/political-youtube-channel-government

This article is about a teenager who composes a a rap from politicians speeches. He has had videos of David Cameron gone viral. The government have not reacted at this creator of these videos however are now thinking of launching a YouTube channel just for the government

I think that this will allow the government to be more engaged with the population especially people of a younger generation. This will allow the youth to have a greater insight on the decisions that will be made in parliament

iPhone 6 and 6 plus bending fears 'seem overblown'

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/29/iphone-6-plus-bending-overblown-consumer-reports

31.8kg of force to bend the iphone 6 (70lbs)
90lbs of force to bend the iphone 6 plus
130lbs of force to bend the iphone 5



I n this article tests are carried out to see how strong the iphone 6 and 6 plus are compared to other competitors on the market like android and HTC phones. The test concludes that the body of the iphone 4s,5 and 5s were all significantly stronger than the new phone. This is due to the fact that the body of the new iphone consists of much more aluminium than any of its predecessors. It took 31kg of force to be pressed at the back of the iphone for the phone to bend.

I think that the majority of Apple fans and consumers may still choose to buy the product as they may see it as a necessity however a lot of them in my opinion will also doubt its durability and therefore may think twice about buying the phone which could result in a decrease of demand for iPhone products.



 

NDM - Essay Feedback

WWW:
Paragraph about youtube is good and focused on the question

EBI:
Need to be more relevant to the question.
The content needs to be updated to current media stories
Dont go of on other tangents

Self Evaluation:

I think that i should have revised more thoroughly for this test as my knowledge of the topic was not really going in any specific direction. I needed to have stayed relevant to the question and always related my answer back to it.

Apple will not shut down Dr Dre’s Beats Music but could fold it into iTunes

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/23/apple-dr-dre-beats-music-itunes

This article focuses on how apple may re-brand Beats as a product that will be a part of iTunes
Apple bought Beats for $3bn.

Apple did not speak about completely re-branding the product but they spoke about bringing the product in line with iTunes. They said it could even be assisted with an itunes radio service. At the moment beats music is a part of Android and Apple TV.

I think that incorporating Beats music on an itunes will be a great move as this will give consumers a another way to re arrange their music and even listen to playlists. However any moves taken by Apple to incorporate the product will happen in no longer than 3 months.

A brief History of the News

"The last 20 years have been more significant in terms of media and its role in society than the whole previous in 200 years"

I think that the last 20 years an increase in technology is the cause  of a rapid increase in terms of media and its progression. Also most of society is demanding alot more of technology and gadgets which gives firms an edge to supply more and even become more innovative as they may want to compete against their rivals in business. This will result in a rapid growth of technology and is making the outcome of media products more significant than ever before.

List of UK news providers

Print

The Times

The Sun 
The Telegraph
The Financial Times 
The Economist 

Daily mirror

Trinity mirror
Sunday mirror 
The Herald 
Radio times 
The Scottish Sun 
NME 

Broadcast

BBC Radio 1

Capital 
Kiss 100

Heart

Free Satellite
BSKYb 
Virgin media 
TalkTalk

E-Media

BBC

Sky

SBTV

Youtube

 
 

Microsoft cuts another 2,100 jobs as it nears 18,000 target

Microsoft has confirmed another 2,100 redundancies as part of a plan to cut 18,000 jobs, some 14% of its workforce.The software giant said 747 jobs will go in the Seattle area, with the rest spread across its global operations.Microsoft had already cut 13,000 jobs, with the bulk at the Nokia phone division bought by the US company. Microsoft, which has about 127,000 people on its payroll, will take a charge of between $1.1bn (£672m) and $1.6bn for costs related to the cuts.Microsoft said in a statement that the latest cuts "are spread across many different business units, and many different countries".

I think that the factor of competition may have a strain on Microsoft as they may be willing to sacrifice some of their labour in order to innovative and contemplate other ideas on how they can fight competition like apple and Samsung.

Apple ios update

Users are frustrated by the apple ios 8 update which has required userMany have resorted to deleting photos, videos and other files in order to free up space for the new version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS8, which requires up to 5.8GB of storage.

Apple has also removed apps for its new health software because of a bug.

One expert said Apple's updates were often prone to "teething problems".

Some vexed Apple users took to Twitter to express their annoyance, at one point causing the subject to be trending above the Scottish referendum.s to have 5.8gb of 
storage. 

I think that it may be irrational for apple to be asking for a lot of storage space however i think Apple is the leader of technology in todays society as most people will follow their conventions regardless of what it may entail

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29251961

Apple Watch

Police warn the users of the up and coming Apple Watch that they may face the same penalty as those using a phone whilst driving. The reasons for this is that is also has applications like the phone and therefore may be a distraction to users. It has been named as a wearable device by senior highway police patrol.

I think that the police may have the strong side of the argument in this case as i think that people may be more engaged with this gadget causing potential hazards on the road. However after all it is just a watch on a wrist and some people may not be as stupid as the police think.

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-watch-storage-sizes-2014-9

RT exclusive: From London banker to ISIS militant - one man's terror trail

For the past month, RT UK has been speaking exclusively to A’ntaar via an encrypted instant messenger popular amongst the social media savvy Western fighters in the region. A’ntaar’s penchant for propaganda made him no different than most western fighters ostentatiously trumpeting their messages via social media. But behind the standard ISIS rhetoric, he does provide glimpses into his daily life, what was expected of him as a fighter, and whether he would consider returning home in the future.

A’ntaar is among approximately 500-1000 other Britons currently fighting in the region, according to the British governments’ official estimates. Most Britons enter through the Turkish border into Syria and Iraq, where border guards are willing to ‘turn a blind eye’ for a small fee. In June this year, British intelligence service MI5 said that tracking British jihadis waging war in Syria was now its ‘top priority’ following a recruitment video released by ISIS in which British fighters urged Muslims to come join the fight.

http://rt.com/uk/188132-rt-exclusive-isis-fighter/