section B exam Answer

New and Digital media offers media institutions a different way of reaching audiences. 

Consider how and why media institutions are using these techniques?

New and Digital media has had a huge impact the way audiences consume different media texts. Techniques in which the media is conveyed to audiences, has changed significantly over the years because of the dramatic upgrade in technology.

Social media networking sites have had an immense impression on the way people consume the news, in comparison to the traditional way of receiving news. Social media networking sites such as twitter allow media institutions to generate a greater interaction and collaboration with the institution and its audiences through the use of the comments section, where discussions may be held to controversial issues. This heavily displays democratisation, as people from of all backgrounds, religion, beliefs, sexuality, gender, high or working class and ethnicities can take part in the discussions and voice their opinion on there.

Conversely, traditional platforms such as newspapers and the TV, people are more passive when receiving the media. This taps into the hypodermic needle theory as it suggests that audiences are injected with hegemonic social, political and economic ideologies and opinions that the institution/ media conglomerates and other people in power may have. (Two step flow).

Furthermore, other social media examples such as Instagram also allow media institutions to reach out to audiences about the news. This is through the regular updates on the news and allow for hash tags such as #prayforParis, during the recent attacks. It helps people engage with the news corporations such as sky news or the BBC, as programmes are regularly updated on them, Instagram too includes a comments section underneath the picture/poster they post. Similarly, news corporations also use Facebook to update its audiences with the latest or breaking news. Facebook allows you to repost posts about the news which also helps promote the institution as well as the breaking news to audiences.

However, some may argue that institutions that use this technique to convey their content to audiences may be under threat by social media as news nowadays is likely to be exposed on social networking sites before the news. This can be done through citizen journalism and user generated content posted by members of the audience. A well-known example of successful user generate content is displayed though the video of Eric Garner which gained a lot of public attention. After the video was posted online police brutality was taken more seriously and even a campaign called black lives matter was organised by the general public, voicing their opinions on some of the injustices that had been marginalised by traditional media. Social media such as Twitter and Instagram also contributed to raising awareness on this matter though the increasing hashtags #ICANTBREATHE which symbolises the death if Eric Garner.

Additionally, websites are also used quite frequently by institutions to provide audience’s with up to date digitalised print news. This also allows space for comments in the comments section usually at the bottom of the page, an example of this is The Guardian a left wing hard news corporation who believes that ‘newspapers have to adapt’ just like Murdoch says. However, in order to increase revenue, some online papers have created a pay wall. This is evident though the Times going online and creating a pay wall in in order to receive the news making a huge increase to their revenue. However some corporations may fail to capitalise this technique and may find a dramatic decrease in their economy such the Sun whose audience were from the demographic of C2, D and E category.

On the other hand some news corporations may use technology negatively, this is apparent through the phone hacking scandal. Murdoch’s news of the world corporation which was involved in a phone hacking scandal. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive

LR

www: some critical vocabulary htrough the use of your case study
ebi: lacks enough of a NDM focus and dont talk about news

Read the Examiner's Report in full. For each question, would you classify your response as one of the stronger answers or one of the weaker answers the Chief Examiner discusses? Why? What could you do differently next time? Write a reflection for EACH question in the paper.

I didn't talk about the news and the effects of new and digital media. I just spoke about my independent case study.Examiners  stress to focus on the question.

5) Choose your weakest question in Section A and re-write an answer in full based on the suggested content from the Examiner's Report. This answer needs to be comprehensive and meet the criteria for Level 4 of the mark scheme. This will be somewhere between 3-6 well-developed paragraphs (depending on the number of marks).
• Key to advertising/marketing revenue

• Growth of e-Media economy

• Illusion of empowerment

• Direct audience feedback

• Demographic targeting


• Cross media promotion

it is highly essential for media producers to generate a positive attitude to the audience, this is because it has a huge impact on the increase of revenue. This is allows a greater interaction involvement with the audience and this engagement increases revenue as it creates a greater fan base. Moreover, through new and digital media the media producers attain direct feedback from the consumers of the company. This also allows a the promoters to target a specific demographic target. Furthermore, there is an illusionment of empowerment as  

Case study research tasks

The basics

Your chosen industry: music

Your chosen case study (i.e. text/institution etc.): Beyonce/lilly Allen

Have you received approval for this case study from your teacher? Yes


Research and answer the following tasks on your MEST3 exam blog:

Audience

1) How has new and digital media changed the audience experience in your chosen industry?

The digital revolution has enabled audiences to move from passive to active, leading to a participatory culture as audiences get more of a say in what music is produced and which music 

By embracing social network media platforms, musicians and record labels are able to utilise an interactive relationship with fans that is beneficial to both producers and audiences. 

