ndm

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/dec/17/220-journalists-are-now-in-prison-across-the-world

220 journalists are now in prison across the world

This article is about how journalists jobs may be becoming in danger in countries like China and Iran. These two countries have jailed 220 journalists. 

• This year, Iranian authorities were holding 30 journalists in jail, down from 35 in 2013.
• Together, China and Iran are holding a third of journalists jailed globally. The 44 journalists in Chinese jails, up from 32 the previous year, reflects the pressure that the country’s president, Xi Jinping, has exerted on media, lawyers, dissidents and academics to toe the government line. Twenty-nine of the journalists behind bars in China were held on anti-state charges.
• A state crackdown in Ethiopia on independent publications and bloggers more than doubled the number of journalists imprisoned there to 17 from seven the previous year, prompting several journalists to flee into exile

The article proves the different views of countries compared to the UK and what they think about journalists, therefore this could become a dying job. 

Ndm

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/dec/17/reading-post-bids-a-print-farewell-and-welcomes-an-online-future

Reading Post bids a print farewell and welcomes an online future

This article is about a news company deciding to stop making and selling their newspapers as they believe online content is an easier way for people to access their news and the demand for print has fallen. 

• One of the Post’s articles relates the paper’s 49-year history while another explains the virtues of its online future 
• It was one of several titles launched by the Thomson Organisation in towns around the fringes of London. The Post, then a broadsheet, benefited from what was claimed to be the world’s first computer-controlled printing press. I think it was the first, or among the first, to publish in colour.
• Now Trinity Mirror aims, its says, to continue the Post’s legacy of being at the forefront of innovation by focusing on a digital-only approach, a change celebrated by Ed Walker, who has been appointed as publisher of getreading.co.uk.  
• “The average adult in the UK who owns a smartphone (such as an iPhone) unlocks their phone more than 100 times a day, and by early 2015 the percentage of adults with a smartphone is set to pass 80%

In my opinion they are doing the correct thing as the future is more digital and it would be easier to innovate the digital reading post page to keep the audience interested in the news they give. 

Globalisation

1. Our news could be influenced by American cultural imperialism as the majority of major global news organisations are American, therefore they tend to dominate the media, America is also one of the elite powers of  the world which makes their involvement in current affairs high which make headlines. 
2. The increased globalisation of news has improved the audience's experience as now media is an essential part of many people's everyday life. Audiences are able to gather many different view points on news stories and different countries debates on certain issues due to globalisation. There are many news organisations who broadcast worldwide, this definitely improves the audiences experience as all the institutions can feed off each other sharing news stories and developing them. 
3. Globalisation has benefited major news organisations as the news enables each organisation to try and cover the news story better which pushes them to improve what they do. Globalisation  also gives major news organisations more consumers who can access their news globally making it popular in different countries such as how Fox news is popular in the UK being an American news channel. 

essay

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.

A Marxist perspective would argue that the so-called “information revolution” has done little to benefit audiences or to subvert the established power structures in society. Far from being a “great leveller” (Krotoski, 2012) as many have claimed, it has merely helped to reinforce the status quo by promoting dominant ideologies. The most popular news website in the UK by a considerable margin is the ‘Mail Online’, which receives more than 8 million hits every month and is continuing to expand rapidly – with forecasts that it will make £100 million or more in digital revenues in the next three years. Similar to its tabloid print edition, the website takes a Conservative, right-wing perspective on key issues around gender, sexuality and race and audiences appear to passively accept what the Marxist theorist, Gramsci, called a hegemonic view. When one of their chief columnists, Jan Moir, wrote a homophobic article about the death of Stephen Gately in 2009 there were Twitter and Facebook protests but, ultimately, they did not change the editorial direction of the gatekeepers controlling the newspaper.

The development for new/digital media means the audience is more powerful from a pluralist perspective. In terms of production individuals are able to contribute through social media using user generated content by publishing their own footage via YouTube, Twitter or Facebook. An example could be of the Arab Spring where people posted up raw footage of the current events taking place in countries such as Egypt, Libya and Tunisia as there was a revolution taking place. Citizen journalism promoted the events taking place as then the bigger institutions such as Google and news online companies such as ‘The Guardian’ used the raw footage from user generated content. Using social media for communicating about protests enhances the pluralistic view as individuals can express their opinions.

From a Marxist perspective new/digital media means the audience is not as powerful as large institutions in terms of production. According to ‘Pareto’s Law’ the minority of media producers always serve a majority of consumers which suggests most of the news the audience consumes comes from the elite institutions such as Google or Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. This is biased information and links with the hypodermic needle theory where audiences are injected with one sided views from a minority of media producers.  Stated by Lin and Webster; the top 5% of all websites are accounted for almost 75% user volume. This suggests audiences are not as powerful as institutions in terms of consumption or production.

