Q: Does your case study suggest that new and digital media has had a positive impact by offering audiences a more diverse range of values and ideologies? (48 marks)
New and Digital Media has offered both positive and negative impact to both audiences and institutions. The birth of the internet has made way for endless opportunity for a diverse range of values to be consumed, however with it, has been the decline in certain industries. The case studies I will be explaining in this essay will be the News industry as well as the Film industry, and find out truly whether or not new and digital media has had a positive or a negative impact.
One way in which the News industry shows that new and digital media has had a positive impact on audiences for a range of values and ideologies is through citizen journalism. Citizen journalism has allowed audiences to view a more authentic side of the story. This gives a more different side of how stories can be presented and subverts the typical TV news. Audiences are used to seeing professional and rather still camera shots. There is no form of emotions being expressed in traditional ways of news telling. However, citizen journalism has filled that gap in which traditional news didn't do. Citizen journalism brings forth emotion and actually makes it feel as if the audience is there experiencing the situation. Citizen journalism brings with it a range of emotion and gives audiences a perspective they just wouldn't have received from traditional media.
On the other hand, one way in which NDM has had a negative impact on offering audiences a diverse range of ideologies is the abuse of online platform. This is because users have been taking advantage of this power to convey false messages and information for others to consume, thinking that it is authentic news. The widespread of 'fake news' has formulated a concern regarding users capability to be producers as they are deemed a problem for content all over the web. People will not only receive vast range of news from various sources, but may be consuming news that is fake which will really tarnish people's trust with each other and other outlets. Andrew Keen stated 'web pages and blogs are like a million monkeys typing nonsense" which is true to a large extent. He states that users can't be trusted with the power that the internet can bestow upon them, as they will simply abuse it, like he stated 'typing nonsense'.
Another way in which the News industry shows that new and digital media has had a positive impact on audiences for a range of values and ideologies is through the distribution and consumption of news. This is because audiences have more success of news than ever before through news from different countries, to topics that previously wouldn't have made it to their 'daily' paper. Another addition, is that news has become overwhelmingly 'free' which doesn't pose an obstacle to those who couldn't before. People can get the news where they want, and when they want which shows just how NDM has aided in helping audiences reach different cultures and experience new things.
However, a major cost to this is the decline in the news paper industry. Sites that publish news, or webpages in general are generally free to access and consume. It is the norm to have everything free on the internet, in terms of websites. BBC followed this 'norm' and delivered news on a similar basis. However, this has caused many firms to see decline in sales such as The Sun seeing 10 million copies sold to 3 million sold as of 2015, and this is due to the rising numbers in convergence technology which boost the numbers of daily readers on NDM platforms. Devices are advancing which allows it to be easier and convenient for news to be consumed on the go, ways in which traditional paper couldn't have. Papers such as The Independent have gone completely online due to the demand for news like this, and rapidly more institutions are declining. Not only is NDM having an impact on traditional institutions, but also on the quality of news as a whole. Those that break the news online, are generally stories from those who work for these 'traditional news firms' such as The Sun, and if there is a lack of money, money for such investigations and interesting stories will not make its way to the consumer, allowing for thing like corruption to continue, as Clay Shirky said "its a wonderful time to be a corrupt politician'.
De Botton's evaluation on the concept of 'hyper reality' feeds its way to the idea that 'too much news can be bad for the consumer' and at times be used as a way to manipulate them. De Botton believes that flooding information to the audience will allow them to lose track of whats happening, however be entirely focused that they are receiving such vast amount of news, without even paying attention to what it even is. Audiences are unable to distinguish what is important and what isn't due to the large flooding in information and news, thus leading to the concept of 'hyper reality'. Furthermore, although audience believe they are receiving a lot of news, is it really '100% truth'? Gatekeeping is a concept mediators tend to keep behind closed doors, giving the illusion that all news is unbiased. However, gatekeeping plays a key part in making the audience read the content in a specific way. To a Marxist this is absolutely true. Powerful people/figureheads are trying to use this platform as a means of 'dumbing down' audiences and keeping them to consume their ideologies as they cannot actively rebel against it.
Marxists would believe that the elite still control the news and that audiences just passively consume it-which is partly true in today's society. News institutions such as The Daily Mail use their content as a means to spread their political ideologies so that their readers can consume and agree with their views. This concept shows that ideologies is an illusion as audiences haven't formulated their opinions by themselves, rather them being spoon fed excessive information. Moreover, Gramsci's hegemonic theory shows that values and views are all within the sphere of normality and common sense. Institutions are trying to stop the status quo from being challenged, trying to make audiences not to challenge it and passively accept it as the 'norm'.
