News history

''The last 20 years have been more significant in terms of media and it's role in society than the whole of the previous 200 years?''

Over the last 20 years, the Media has continued to grow as technology increases. Within the last 20 years, there has been a particular increase in digital media. Examples are: social networking sites (Facebook and Twitter), online videos (YouTube), advertising on TV as well as online, mobile apps and many more. All of these platforms have a link to the media in one way or another. There are social networking sites, mobile apps and YouTube channels with News pages such as BBC and Sky News.

However, 500 years ago is where we first began to discover the Media platform through news spreading. 500 years ago, news spread through word of mouth. In the 17th century, the printing press began which was the birth of Newspapers. The downfall of this was that it was essentially producing 'yesterday's news' as it would take time for journalists to develop and write the story then when it was published it would need to be printed and consumers would read the news from yesterday. During the 1920's, the first addition to the broadcast platform was born which was radio. This was great as it provided up to date and live news for consumers. Also, those who were illiterate had a way to have the news communicated to them without having to read it from a newspaper. During the 1930's, black and white television was introduced, however was very expensive and only the more well off people from the community could afford them, therefore there were only a few in households. To continue, in the 1930/40's Universal Newsreel began. This was a short clip/trailer which would be shown in a theater and highlighted news from around the world to audiences before their film began. This was not however always up to date. In 1972, The Washington Post made a big impact in the media as the water gate scandal revealed the president had organised to break into a hotel of democratic's to find out what was to come in the upcoming election. Moving on, CNN was introduced in 1980 which was the first 24 hour news broadcast. This lead the the 9/11 attack being filmed live and reported at the time of the incident on news channels in 2001.

In my opinion, the media over the years has allowed audiences to be able to access things on a greater and wider scale. However, i agree to a certain extent that the last 20 years has been the most significant as it has allowed us to access the media with growing technology. On the other hand, without the introduction to media 200 years ago, we would not be provided with the broadcasts and facilities we have today as these were designed because of the media originally.

NDM learner response

'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?'

Grade: C - 25/48

WWW:

• You've covered a variety of platforms and also used examples from wider media. This will be crucial in the real exam.

EBI:

• Not enough focus on the question: I don't think you used the words 'views and values' from the question until the final paragraph.

• This answer needed a lot more on user generated content (UGC).

LR: Why might UGC provide a greater variety of views and values to the audience?

User generated content is created by audiences themselves and tends to provide a greater variety of views and values to audience's. The first example of this is YouTube. YouTube allows the public to create channels on which they post any types of videos they like e.g. music videos, blog posts, make up tutorials etc. YouTube allows people to have a Google account to be able to comment on anyone's video and there are no limitations, making it easy for a variety of views and values to be provided to the audience.

Moreover, social networking sites such as Twitter again allow the public to create a Twitter account. People can post whatever they like on their account and also use hashtags. Hashtags then are used to reach even wider audiences as they can be used for campaign purposes to get the attention of audiences. An example of this is Plan B's Ill Manors and his Tag London campaign. The fact that people have the freedom to post and make comments on whatever they like, allows a  variety of views and values to reach audiences.

Another example of user generated content providing a greater variety of views and values to the audiences is blog posts and forums. People who post daily blogs on forums are given the chance to communicate with others who they tend to share a common interest with. For example, Net Mums is a forum generally used and aimed at mothers where they can do a mixture of things such as share problems and seek advice through other people commenting, share food recipes and debate about day to day queries. This content is generated by the public and allows a variety of views and values to be presented to audiences as people have the opportunity to leave their opinion, forming a mixture of comments and debates.

Insitutions

BBC- Non Commercial

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) was founded on 18th October 1922. It is a UK based international public service broadcaster, headquartered at Broadcasting House in London. It is the worlds largest broadcaster by number of employees with approximately 23,000 staff. The BBC are publicly owned by HM Government. It is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its agreement with the Secretary of Stare for Culture Media and Sport. The BBC's work is funded by an annual television license fee which is charged to all British households, companies and organisations that use any type of equipment to receive live television broadcasts. This fee is set by the British Government and is agreed by Parliament. The annual cost of a colour TV license is £145.50 and a black and white TV licence is £49.