The theorist Andrew Keen says that web pages are like a million monkeys typing nonsense which could be seen from a pluralist’s perspective as the audiences are seen to be powerful through production. Producing web pages shows consumers can create their own blogs and chat rooms to voice their opinions and possibly start debates. Furthermore many websites are created for a variety of different audiences they would appeal to. In this case audiences seem to be more powerful than institutions as they can voice their own opinions through websites they create.

However the Marxist view on Andrew Keens quote is that they believe audiences are being dumbed down by all the nonsense that is on the internet which is not helping address social inequalities. An example of this would be the listicle articles on Buzz feed which are very simple to read and follow which is making consumers brain dead as it stops them from reading hard news. Marxists believe producers produce media texts which maintain social divides such as newspapers like ‘The Sun’. The millions of monkeys typing nonsense are the ones who create social divides. 

Alan Rushbridger who was an editor for The Guardian believes there is 'mutualisation of news' which means that news and ideas are shared rather than delivered. The relationship between journalists and consumers has changed and they are more alike as nowadays citizen journalism has become a norm. Journalists and readers happen to be equal partners now.  This is more of a pluralistic view as audiences are evolving to be more powerful in terms of consumption and production than institutions as institutions now gather their information and news from consumers as well as their own research. 

Another theorist with a pluralistic belief; Gurevitch believes audiences are seen as capable of manipulating the media in an infinite variety of ways according to their needs, and they have access to the plural views of society enabling them to 'conform, accommodate, challenge or reject'. Therefore audiences happen to be more powerful against institutions in terms of consumption. 

In conclusion I believe nowadays the audience is more powerful than institutions due to factors such as citizen journalism, user generated content through social media and the mutualisation of news which I agree with as journalists and readers seem to be equal partners as they share their ideas and news rather than deliver them. The idea of democratization in society is also another factor to why audiences are more powerful in terms of production. Democratization allows opinions of individuals in society to be heard and ideas are able to flourish, this could be through social media, blogs or chatrooms. Therefore the development of new/digital media means the audiences are more powerful in terms of consumption and production. 

Feedback 
• Add an introduction
• Expand on my points
• Andrew Keens quote is mainly Marxist
• more detail on citizen journalism
• Gurevitch paragraph needs developing

Grade: B 

Learner response: 
Introduction- The development of new/digital media can portray a sense of the audience becoming more powerful in terms of production. This is mainly due to social media as individuals can create their own content which is known as user generated content. The views of Marxists and pluralists on this topic vary which will be evaluated further on in this essay. 

Citizen journalism has become very normal and is said to be taking away the job of journalists. It works the opposite way nowadays as journalists look for stories that citizen journalists make big. In a way journalists steal citizen journalists stories and make them headlines. From a pluralist perspective the development of new/digital media does mean the audience is more powerful as they create user generated content using popular sites such as Twitter. Citizen journalists can initially make up a false story and make it trend through social media which gives us a glimpse of how powerful audiences have become. 

Another theorist with a pluralistic belief; Gurevitch believes audiences are seen as capable of manipulating the media in an infinite variety of ways according to their needs, and they have access to the plural views of society enabling them to 'conform, accommodate, challenge or reject'. Therefore audiences happen to be more powerful against institutions in terms of consumption. Individuals can speak out against what they believe is not true in the media, a way of manipulating them is using social media to express their opinions which challenges media institutions. 

ndm

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/dec/04/what-can-twitters-reaction-to-the-uk-autumn-statement-tell-us 

What can Twitter's reaction to the UK autumn statement tell us?

 

 

 

This article is about analysing social reaction to political events.

• Social media, particularly Twitter, has emerged as a new political battleground, where opinions are formed and public judgments made, whether politicians like it or not. Over the hour of the speech, 46,000 tweets were sent about the autumn statement – 780 a minute, and more than in both of the party conference leader speeches earlier in the year.
• In total, around 18,000 tweets came from members of the general public; close to ten thousand came from corporate Twitter accounts, especially tax, accountancy and management consultancy firms. A further 10,000 came from media voices – newspapers, the broadcasters, bloggers and writers. Politicians, charities, public sector organisations and activists were vocal too. 
• Twitter, as a rule, is unfavourable to politicians. It is a place where people join in the cross-partisan, cross-generational national sport of anti-politics, and in each of these occasions the boos have drowned out the cheers. In the first referendum debate, Darling was booed 30,000 times and cheered 435. For Miliband’s speech, he received 4 boos for every cheer.

Social media helps consumers to express their opinions on controversial topics such as politics. User generated content helps opinions to form and debates to arise.

ndm

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/dec/01/gadget-obsessed-uk-top-digital-advertising-spend 

UK set to be first country in which more than half of ad spend goes digital 

This article is about how more than half of the UK's expenditure on advertising has become digital. This shows that advertisers are moving along with the times and have realised innovative technology is the way to get messages across. 