The growth and popularity of the internet has challenged the power of conglomerate control within the industry in a number of ways. The music industry has had to respond to the advent of the digital revolution due to its impact on production, distribution, artists and audiences.

 VIRAL MARKETING

Contemporary ‘DIY’ culture within the music industry, shaped by artists such as Lily Allen and The Arctic Monkeys, has led to the role of the conglomerate becoming less pivotal. 

2) Has new and digital media changed the way the audience consume your chosen product?

• Decline in CD's 
• However, this has the potential to increase music piracy and illegal downloading of music which in turn can contribute to massive financial losses for record labels as users are able to download or stream music for free rather than purchase a physical copy.

3) Has the size of the audience changed as a result of new and digital media?

yes it has grown

4) What are the positive changes new and digital media have brought to the audience of your case study? (E.g. greater choice, easier access etc.)

easy access
larger variety of genres 

5) What are the negative changes new and digital media have had on your chosen audience? (E.g. quality of product etc.)

cant access newly released songs as quick 

6) What about audience pleasures - have these changed as a result of new and digital media?


7) What is the target audience for your chosen case study? Write a demographic/psychographic profile.

teenagers/early twnties
in  full time education or part time working


Institution

1) How has new and digital media had an impact on ownership or control in your chosen industry?

• The growth and popularity of the internet has challenged the power of conglomerate control within the industry in a number of ways. The music industry has had to respond to the advent of the digital revolution due to its impact on production, distribution, artists and audiences.

2) What impact has new and digital media had on ownership in your chosen case study?

• Gaga exists across numerous media platforms, combining art, fashion, music, film and technology through her creative brand ‘Haus of Gaga’. This refers to the collaborative team who work with Gaga on her videos, stage shows and creative vision. The Gaga ‘brand’ is further promoted through her business activity off stage. She has her own high street fashion range in shops such as River Island and Topshop, a make-up range for MAC and is the face of many product endorsements including Polaroid.

3) How has new and digital media changed the way institutions produce texts?

4) How has new and digital media changed the way institutions distribute their product?

• Lady Gaga offers a new business model by successfully combining traditional industry practices (being signed to and financed by a major record label) with new media forms. She utilises the power of a major conglomerate whilst embracing the development of digital technology. Since the Gaga phenomenon began, her music has been available to access for free via streaming on her many online profiles, including those on Vevo and Myspace. Rather than reduce record sales, this move has proved financially beneficial for the institution as fans are also paying to download the music via iTunes.

5) How might new and digital media threaten your chosen industry?

• The rapidly increasing trend of internet file-sharing has resulted in both positive and negative outcomes for both artists and fans. Artists are rewarded with free ‘viral marketing’ where word of mouth spreads ‘like a virus’ amongst users, generating free publicity and ‘buzz’ around an artist, video, album or single. 
• However, this has the potential to increase music piracy and illegal downloading of music which in turn can contribute to massive financial losses for record labels as users are able to download or stream music for free rather than purchase a physical copy. 

6) How has new and digital media changed the way your chosen industry is regulated? 

• Contemporary ‘DIY’ culture within the music industry, shaped by artists such as Lily Allen and The Arctic Monkeys, has led to the role of the conglomerate becoming less pivotal. Artists have taken ownership of key industry processes such as marketing and distribution, processes usually carried out by the record labels themselves. Artists are now able to take ownership of their own marketing and distribution online using sites such as MySpace, working independently of conglomerate support. 
• As conglomerates becomes less dominant, audiences gain more choice over the types of music they want to hear and access, rather than being restricted by the type of music distributed by record labels. If high levels of interest for an artist are established online, indicated by the number of ‘adds’ or ‘friends’ an artist has acquired, then a record deal may be offered to an artist, putting them under conglomerate control. 
• The digital revolution has enabled audiences to move from passive to active, leading to a participatory culture as audiences get more of a say in what music is produced and which music succeeds. The fan-run ‘Rage Against the X Factor’ Campaign is an example of how consumer power won in the battle to challenge conglomerate control.

UGC

1) What examples of user-generated content can you find in your case study?

• Contemporary ‘DIY’ culture within the music industry, shaped by artists such as Lily Allen and The Arctic Monkeys, has led to the role of the conglomerate becoming less pivotal. Artists have taken ownership of key industry processes such as marketing and distribution, processes usually carried out by the record labels themselves. Artists are now able to take ownership of their own marketing and distribution online using sites such as MySpace, working independently of conglomerate support. 

people can comment and give feed back to music artists via social media and comments

and can aslo produce their own music without a company backing them up

2) How has UGC changed things for audiences or institutions in your chosen case study?

audineces are more interactvie with the music artsists follwing them on insta twitter and snap chat, follow up there daily activites and give a closer insight to thier fans supporters 

• Para-social relationships – Psychologists use the term “parasocial relationship” to describe the connection people get from celebrities and other famous people but which an illusion is.

Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony

1) What would be a Marxist perspective of the impact of new and digital media on your chosen case study?

2) How would a pluralist view the impact of new and digital media in your chosen industry?

3) Are there any examples of hegemony in your chosen industry or case study?


Globalisation

1) How has globalisation impacted on your chosen industry or case study?

Available on youtube variety of music from diff cultures gangnam style global

“In 2015, we have continued to expand our artist ticketing business, with more than three times growth across Europe. We are now ticketing one out of every three concerts in London and have helped artists sell tickets across 48 countries in 2015,” wrote co-chief executives Ian Hogarth and Matt Jones in a blogpost. (Globalisation)

• According to the Institute for Policy Innovation global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year. In order to combat this music streaming services such as Spotify have worked in conjunction with the industry to try offer audiences the opportunity to listen to music but not actually download it, which means it is not being shared YouTube has also placed ID content censorship on videos to stop music being downloaded. However, these are only temporary measures and the industry has had to find more ways to prevent this.

Pandora is a streaming-radio service with the vast majority of its listeners in the US, but it has ambitions to expand globally, with Spotify-style fully on-demand streaming.

2) In your opinion, has globalisation had a positive or negative impact on your chosen industry and case study? Why?

Positive, 

3) Can you find examples of cultural imperialism in your case study or industry? (The 'Americanisation' of the world)




Social media

1) How has your industry or case study used social media to promote its products?

2) Provide examples of how your case study has used social media and explain the impact this would have on audiences.

3) Is social media an opportunity or a threat to your industry and case study?


Statistics

1) What statistics can you find to illustrate the impact new and digital media has had on your industry or case study? For example, in news, the UK newspaper industry sold more than 12m copies a day in 2001 but in 2014 it was below 7m.

2) Looking at these statistics, what impact has new/digital media had on institutions in your chosen industry? 

3) What has the impact been for audiences? These may be positive and negative.


Theories

1) What media theories can you apply to your chosen industry and case study? Select THREE media theories and explain how they are relevant to your case study. Note: these can be ANY of the theories we have learned over the whole of Year 12 and 13.

feminism 
gate keeping
global village 
empowering dis-empowering Andrew keen
gramsci hegemonic
butler-gender performance
mc robbie challanges tradish feminism
4th wave




Issues/debates

1) What media issues and debates can you apply to your chosen industry and case study? Select THREE media issues/debates and explain how they are relevant to your case study.

representation of women
adgendas
UGC
liberation/exploitation




Wider examples and secondary texts

1) What other texts or institutions are also relevant to your case study? What would be good secondary texts or examples to use to support the findings of your independent case study?

N&D 4/03/2016

E-media story 47: We cannot trust our government, so we must trust the technology

Apple’s battle with the FBI is not about privacy v security, but a conflict created by the US failure to legitimately oversee its security service post Snowden

This article discusses how we should back Apple's fight against the FBI for the encryption of Apple devices. The initial debate was to find out the contents of two terrorist's iPhones, but has evolved into a war on privacy and abolition of people's rights by the FBI. 

The FBI is demanding Apple to create software that will enable them access into the terrorist's phone, but Apple stated that doing so would open a door to all iPhone devices, which raises the issue of security versus freedom. 

"The fundamental problem is the breakdown of trust in institutions and organizations. In particular, the loss of confidence in oversight of the American national security establishment."

The article states that this is the wrong way to view it, and that rather it being security versus freedom, it's more about the lack of trust in the institutions set up to protect and serve. Apple had designed a security system that even they themselves could not get into, in order to preserve the privacy, but also due to the lack of trust in institutions that oversee surveillance. The approach, in the words of Yochai Benkler "builds security in a fundamentally untrustworthy world". 

• Apple’s technology is a response to users’ thirst for technology that can secure their privacy and autonomy in a world where they cannot trust any institutions, whether government or market.
• we need to end the culture of impunity that protects people who run illegal programs and continue to thrive in their careers after they are exposed, but vindictively pursues the whistle blowers who expose that illegality.
• Apple’s case is not about freedom versus security; it is about trustworthy institutions or trust-independent technology. We cannot solve it by steam-rolling the technology in service of untrusted institutions.

