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http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/20/sky-news-mccann-brenda-leyland 

Woman killed herself after being doorstepped over McCann trolling 

This article is about a women who was found dead in a hotel room due to sour tweets she received.

• On 30 September she was approached by Brunt and a cameraman outside her village home in Burton Overy, Leicestershire, after the journalist was given a dossier containing details of people allegedly posting abusive tweets about Kate and Gerry McCann, whose daughter Madeleine disappeared in Portugal in 2007. Leyland had posted or reposted more than 400 tweets about the McCanns, the inquest heard. 
• Sky broadcast footage of Leyland, but did not name her or give details of where she lived, the inquest heard.
• A Sky News spokesman said: “Brenda Leyland’s tragic death highlights the unforeseeable human impact that the stories we pursue can have, and Sky News would like to extend its sincere condolences to her family.” 

This shows the power of social media, this women was attacked verbally for expressing her opinions on the McCann family.

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http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/19/mail-online-guardian-increase-daily-audience-january

Mail Online and Guardian only UK titles to increase daily audience in February


This article is about The Mail Online and The Guardian having increased their online views whilst other news sites such as Trinity Mirror have seen a decline by a large amount.

• The average number of unique browsers visiting Mail Online each day increased by more than 5% to 14.7m while the Guardian saw an increase of nearly 5% to 7.35m, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations for February.
• Month-on-month, the biggest losers were Trinity Mirror, whose daily browsers fell at its national titles by 16.6% to just under 4m, and Metro, whose average daily browsers decreased by more than 10% to 1.1m.
• The long-term picture, however, tells a different story. Both titles have almost doubled their average daily audience compared with the same period 12 months ago. 

This shows there are popular news sites out there and it all depends on how they portray themselves in the media.

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http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/20/jeremy-clarkson-petition-guido-fawkes-bbc-top-gear

Jeremy Clarkson petition: is Guido Fawkes making tracks for the BBC?



This article is about a website called Guido Fawkes which reached out on Twitter on how to get a tank to get one million signatures for Jeremy Clarkson to come back to Top Gear.

• the site promised a “big surprise” if the petition, then at more than 960,000, passed the landmark figure. It continued to push the petition on Friday, obviously keen to get to 1m by lunchtime.
• The publicity around Clarkson’s foul-mouthed tirade against BBC bosses at a charity event on on Thursday night could help Guido’s petition top over 1m – although growth in the number of signatures has slowed in recent days.

It shows how powerful social media is, Twitter was able to get people to tweet and trend in favour of Jeremy Clarkson. Consumers suggested ways of getting a hold of a tank to reinforce the one million signatures on the petition.

Independent case study- new and digital media

Chosen industry: Film

Audience

1. New and digital media  has changed the audience experience in film as social media is used to promote films and gives an opportunity for individuals to give their opinions through social sites such as Twitter. 
2. New and digital media has changed the way the audience consume films as there are many movie streaming websites available which are free to use, this can have an impact on the amount the movie has grossed. 
3. The size of the audience may have changed as it could increase by how popular the film is on social media. An example would be the way 'The fault in our stars' was promoted on Twitter and '50 shades of grey'. These were spoken about so much at the time of release that they trended and made high amounts of profit. 
4. Positive changes: The audience is able to give their opinions on new films that are released through new and digital media such as social networking sites like Twitter. It can also make films popular if they get trending. There are movie sites and fan pages to follow, so the consumers can also be the critics of films.
5. Negatives: Through new and digital media the audience is able to stream movies online through illegal piracy, this can make the impact of the films release decrease and also lower the profits for it.
6. Audience pleasures have not necessarily changed unless stories to films that are newly released are given away through social media.
7. The target audience for my case study is literally anybody and everybody of all ages and class. Films appeal to everyone as it depends on what film it is.

Institution

1. Ownership and control in film can be negative as people can view or release pirate copies of movies.
2. New and digital media has had an impact on ownership for the same reason to do with piracy.
3.  New and digital media has changed the way institutions produce texts by taking into account the consumers needs and wants.
4. It has changed the way institutions distribute their products as there is more of a hype when films are released through new and digital media.
5. New and digital media may threaten the film industry as sites like Netflix are taking over with their popular shows.
6. Regulation has become more strict.