The BBC is available on several different media platforms such as Radio, Online and Television.
The different TV channels that the BBC own are: BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, Cbbc, CBeebies, BBC News, BBC Parliament and BBC Alba. A few of the programmes that BBC broadcast are: The Great British Bake Off, Hotel India, Eastenders, Bad Education, Live at the Apollo, Doctor Who and The One Show.

The Radio channels are: Radio 1, Radio 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, Radio 4 Extra, Radio 5 Live, Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, Radio 6 Music, Asian Network, World Service, Radio Scotland, Radio Nan Gaidheal, Radio Ulster, Radio Foyle, Radio Wales, Radio Cymbru and Local Radio. Although most of these radio stations are quite commonly listened to and popular in the UK, the BBC provide international radio stations as well.

The BBC have their own official website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/) which allows audiences to access News articles, Sports, Weather, iPlayer, TV, Radio and more. The BBC also have social network pages such as Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews, Twitter- https://twitter.com/BBC, Instagram- http://instagram.com/bbcnews etc.

News Corp- Commercial

News Corporation was an American multinational mass media corporation headquartered in New York City. It was founded by Rupert Murdoch and existed from 1979-2013 and the company split off in 2013 and is now established with the name News Corp. On June 28th 2012, Rupert Murdoch made an announcement that New's Corporation's publishing operations would be spun off to form a new and publicly traded company. Murdoch said that the split would ''unlock the true value of both companies and their distinct assets, enabling investors to benefit from the separate strategic opportunities resulting from more focused management of each division.''

There are several assets owned by News Corp including: Dow Jones & Company, Fox Sports Australia, Wall Street Journal, News UK, New York Post, HarperCollins, News America Marketing and Amplify Education.

The Newspapers they own are: The Sun, The Times, Sunday Times, Press Association and News Corp Australia and several international companies.

The Television channel they own is Foxtel. News Corp also own several magazines and inserts including: Big League, Country Style, Australian Good Taste, Vogue Australia, Super Food Ideas and MasterChef Magazine.

News Corp have their own website (http://newscorp.com/) and also have several social media platforms where they are available to view and spread news such as Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/newscorpaustralia) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/newscorp).

Decline of Newspaper industry article

https://gigaom.com/2014/01/02/no-larry-page-and-sergey-brin-are-not-to-blame-for-the-decline-of-the-media-industry/

1) Google had led to the decline of the Newspaper industry because people are now accessing Newspaper's online along with other News websites. It is a much easier and convenient option to read the News online as you can get it straight away and usually for free of charge unless you subscribe to a package.

2) In my opinion, I do not believe Google or any other search engine is the total blame for Newspapers declining and journalists losing their jobs. After all, the Internet will carry on growing along with technology and as long as that happens we will continue to see a decline in traditional media as other easier options are available.

NDM story #1 - Are your tweets trusted or tainted? The realities of social media #fails

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/sep/08/tweets-trusted-tainted-social-media-fails

This article looks at the controversy that has been caused between social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Examples of unethical behaviour include Beklin, an American manufacture of consumer electronics who were recently exposed for paying people to leave positive comments on their products on Amazon. The recent Brit Award also saw social media controversial as journalists were invited to attend on the condition that they shared pre-determined tweets about the sponsor MasterCard. Businesses can use a number of tactics if they want to adopt an ethical approach to social media practices including: putting a clear policy in place, consider appointing an internal ambassador and sharing your 'code of practise' externally.  

• A fifth of the world's population on Facebook and some 20 million people joining Twitter every month 

• In a recent YouGov survey of more than 3,000 UK consumers, just 20% reported high levels of trust and confidence in the information they see on social media 

• Seven out of 10 marketers think its perfectly acceptable to encourage their businesses employees to share positive brand messages on social media, but only 28% of consumers have that same view

In my opinion, I believe the social media scandal is unethical. It is not right for businesses to promote their brand names and images in a way that is unreliable as they portray an image of themselves which in fact tends to be untrue. Businesses should implement the above strategies to protect themselves as audiences are being forced to see untrue images of them.