• Group M, the worldwide media buying arm of the market services company WPP, has forecast that the total UK ad market will hit £15.7bn in 2015. Within this online spend is forecast to grow 12.7% year-on-year to break the £8bn mark, making the UK the first in which more than £1 in every £2 of ad spend will go on digital media. 
• Next year more money will be spent on internet advertising than in traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, TV, cinema, radio, and billboards, posters and buses combined. 
• According to Group M paid search advertising will grow to £4.2bn, with about 29% of that on mobile devices, most of which is hoovered up by Google, which has more than 90% share of the UK market. 
• Group M is forecasting that more than £160m in print advertising will be lost from the UK newspaper market next year. 
• Regional newspapers are expected to see a 9.1% fall in print ad revenues to £820m, a fall of £82m year-on-year. 

I would say advertising is best shown on social media and websites as many people use the internet in everyday life as it has now become a necessity therefore it is a good thing that more than half of advertising is digital.  

ndm

http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2014/dec/03/no-makeup-selfie-cancer-research-fundraising-benefit-quick-thinking

No-makeup selfie: Cancer Research's lesson on benefits of quick thinking



This article is about how the Research for cancer campaign trended so quickly and over night turned into a major fundraiser all because of social media.

• Within 24 hours, Cancer Research UK had received £1m in donations. Their next No-makeup selfie tweet reported this achievement and became the charity’s most retweeted tweet ever, with over 14,200 retweets. Following this tweet, the number of text donations hit their peak at more than 700,000.
• As No-makeup selfie went truly viral, Cancer Research UK kept the momentum alive. They promoted Facebook posts and reached out to as many supporters as possible, providing updates on donations, thanking donors and inspiring others to take part. They also drove the trend forward and cultivated their rush of new supporters by responding, retweeting and thanking as many people as possible.
• By the end of the week, Cancer Research UK had raised £8m. As a final thank you, they announced the money would be spent on ten important clinical trials that they previously couldn’t fund.

This is a really clever way of making people aware and support the charity even more. It gained a lot of donation in a way which was easy for individuals to give and a fun way to support the charity which was by taking a 'no makeup selfie'.

ndm

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/04/tesco-retail-stampede-social-media-create-brand-chatter

Tesco joins retail stampede to social media in bid to create brand chatter



This article is about how Tesco have realised that consumers spend more money if they are engaged through social media. So Tesco are trying to reach out through Twitter and Facebook and are trying to communicate with their followers.

• Evidence that shoppers engaged via social media spend more and people are increasingly influenced by advice and recommendations from peers on sites such as Facebook and Twitter is forcing retailers to radically change the way they communicate.
• In the first half of this year UK spending on social media advertising rose by 73% to £396m, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB).
• Social media is playing a role in all sectors of the market. For the second year in a row Sainsbury’s caused a stir online with a highly emotional seasonal ad, this year based on the first world war trenches. It barely mentions the brand but has prompted heated debate across Twitter and mainstream media helping it notch up more than 13.6m views on Youtube,
• Social media is now a well established channel for relationship building and a person that has had a positive experience with your brand on social media will be more likely not only to shop with you but also defend your brand’s reputation to their friends.

I believe reaching out through social media is the west way to communicate with customers nowadays as consumers are constantly using social networking sites. This gets shoppers involved even through advertisements such as the John Lewis Christmas ones, which increases their revenue in the long run.

ndm

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/03/google-facebook-uk-digital-advertising-market

Google and Facebook will have more than half of UK digital ad market



This article is about how predictions say Google and Facebook which are media giants will be taking over more than half of the £8 billion digital market in 2015 due to advertisements on smartphones and websites.

• The UK operations of Google and Facebook will make a combined £4.1bn in 2015, a 50.8% share of the total expected to be spent on ads on websites, smartphones, online video and social media next year.
• Facebook UK’s ad revenues are forecast to grow by 55% this year to £576m and by a further 29% next year to £743m, with all of that income coming from display advertising. 
• Google that continues to dominate the UK market, keeping a stranglehold on advertising derived from internet searches with a 90% market share.
• Google UK dwarfs Facebook with a 41.6% share of the total UK ad market to the social networking site’s 9.2%.
• Twitter UK is expected to make about £89.5m in the UK this year, with £82m of that coming from advertising.
• Emarketer said that a major driver for both Google and Facebook has been the explosion in ad spending on smartphones.

ndm

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/02/twitter-new-system-reporting-abuse

Twitter unveils new system for reporting abuse

This article is about how Twitter introduced a new system on reporting abuse which will be unveiled in upcoming weeks. This happens to be a quicker process with less steps on reporting someone.

·         “We are nowhere near being done making changes in this area,” wrote Doshi. “In the coming months, you can expect to see additional user controls, further improvements to reporting and new enforcement procedures for abusive accounts.”

·         Twitter’s reported 23% year-on-year user growth in the third quarter, though analysis showed that people are engaging with the site less.

·          critics received violent threats, occasionally with specific details about where they live after the information was posted on other sites.