UGC

1. Fans make their own websites to do with movies they may be fans of, such as the Harry Potter fan site where exclusives are revealed.
2. UGC has changed the way films are spoken about and how data is collected of how popular or unpopular a movie is. This is due to social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

Marxism, pluralism and hegemony

Learner response

Q1) How are media language techniques used to make the two media products appear

believable and authoritative? 

The use of camera angles used in media product one portray the realism of the context of the video. Tracking shots are used in the protest following the angered women, this gives the audience a feel of how it would be like to be in that situation. There are also close ups and handheld shots which give a sense of raw footage when its handheld making it seem more believable and authoritative.

There are also interviews with protesters as they are protesting showing these people in the heat of the moment which looks believable and is more engaging on a news channel. There is also a voiceover in media product one which is a narration of what is going on in the video as a way of informing the audience if they do not understand. Diegetic sound is used so consumers can hear the protesters as this makes it more real and believable.

Media product 2 portrayed branding for the website which included of a logo, slogan and mission statement. These are of much importance to an authoritative site and brand therefore due to this it all seems believable.  

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http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/09/buzzfeed-david-cameron-interview-facebook 

BuzzFeed to stream live David Cameron interview 

This article is about Buzzfeed streaming a live interview of David Cameron on their Facebook page. 

• It will be the first international edition of the digital media outlet’s “BuzzFeed Brews” series, designed to offer a “casual setting rather than in a traditional interview format”.
•  It will be the first international edition of the digital media outlet’s “BuzzFeed Brews” series, designed to offer a “casual setting rather than in a traditional interview format”. 
• Cameron’s participation follows BuzzFeed’s interview with President Barack Obama last month, which was one of a number of interviews Obama did with new media outlets, including Vox at the start of last year.

In my opinion this helps consumers become more involved with politics as the social site Facebook is popular with the younger generation as well as the older, so a website like Buzzfeed is likely to be a favourite on many profiles therefore this is a clever way to make people view this.  

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http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/12/bbc-google-make-it-digital-tony-hall 

BBC teams up with Google to launch digital revolution for young people

This article is about the BBC joining Google with an initiative to inspire the younger generation. The aim is to educate children as young as 11 years old about coding, one million children will be given a 'micro bit' which is a coding device. 

• Hall compared the initiative to the BBC Micro, built by Acorn Computers, which was many children’s first experience of computing 30 years ago. 
• “This is exactly what the BBC is all about – bringing the industry together on an unprecedented scale and making a difference to millions. 
• The ‘micro bit’ is a small programmable hardware device which will help children learn basic coding and programming. It is still in development and will become available this autumn. 
• Hall said he hoped the initiative would help solve the UK’s technology skills shortage, with predictions that the country would require 1.4 million “digital professionals” over the next five years. 

In my opinion this is a good idea as it will help these children become further skilled in computing, therefore as they grow older they will have these skills with them and could help prevent a technology skills shortage and jobs would be more available to them.  

Index- Identities and the Media

1. Reading the Riots
2. Post Colonialism: Destiny Ekaragwa film analysis
3. Post Colonialism: theory and clip task
4. Feminism: post feminism article and no more page 3 task
5. Feminism: waves and feminism and online activism
6. Collective identity and the media

collective identity

1)  Sections-  who are you?  

This is about creating an identity for yourself and how our ideas on self image are. There is a certain way we are and a difference of how we want to be seen. The way the media informs us about fashion etc. has an influence on how we use it. 

I think therefore I am- This is about how identities were set to an individual according to their class, race, religion..
From citizen to consumer- About the need of having our desires met, advertising has helped people realise what they want.
Rise of the individual- Individualism began which made people want to be unique.
Branding and lifestyle- Branding was a way for people to buy products to match their personalities.
Who will we be?- We as individuals are in control of our public image when it comes to the internet and such.

2) 5 brands associated with me- Apple, Rimmel, Maybelline, River Island and Accessorize. These reflect me as I use something to do with these brands everyday.
3) I do agree to some extent that the media is style over substance as the most popular things in media are to do with style, fashion and fame.
4) Media saturation is constant media surrounding everybody, whether it be TV or online. I agree we do live in a media saturated world but this may not be a bad thing as media is needed in the world as a way of communication and innovation of technology and future developments.
5) My presence on social media is not a true reflection of who I am as I do not use social media often.
6) Data mining is a good idea as it provides consumers with the benefit of being introduced to products they may be interested in. This is not really an invasion of privacy as it is helping the consumer.
 