Globalisation is also a reason how NDM has delivered a variety of diverse material to audiences. This is because we can access any form of content and news from around the world instantly. NDM has made convenience its main focus and has made its way through every advance in technology which boosts globalisation as a whole. People have better and quicker ways of accessing the data they want through these advances. However, this has caused the death of local news. Boroughs such as 'The Ealing Gazette' have slowly faded away due to the decline in sales, as locals use the internet as their means of getting the information they want. Paper such as 'The Newcastle Chronicle' have shown how news that are insignificant is what their prime focus is on. Instead of delivering news on world problems, local news such as Newcastle are devoting time and energy in to stories that don't matter, but can at least get a paper sold. A recent paper was released about 'seagulls' showing how news as a medium has changed to significantly that important news isn't allowing for survival, but bizarre and irrelevant stories are.
In conclusion, I believe that NDM has pen doors for audiences to experience many types of news from various places, but comes at a cost. A cost in which a birth of one industry, is the cause of the destruction of another. In this case, the internet's impact on the news industry is on rising conflict. Although there are ways to tackle the decline in numbers, it is clear the NDM is the stronger path and will continue to be so, as it offers audiences to power to challenge those in power (the pluralist perspective), and follows on Murdoch's point that 'the internet has given readers much more power".
However, a major cost to this is the decline in the news paper industry. Sites that publish news, or webpages in general are generally free to access and consume. It is the norm to have everything free on the internet, in terms of websites. BBC followed this 'norm' and delivered news on a similar basis. However, this has caused many firms to see decline in sales such as The Sun seeing 10 million copies sold to 3 million sold as of 2015, and this is due to the rising numbers in convergence technology which boost the numbers of daily readers on NDM platforms. Devices are advancing which allows it to be easier and convenient for news to be consumed on the go, ways in which traditional paper couldn't have. Papers such as The Independent have gone completely online due to the demand for news like this, and rapidly more institutions are declining. Not only is NDM having an impact on traditional institutions, but also on the quality of news as a whole. Those that break the news online, are generally stories from those who work for these 'traditional news firms' such as The Sun, and if there is a lack of money, money for such investigations and interesting stories will not make its way to the consumer, allowing for thing like corruption to continue, as Clay Shirky said "its a wonderful time to be a corrupt politician'.
De Botton's evaluation on the concept of 'hyper reality' feeds its way to the idea that 'too much news can be bad for the consumer' and at times be used as a way to manipulate them. De Botton believes that flooding information to the audience will allow them to lose track of whats happening, however be entirely focused that they are receiving such vast amount of news, without even paying attention to what it even is. Audiences are unable to distinguish what is important and what isn't due to the large flooding in information and news, thus leading to the concept of 'hyper reality'. Furthermore, although audience believe they are receiving a lot of news, is it really '100% truth'? Gatekeeping is a concept mediators tend to keep behind closed doors, giving the illusion that all news is unbiased. However, gatekeeping plays a key part in making the audience read the content in a specific way. To a Marxist this is absolutely true. Powerful people/figureheads are trying to use this platform as a means of 'dumbing down' audiences and keeping them to consume their ideologies as they cannot actively rebel against it.
Marxists would believe that the elite still control the news and that audiences just passively consume it-which is partly true in today's society. News institutions such as The Daily Mail use their content as a means to spread their political ideologies so that their readers can consume and agree with their views. This concept shows that ideologies is an illusion as audiences haven't formulated their opinions by themselves, rather them being spoon fed excessive information. Moreover, Gramsci's hegemonic theory shows that values and views are all within the sphere of normality and common sense. Institutions are trying to stop the status quo from being challenged, trying to make audiences not to challenge it and passively accept it as the 'norm'.
Globalisation is also a reason how NDM has delivered a variety of diverse material to audiences. This is because we can access any form of content and news from around the world instantly. NDM has made convenience its main focus and has made its way through every advance in technology which boosts globalisation as a whole. People have better and quicker ways of accessing the data they want through these advances. However, this has caused the death of local news. Boroughs such as 'The Ealing Gazette' have slowly faded away due to the decline in sales, as locals use the internet as their means of getting the information they want. Paper such as 'The Newcastle Chronicle' have shown how news that are insignificant is what their prime focus is on. Instead of delivering news on world problems, local news such as Newcastle are devoting time and energy in to stories that don't matter, but can at least get a paper sold. A recent paper was released about 'seagulls' showing how news as a medium has changed to significantly that important news isn't allowing for survival, but bizarre and irrelevant stories are.
In conclusion, I believe that NDM has pen doors for audiences to experience many types of news from various places, but comes at a cost. A cost in which a birth of one industry, is the cause of the destruction of another. In this case, the internet's impact on the news industry is on rising conflict. Although there are ways to tackle the decline in numbers, it is clear the NDM is the stronger path and will continue to be so, as it offers audiences to power to challenge those in power (the pluralist perspective), and follows on Murdoch's point that 'the internet has given readers much more power".