• The revamped system includes fewer steps to report abuse, and a new blocked accounts page that includes features for managing accounts a user has blocked. A user who has been blocked by an account will no longer be able to view that profile page.

I would say this is a good innovation for Twitter as there is a lot of abuse that goes on which many people aren't aware of, therefore it should be abled for consumers to access the reporting steps quicker. This is good for the safety and mental health for people.

 

ndm article

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/28/europe-privacy-war-websites-silently-tracking-users

Europe’s next privacy war is with websites silently tracking users



This article is about how device fingerprinting has allowed companies to silently track users.

• The new opinion dictates that “device fingerprinting” – a process of silently collecting information about a user – requires the same level of consent as cookies that are used to track users across the internet.
• Now that Article 29 has published explicit opinion on device fingerprinting techniques it has laid the ground work for developing new legislation to govern their use and protect user privacy.
• Ultimately the regulation of device fingerprinting will fall to the individual data regulators in each country.
• Until now, device fingerprinting has been considered separate from the European legislation that covers cookies, which requires companies that store small bits of information on a users computer for storing settings and identity to explicitly ask for consent.

In my opinion companies should not be allowed to track users without them knowing as this is an offence against the individuals privacy.

The Murdoch Paywall

 Newspapers: The effect of online technology 

Times digital subscription 



1) I do not agree with James Murdoch that the BBC should not be allowed to provide free news online. This is because consumers should be able to access news as it is fundamental to have the knowledge of current affairs as it may concern them as individuals. The BBC being a public service broadcaster should not have a pay wall as consumers pay the license fee in order to be provided with the BBC channels therefore the online content should be free as well as it is a substitute from watching the news and quicker and easier to access. As the BBC is a public service broadcaster its aim is not to make profit as they do not gain revenue from advertisements either. Therefore news should be provided for free. 

2) To and extent Rupert Murdoch was right to put his news content behind a pay wall as the aim for him is to maximise profit as much as he can, whereas the BBC does not aim to maximise profits. The Times however does have 140,000 people paying digital subscribers which is showing the favour of the pay wall. However people are signing up due to the generous freebies such as the Times+ membership card and the Google Nexus 7 tablet for a low price of £50. The pay walls are making the company lose profit but this does not make much of a difference as they are making way more money than they are losing. The Times newspaper lost $28.7 million on a turnover of $361 million.  

ndm article

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/nov/21/future-publishing-cuts-400-jobs

Future Publishing cuts more than 400 jobs as part of restructure



This article is about how the print industry has come to a decline and the digital advertising in the UK represents more than half of advertising revenue.

• 20% decline in revenues, from £82.6m to £66m, as print sales and advertising continued to decline steeply.
• Print revenues declined by 26% from £52.2m to £38.7m, while digital and diversified revenues fell slightly from £30.4m to £27.3m.
• Digital advertising as its UK operation represents 63% of total UK ad revenue.
• Future said it was entering 2015 with a “leaner, simpler business with a strategy that focuses on core competencies of content” concentrating on five areas: technology, games and film, music, photography and creative.
• Future, publisher of a portfolio of websites and magazines including T3, Gizmodo and Total Film, reported a £35.4m pre-tax loss in the year to the end of September.

In my opinion the print industry is in decline and more and more consumers are using the internet and looking at online content as it is free to access news, quicker and easier. There more jobs should be created in the new and digital media side of things rather than old journalism for newspapers.

ndm article

http://careers.theguardian.com/how-use-social-media-get-job

How to use social media to get a job – live chat



This article is about how to use social media to get a job through live chats and building your own profile. A statistic shows that 45% of employers are looking for candidates using social media. However a bad profile can harm the chances of getting employed.

• with 34% using Twitter to make first contact with employers. 
• good social media presence can lead to job offers, a bad profile can harm your job prospects or even jeopardise your current employment. In 2013 Paris Brown, Britain's first youth crime commissioner, resigned after she was publicly criticised for sending racist and homophobic tweets.  
•  two NHS nurses were sacked last year after posting images online joking about patients' anatomies and toilet habits.

In my opinion this could be a good idea as social media is a major part of this time, therefore moving with the times and the innovation of the process of getting a job would intrigue individuals to keep their online profiles at a high standard.

News Values

Gultang and Ruge

Immediacy has been affected by new and digital media as nowadays breaking news travels faster than it used to. This is because social media such as Twitter and Facebook uses user generated content which enables the audience to share and talk about news making it trend.

Amplitude involves a large number of people; this could be a news story such as Hurricane Katrina. New and digital technology has affected amplitude as social media could help victims get their message across by posting up real footage to show the world the disaster or by sending help messages. Many people could also help trend a news story if there are a number of people involved.

Frequency is affected by new and digital technology as user generated content such as commenting on newspaper articles or creating a discussion on social media e.g. Twitter has enabled news stories to be repetitive as people would then follow them and keep talking about them.