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http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/04/twitters-new-bid-to-end-online-abuse-could-endanger-dissidents-analysis

Twitter's new bid to end online abuse could endanger dissidents 

 Twitter is making people register their numbers on twitter through their phones so they can keep track of the abusers but this may be a bad idea.

• started forcing users of the Tor anonymity network – along with serial trolls – to register their phone numbers, in order to stop abuse.
• Users given short-term suspensions for abuse will be required to register their phone number with Twitter, a step that is currently optional, so the company can track trolls and block them from creating multiple accounts.
• The clampdown may stop causal abusers, but those that have gone to the trouble of using Tor to set up accounts and protect their identity to troll and abuse users are unlikely to be deterred by a phone number requirement.
• But in other countries, such workarounds may be less available. In Turkey, all mobile phones have to be registered, including those bought outside of the country. A passport is required to obtain a sim card and phone number, which makes any phone number that could be subpoenaed from Twitter by the government a risk of exposing identity

This may be a good idea to track the abusers, it would also decrease the amount of trolls online.

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http://www.theguardian.com/media/mediamonkeyblog/2015/mar/04/vice-apprenticeships-pay-twitter

Vice apprenticeships: traffic highs, pay lows? 

1 1

 

This article is about how the Vice website posted up a posting of how much you could get paid a week for an apprenticeship which was by mistake and caused annoyance.

• offering two apprenticeships at Vice for the miserly salary of £109.20 ($167.27) a week, or £2.73 an hour
•  according to Vice and DV8 Apprenticeships, the company which operates the schemes, the bare minimum salary was posted by mistake, and the actual figure on offer is £11,400 per annum or about £219 a week.
• Though, given Vice UK’s Twitter profile simply says “we suck less than most other companies”, whacking on an extra £20 to that weekly pay packet might be a good idea.

This shows how quickly news spreads to people on social media.

•  

Feminism online

 Caitlin Moran: Twitter Silence 

1. 
   Twitter Silence was a protest made up on Twitter where women have to stay silent on Twitter for a day to show their inability to speak up on Twitter without obtaining any sort of abuse. There were mixed opinions about this method of protest as many women said it was not effective and women should be louder on Twitter rather than silent to overcome misogyny. 
2. This idea came about from a quote in Jane Austen's book; Northanger Abbey. Due to the abuse on Twitter aimed at the campaign set up by Caroline Criado Perez which was to put up Jane's picture on a banknote. Her fellow feminists 'rallied up' and Caitlin Moran came up with the idea of 'shutting up' on Twitter. 
3. In my opinion this is a valid campaign as feminists just want to protest against the people who give them abuse. They are not targeting an individual in particular so there is no witch-hunt.

Caroline Criado Perez: female presence on banknotes

1. She protested against the Bank of England for replacing Elizabeth Fry on the five pound note to Winston Churchill as otherwise every bank note would have a male on it. Apart from the Queen who is not on the note by choice. She won the protest and was told Jane Austen would then be on the ten pound note. Caroline got many threats on Twitter. 
2. The thing that sparked her protest was because they were going to change the female on the fiver to a male, leaving no other females by choice on the banknotes. 
3. In my opinion people sent out death threats just because they wanted to get involved, this was a wich-hunt against her. However the campaign itself was valid. 

Emma Watson- HeForShe gender equality campaign

1. Emma Watson wants to raise awareness of gender equality as she has seen many things in her life which make her question why men can't be treated the same as women, economically, politically and socially. 
2. Her own beliefs sparked her to get involved with this campaign. 
3. In my opinion her campaign is valid as she just wants people to be aware of what consequences gender inequality can have. 

Ched Evans- convicted rapist 

1. Ched Evans who was a footballer was convicted of rape and there is a campaign stating he shouldn't be allowed to play football again run by Jean Hatchett.
2. This was sparked when Ched Evans was going to be signed back into football.
3. The campaign is valid because people should be aware that crimes such as rape do not get forgotten so easily and should definitely be punished for it.