SECTION B

Section B:

New and digital media offers media institutions different ways of reaching audiences. Consider how and why media institutions are using these techniques. (48 marks)

New and digital media gives media institutions many different ways of reaching audiences. Two of the case studies I will be discussing are news and films.

New and digital media has given news institutions many different ways to reach their audiences. News is now available to audiences in many different ways, it’s easier to access and it’s always available wherever you are.  An example of the impact on new and digital media on news is News of the World owned by Rupert Murdoch. News of the World was a newspaper in which journalists were hacking phones to gain information and publishing it. More than 4,000 people had been identified by the police as possible victims of phone hacking by the News of the World paper.  This is therefore unethical journalism as journalists deceived individuals by sharing their personal information to the world.  One of the most dreadful examples of the phone hacking scandal was Milly Dowler death. A journalist named Rebekah Brooks hacked into a murdered girl Milly Dowlers phone giving hope to their parents that she was still alive.

Another way new and digital media has offered news different ways of reaching audiences is through social media. For example, Twitter has had a huge impact in reaching more audiences for news. BBC is a great example as there are several Twitter pages linked to BBC which are BBC News (World), BBC News (UK), BBC Breakfast and BBC Breaking (News), these pages differ to target their audiences, for example BBC News (World) recently tweeted about the US Election (Americanisation) whereas, BBC News (UK) tweeted about the strike of junior doctors. Social media therefore allows to reach more audiences such as the younger generation and Twitter users as well as people around the world creating a global village (Mcluen). Twitter also updates the stories regularly and fast which links to the news values identified by Galtung and Ruge of immediacy as it updates their audiences fast.

Snapchat is also another example of how social media gives news different ways of reaching audiences. Snapchat has a discover page which allows audiences to view recent updates from different news institutions. Snapchat provides The Sun, Daily Mail, Buzzfeed, Mtv, Sky News, Sky Sports and many more. Snapchat allows to attract many audiences as they have many different organisations to attract their audiences, for example, audiences who read to news for entertainment (Uses of Gratifications – Blumler and Katz) they can read the updates from Mtv or Sky Sports and audiences who read the news for information could read Sky News.

Pluralists would argue that due to new and digital media has given audiences more views and values. For example, on the news we now see a lot of user generated content which shows how audiences now have the right to make their own news stories and publish them online – citizen journalism, it is also less mediated and there are now less gatekeepers then there used to be before. Periscope is a great example that keeps globally connected with each other as it allows audiences to stream live footage, periscope is also owned by twitter which allows to target the younger generation more.

However a Marxists would argue that even though new and digital media has given audiences more views and values, it still remains to be owned by the elite. For example, journalists now tend to wait for user generated content which results in lazy journalism. The journalists therefore make profit from citizen journalists giving them no credit for the media they have produced. Marxists would also argue that citizen journalism gives us an illusion of autonomy, we believe we have power but we don’t, this therefore dumbs down (Andrew Keen) keeping us marginalised.

My independent case study relates to the film industry. New and digital media has given the film institution many different ways of reaching audiences such as streaming websites – Netflix and Putlocker. This has allowed audiences to watch movies in their own comfort at home allowing them to gain their own audience pleasures from movies. It also saves audiences money as Putlocker is a free stream and with Netflix it’s a pay monthly package including a free trail. New and digital media threaten my chosen industry as more audiences would stop going cinema as they would've paid for Netflix and therefore prefer to watch movies from there rather than spending more money to go to the cinema. It would cause the film industry to go down in the money they make. Indeed, regarding the impact of the illegal downloading on the movie industry over the last decade, the consumers’ willingness-to-pay has declined, consequently movies are less and less economically sustainable. The direct result is a reduction of the diversity of the movies produced. The perception of a higher involvement from the public could be a solution for a more sustainable industry. Indeed, the incentive to produce movies can be boosted by the audience’s awareness and interest for a project they have been participated in since its inception. Producers still originate the initiative and, then rely on the creativeness of the targeted audience. The success can be anticipated.

In conclusion, new and digital media offers media institutions many different ways of reaching audiences by connecting with each other. For example, through the use of social media to target their audience and gather the fans, as well as using applications on mobile phones to listen to music or to watch movies. These changes has given audiences more freedom and easier access however, there are still negatives in these changes as the elite still have control of our ideologies.