Unambiguity has been affected by individuals as they have their own opinions and share them on social media sites. An example would be the Oscar Pistorius case where most people knew he was guilty therefore they were clear and definite on it.

Predictability has been affected by new and digital technology as consumers of social media that express their views could predict certain things like if there would be a war, as political decisions may be obvious to them as on the news they could be hearing certain issues going on.

Surprise is affected by new and digital technology as if there is breaking news all of a sudden it will be talked about all over the TV news channels, newspapers, online news and on social media where discussions could be going on. So rare and unexpected news always becomes a big issue according to Gultung and Ruges theory and makes headlines but technology has made it an even bigger issue.

Familiarity has been affected as news is generated throughout new and digital media such as social media so often that news stories culturally close to Britain will keep being talked about.

Continuity has changed as new and digital media has enabled consumers to carry on conversations and voice opinions through user generated content and re-post news stories on social media which results in continuity on same news stories.

Balance is not really affected by new and digital media.

Elite nations and people, such as the U.S and President Obama have had many breaking news stories which have escalated through new and digital media as people can comment on news and the story can generate around globally.

Negativity in the news is a norm nowadays as most people expect at least 90 percent of the news to be negative. This negativity can be spread around through new and digital media being the online content.

Build the Wall Analysis

Section 1- This is about how newspapers are being destroyed and the internet is taking over so consumers should have to pay for content.
Section 2- The demand for high end journalism has gone down as consumers have turned to online content rather than buying newspapers.
Section 3- The dynamic has changed consumers perspectives of buying news content, news used to be paid to be delivered to houses even though they would lose customers but still made profit.
Section 4-  There are three scenarios given if The Times and The Post build a pay wall.

This article is about David Simons view on putting up a pay wall. He believes that most people may not pay for news if we leave it any longer to introduce a pay wall, however they may not have a choice to pay for quality news and even if they do not pay at least some profit will be made from the consumers who do pay. Simons is for newspapers and wants to try and save high end journalism by preventing the collapse of the newspaper industry. He states the industry is in 'slash and burn mode' and blames the newspapers as he believes it is their fault because they release all of the news through online content for free which is obviously the easiest way for consumers to access the information without paying for it.

The lack of imagination on display in this article is jaw-dropping. If, in five years, any part of this article can be looked back upon as anything other than a completely wrong-headed assessment of the state of the industry, if a reasonable person will be able to look back from 2014 on any of the suggestions and say either, "That would have been a good thing to try" or "Thank goodness they did that," I will eat a Baltimore Orioles hat while standing naked in Times Square.
This person definitely does not agree with the article because the state of the newspaper industry does not need a pay wall for their online content as that would be something society would not be pleased with.

The reason why newspapers are struggling now is not entirely because of a free online product and low online ad revenue. The reason newspapers are hurting is because the car industry went kerplunk. I would guess that NY Times readership has increased since it went online. It's just waiting to find a way to capitalize on that readership. Once someone figures out a way to do that, then problem will take care of its self. Also if NYTIMES and WP start charging we'll all just go to CNN.com. We will be less informed but we will also not have paid for something we believed should be free.
This person doesn't agree with David either because he believes news should be provided for free and if online content was to be charged for then people would just keep trying to find an alternative way to consume free news, even if it is not to the highest standard.

I fully agree with David Simon. The big dogs of journalism must act soon and decisively if they want to save the virtues and quality that define the very notion of their profession. I'd really rather pay for a good, interesting, unbiased, informative, product of journalism than read amateur bloggers who jot down a few sentences and then cover half of the screen with screaming advertisements.
This person agrees with David because he basically says news should be paid for if it is of quality rather than reading low end journalism news.

My opinion would be that news should be free as every individual has the right to be knowledgeable of current affairs globally and locally as this is important in the case of breaking news. If people are not aware of what is going on then this could potentially be dangerous for them, an example would be the London Riots; if individuals were unaware of what was going on in their communities they could have ran into trouble. Online content should not be under pay wall unless it is entertainment news which is not so important. However a counter argument for my opinion would be that even if there was a pay wall for online content then social media would help get news across to people. As users of social networking such as Twitter can make important news stories trend.

ndm article

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/17/facebook-at-work-professional-networking-site 

Facebook targets workplaces with new professional networking site 

 

This article is about Facebook creating a new social networking site for workplaces called 'Facebook at work' for business people to communicate on here using chats and sharing documents. 

• The new site is expected to look very similar to Facebook’s interface, with its newsfeed and groups, but allow users to keep their personal information entirely separate from their work profile. 

• For the venture to prove a success, Facebook would have to win the trust of corporate IT chiefs and guarantee that information conveyed could not fall into the hands of rival businesses. 

• Thousands of companies use email, chat and collaboration tools offered by the likes of Google and Microsoft, while LinkedIn has become the most widely used site for professional networking. 

• Some have suggested that the drive is as much about creating more potential Facebook users as getting people in the developing world online. 

