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.