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.
Sup Dhruvina.
ReplyDeleteWWW:
- Good use of context - used different examples
- Argued for and against the techniques used through Marxism and pluralism to create an overall opinion
- Showed some critical autonomy with case study and answered question well
-overall LVL 3 answer: Clear focus on question, good structure, clearly expressed.
EBI:
- Perhaps add more of your news stories that apply to show off more of your understanding