• Google is also working on a project to provide internet access using high altitude balloons, while Facebook is also experimenting with solar-powered drones at would fly at 20,000 metres. 

In my opinion I would say this is a clever idea as employees can get involved with social networking in a different way other than sending emails. This could become a development to remember as it is innovated to move along with the times as in the future social network will become even more dominant in world and used in a broader way. 

ndm article

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/nov/14/changing-channels-top-end-bundles-rise-to-100-pounds-a-month 

Changing channels: cost of top pay TV bundles rises to £100 a month

 

This article is about viewers having to pay up to £100 a month in order to watch their favourite shows in packages bundled with broadband and phone lines. This has been given the go ahead because the cost of television is increasing and the increase in streaming services such as Netflix, therefore they have had to up their game. 

• The new services, which offer shows any time and on any device, give consumers more viewing choice than ever before – but at a price. The top packages from Sky, Virgin Media and TalkTalk, which include all the best shows and broadband bells and whistles, all now cost more than £1,000 a year. 

• The most recent figures show that BT’s overall average revenue per user has grown 7% year on year to £404 a year. Sky’s has increased from £504 four years ago to £574, while Virgin’s is £588 a year – up 2% year on year. 

• To watch all Premier League football matches, plus shows such as Game of Thrones, House of Cards and the former BBC drama Ripper Street, consumers need to subscribe to Sky Sports and BT, Sky Atlantic, Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video, respectively. Buying just those TV services directly – without them being bundled with any packages that include broadband or telephony – costs about £792 a year, or £839 in high definition. That is on top of £145.50 a year for the BBC licence fee.

• TV companies are “upselling”, so individuals are also buying more premium online services such as Netflix or better broadband. 

ndm article

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2014/nov/07/newspapers-not-dying-buzzfeed-new-york-times

Let’s get over the whole 'newspapers are dying' thing 



This article is about Tien Tzuo who believes newspapers are not dying out and that new media is falsely undermining newspapers' capacity for innovation. He says people conflate content with form.

•  Newspapers are intellectual assets, not physical ones. Their core product consists of making smart editorial decisions and publishing sharp voices. Whether you choose to read those voices on a phone or on a broadsheet makes no difference.

• News UK made a considered decision to partner with Spotify because lots of people like to listen to music while they read, and most journalists love music and are happy to contribute playlists. It was a natural fit.

• The FT actually makes most of its money from content, essentially flipping the modern newspaper business model on its head. But this has benefits on the advertising side as well. The greater behavioural and demographic insight that comes with membership plans and paywalls helps newspapers move away from empty calories like slideshow page views towards more valuable engagement metrics like time spent. 

• get over the whole “newspapers are dying” thing. They’re certainly moving in lots of creative new directions (and eventually they may ascend out of physical world altogether - holograms, maybe?), but they’re definitely not going gently into that good night.

• Generation Y actually spends 38% more time reading newspapers (online and off) than my own, Generation X. So as long as papers continue to create great content, hire quality journalists and come up with inventive new ways to bring their readers into the fold, they’ll do just fine.

In my opinion print newspapers are dying out, however the online versions have increased their consumer views. So eventually they will die out in the next few generations as the newer generations will be onto technology as the norm.

ndm article

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/06/john-lewis-unveils-christmas-ad-starring-monty-the-penguin

John Lewis unveils Christmas ad starring Monty the penguin



This article is about how the John Lewis Christmas advert has become very popular and will be an on going feature of the store every year. The advert cost £1 million to make and the campaign is running for £7 million. It has now become one of the biggest media events of the year. After last years success of the advert gaining 10 million views on YouTube, this year it will be shared all over social media.

• Social media is now a central part of most retailers’ ad campaigns. Rival department store Debenhams, which unveiled an ad last week.
• Last year Marks & Spencer allowed viewers to vote on the name of the dog in its Christmas ad via social media, while Burberry, which is running its first ever Christmas TV ad this year, is simultaneously streaming it via 10 social media platforms including Tumblr and YouTube.
• Street said last month that John Lewis wanted to avoid over-hyping this year’s ad because it believed last year’s launch, which included a glitzy premiere at a London hotel, had irritated some customers.
• How the penguin was created:

It may look real enough to get animal lovers calling the RSPCA but it’s pixels not feathers that make up the penguin in John Lewis’s Christmas ad. Post production house MPC, the group behind CGI animations in Planet of the Apes, World War Z and the First Direct Platypus, created the penguin by mapping the movement of Adélie penguins in the wild.
Film of a penguin building its nest, for example, was used to help create the animation of Monty the penguin playing with Lego. The shot of a penguin peeking from behind a tree was rather more easily created, however – with the aid of a model penguin moved by a member of the crew.

In my opinion the advert is a really good way to entice viewers to visit the Christmassy store and get individuals in the Christmas spirit. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook are a clever way to get consumers to share the advert and talk about it using UGC and increase the views from last year.

NDM Summary

1. 12/09/14 Fault in our stars, 
2. 12/09/14 Petition for Obama
3. 12/09/14 Top 100 Youtube Channels
4. 15/09/14 YouTube stars and Facebook, 
5. 15/09/14 Game:Destiny- huge profit,
6. 15/09/14 iPhone 6 release
7. 22/09/14 Sexism at freshers week,
8. 22/09/14 website: Alibaba worth more than Google?  
9. 26/09/14 Twitter targets film advertising,
10. 26/09/14 Problems with iPhone 6
11. 06/10/14 Sky ‘saddened’ over death of alleged McCann troll
12. 08/10/14 UK viewers ‘spend five hours a week viewing TV, clips and films online’
13. 08/10/14 BBC iPlayer catch-up window extended to 30 days
14. 08/10/14 Last.fm made loss of £2.1m last year
15. 10/10/14 Cassetteboy parodies
16. 13/10/14 Can Twitter make money out of breaking news or is it a PR platform?
17. 23/10/14 Twitter changes: 20 hits and misses from the social network's history 
18. 23/10/14 Is UKIP winning on Facebook and Twitter? 
19. 23/10/14 Facebook pays no UK corporation tax for a second year
20. 23/10/14 Media jobs website Gorkana sold to Cision in £200m deal  
21. 7/11/14 John Lewis christmas advert 
22. 7/11/14 get over newspapers dying out 
23. 17/11/14Cost of pay for TV channels
24. 17/11/14Facebook introducing 'Facebook for Work'
25. 23/11/14 Social media to get a job
26. 23/11/14 Print in decline
27.  04/12/14 Twitter unveils new system for reporting abuse
28.  04/12/14 Google and Facebook dominate digital market
29.  04/12/14 Tesco joins retail stampede -social media
30.  04/12/14 Cancer research trends
31.  05/12/14 More than half of ads are digital
32.  05/12/14 Twitters reaction to politics 
33.  18/12/14 Reading print bids a farewell to print
34.  18/12/14 220 Journalists jailed
35.  03/01/15 Who’s taking control this year? Google, BBC, Facebook, or even North Korea?
36.  03/01/15 From YouTube to Facebook – will video be the one to watch in 2015?
37.  03/01/15 The virtues of Vice: how punk magazine was transformed into media giant 
38.  03/01/15 Arrested over twitter threats

ndm article

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/22/media-jobs-gorkana-sold-cision-gtcr

Media jobs website Gorkana sold to Cision in £200m deal

This article is about an employment PR company which has been sold to a rival company called Cision. This is a part of an expansion strategy.

• Cision, which is owned by US private equity firm GTCR, recently closed a $447m (£278m) deal to buy Vocus, creating a giant in the software for the PR sector.

• Gorkana was bought by private equity group Exponent, which also owns BBC magazines publisher Immediate Media, in 2010 for about £25m.

• The company made adjusted earnings of about £15m-£16m in its most recent financial year and had been looking to sell for about £200m.

• ''Cision shares our commitment to providing the best possible service to PR professionals, journalists and members of the media,” said Thompson. “Joining forces allows us to better serve our existing customers while also enhancing our ability to rapidly expand into new international markets.”

As two rival companies have joined this means they can expand together and maximise their profit which is a really good thing. However healthy competition is not always a bad thing as companies can learn from each other and strive to progress further.

ndm article

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/22/facebook-uk-corporation-tax

Facebook pays no UK corporation tax for a second year

This article is about Facebook not paying corporation tax for the second year which may be controversial for many as employees received shares in the company worth tens of millions of pounds.

• The world’s largest social media company reported a pre-tax loss of £11.6m in the UK last year, despite its US parent company reporting a net profit of $1.5bn (£900m).

• The company made £371m in advertising revenue last year, a 67% year-on-year rise from the £222m in 2012, according to research firm eMarketer.

• The company employed an average of 172 UK staff, who were paid £40.8m last year, almost double the 2012 figure of £21m.

• UK staff received 1.52m free Facebook shares worth $118m at their current share price of about $78.

• There were also 2.2m shares worth more than $170m “outstanding” as at 31 December.

• The government has promised a change in the law to crack down on offshore tax avoidance.

Facebook being the largest social media site should be able to pay corporation tax as they make a lot of money, and as employees are getting shares worth a lot this just shows that they have the money to pay taxes. this is unfair as most of the larger companies pay their tax therefore Facebook shouldn't have an excuse as they also get profit from advertising.

ndm article

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/22/ukip-facebook-twitter-nigel-farage-social-media

Is UKIP winning on Facebook and Twitter?

This article is about how Nigel Farage’s party has made an impact on social media as they have been taking to Twitter to tweet about why they should be elected and they speak against parties such as Labour.

 

•  A YouTube video of a Ukip calypso song has been shared widely online, with Nigel Farage tweeting at his supporters to buy the track and make it No 1 in the singles chart. #Ukipcalypso trended on Twitter on Monday as a result.
• The party, which is currently polling at 15% according to YouGov, has disproportionately high levels of social media engagement for the size of its membership (which is about 39,000, according to the most recently released figure, compared with 190,000 for Labour and 134,000 for the Conservatives).
• Ukip was, perhaps unsurprisingly, mentioned on Twitter more than any other party in the runup to the European elections
•  Ukip currently has 276,435 likes on Facebook, which is just 18,153 likes short of the Conservative party’s 294,588 and over 82,000 ahead of the Labour Party, which only has 193,788.

l would say the easiest way to get a message across to the public by political parties is to take to social media. This is why UKIP have become quite popular on Twitter and Facebook.

 

ndm article

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/22/twitter-changes-hits-misses-history

Twitter changes: 20 hits and misses from the social network's history

 

This article is about Twitter changing features on the site, which normally cause a debate. they announced a new application development called fabric. The changes impact Twitter users which then causes debate on Twitter about the site itself. Changes such as verified accounts, hyperlinked hash tags, retweet buttons and Twitter lists have in the past created topics to talk about and triggered criticism.

 

 

• In 2014, some people think it’s rude to manually re-post someone’s tweet with an RT at the start, rather than just tapping the retweet button. So it might be strange to think that once, all retweets were done in this way.

• In the first half of 2014, Twitter made $503m from advertising.

• This is one of the Twitter experiments that many people have forgotten. @EarlyBird was a new form of Twitter ad, but also an account that people could follow, tweeting out exclusive offers from advertising partners.

•  BlackBerry was actually first to get an official Twitter app in April 2010, thanks to a partnership between Research In Motion and Twitter. But the same month, the company signified its intentions by buying popular iPhone app Tweetie, rebranding it as Twitter in May – by which point there was also an official Android app.

 

In my opinion Twitter is designed and made changes to according to what the consumers want, if they suggest something it would be taken into consideration. This is because even though Twitter is a large scale company, to keep consumers interested by using it they will make it more intriguing for users. This I believe is a good way to maximise profit for them.

examples of UGC

London riots 2011

Murder in Woolwich

Shooting at Sikh temple in Wisconsin

Kenya mall massacre 

Student protests

Rise of UGC.

Examples-

• ·         The cause of the LA riots was caused because of an ordinary person using UGC.

• ·         The natural disaster of the Asian Tsunami on December 26^th 2004, much of the early footage of events was provided by citizen journalists providing on the spot witness accounts as they unfolded.

• ·         The London bombings on July 7^th 2005 provided another opportunity for citizen journalists to influence the mainstream news agenda by showing their footage of the bombings on their mobile phones.

• ·         An undergraduate student from Virginia Tech killed up to 30 people and it was recorded by another student as he was laying on the ground near the shooting.

• ·         Mumbai bombings November 2008, people were updated via Twitter.

• ·         Hudson River plane crash January 15^th 2009, somebody posted a picture on Twitter of this which first broke the story.

Benefits to institutions-

• ·         It is easier to get a hold of a story if it is popular rather than finding one themselves.
• ·         They know what news the audience are interested in.
• ·         They do not need to hire many workers to investigate stories.
• ·         Crowd sourcing

Benefits to audiences-

• ·         Audience gets more credit
• ·         They create their own content
• ·         Their opinions are heard about through social media.

Wider issues and debates-

• ·         Without moderation sites can be overrun by bigots.
• ·         Opinions could be dominated which isn’t good for society (e.g. racism)
• ·         There would be fewer jobs and trained journalists
• ·         Less profit for bigger institutions

SHEP-

Social- Social rise in UGC, society opinions could be voiced through social media.

Historical- In the past the way people got their news was from professional journalists doing their jobs looking for news stories which were then broadcasted on TV or printed on newspaper.

Economical- Money is being made from websites such as YouTube and Twitter as people post up user generated content. However online viewing is free.

Political- The government would want institutions such as the BBC to be broadcasting and getting the most views as they are a neutral company, rather than nobody watching the news and looking up news on UGC sites such as Twitter.

What impact is new/digital media having on the following?

News stories-

 The audience can now express their views on news stories through social networking sites. Due to news being easier to access on apps and websites through smartphones the audience can put a twist to news stories and add their own opinions which could be flourished within society.

The news agenda-

The choice of stories that make up the news could be put together by what the most popular stories may be currently, usually shown through trends and popular topics on social media such as Twitter or Facebook. Therefore new/digital media has a big impact on the news agenda as more people would probably want to watch the news to find out more about topics they want to know about.

The role of professionals in news-

Professionals in news are most likely becoming less watched as the audience nowadays tend to put their own views on news stories which they may present on YouTube or just general video footage on Twitter or Facebook which could be shared further making it popular. Therefore news professionals are sort of becoming less important in a way as the news is becoming less mediated.