I completely agree with Benkler here in that this is greater than the security of Apple, and more about the distrust between the people, and the agencies/institutions/governments meant to serve them. The FBI keep secrets and press down on resistance like Snowden, who is currently trapped in Russia with the Americans watching daily to arrest him if he leaves, which shows the fear tactics that they induce. A world where truth sayers and whistle-blowers are targeted instead of people doing illegal things is a world where agencies like the FBI deserve to be untrustworthy. It's the same with the phone hacking scandals and security issues here with the MI5. The world is not a democracy when there are elites and secrets being kept from the people being served. I believe this is due to people not wanting to be self governed and being grown up to depend on the elites who are the reason for the issues in trust today. The Bildeberg group has confidential meetings every year about the future of the world we all live in, yet do not let even a whisper get out to the people it concerns. The world is too uncertain to be sure who to trust, so Apple's thinking that the only ones we can trust is technology is a sound one, due to technology not being secretive or tyrannical in it's reign. 

N&D 11/03/2016

Has social media ruined the web?http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/dec/31/has-social-media-ruined-the-web

Has the web lost its power to drive social change? This is the conclusion of Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, imprisoned by the regime in 2008 and released and pardoned in 2014.  

The rise of smartphones and apps had changed the online world. Blogging and independent websites had been overtaken by social media networks, with the likes* of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram dominating the market.

·                     "Nearly every social network now treats a link as just the same as it treats any other object – the same as a photo, or a piece of text. You’re encouraged to post one single hyperlink and expose it to a quasi-democratic process of liking and plussing and hearting. But links are not objects, they are relations between objects. This objectivisation has stripped hyperlinks of their immense powers"

Sun website traffic falls by more than 5% despite axing of paywall

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jan/21/sun-website-traffic-paywall-december

The Sun saw a more than 5% fall in its audience in December, despite dropping its paywall fully for the first time on 30 November.A spokesperson attributed the decline to “certain apps being turned off to unify the Sun online presence and the expected seasonal lull in Dream Team”. Much of the site’s content was also already free before the paywall was officially dropped, as the site began relaxing its approach to charging for online content last summer.However, the Sun outperformed the rest of the UK’s national newspapers, which saw bigger falls during the month, according to figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Their Christmas traffic declines followed gains made in November, which were partly driven by public interest in stories such as the Paris attacks.theguardian.com fell from an average of more than 9 million daily unique browsers in November to just under 8 million, a drop of 15%, while the Telegraph slid to 4.1 million after losing almost 1 million unique browsers, equivalent to almost 20% of its audience.All the other national newspapers saw double-digit declines, except Mail Online, which lost just under 10% of its audience to drop back to just over 13 million unique browsers, and dailystar.co.uk, which lost 8.8% of its unique browsers to come in at just under 600,000 a day.

N&D

Play nice! How the internet is trying to design out toxic behaviour

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/22/play-nice-how-the-internet-is-trying-to-design-out-toxic-behaviour

The idea of a “nicer” net sounds a bit twee, guaranteed to enrage libertarians who fear the creation of bland, beige safe spaces where free speech goes to die. But it’s an idea with some big guns behind it, and what they are advocating isn’t censorship, but smarter design. This month at the Sundance film festival, the web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee called on platforms to start building “systems that tend to produce constructive criticism and harmony, as opposed to negativity and bullying”.

In Britain, Yvette Cooper, who endured some grim misogynistic online abuse when she was campaigning to become Labour leader, is planning a “reclaim the net” summit, examining ways of building a kinder, more civilised culture. “When they’re talking to politicians, people should be able to disagree and say so strongly,” she says. “But when it’s about bombarding people who are not in public life with aggressive abuse, that’s where it becomes a problem, if it starts to silence people. You hear teenage girls saying, ‘Right, I’m going to stop saying anything about feminism on Facebook because it’s just so hostile.’” This isn’t about censoring free speech, but protecting it, she argues, for those now being bullied out of the conversation.

Technology was supposed to make the world a better place, not a bitchier one. And for the big corporate players –Twitter, Instagram, online publishers and other businesses reliant on us spending more and more time online – it’s a genuine commercial threat. Few users and fewer advertisers enjoy hanging out in a room full of furious people spoiling for a fight.

Discusses the increasing threats of online harassment and employs solutions for it.

business of fasion boss: 'people on the inside dont see how exciting it is'

How founder Imran Amed turned a bedroom blog into a must read for a trillion dollar industry

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/21/business-of-fashion-imran-amed-blogging

Why would a digital company – a site with 850,000 monthly visitors, with an events arm and a growing fashion careers and recruitment portal – put out a physical magazine? It was mainly a marketing thing, says Amed, to launch the BoF500, a list of the 500 most powerful people in fashion. “Putting it in print added value to it.” A modern media company, he says, needs to exist in multiple spaces. So BoF has run events, including ambitious plans for a huge one – a kind of TED for the fashion industry – towards the end of the year, and “they need to exist in print, in digital, in social, in video”.

Amed does everything from editing and writing to moderating comments and meeting industry contacts. “My main job is to get involved early deciding what pieces we’re going to concentrate on. We’re not a big company, not a big team, so I want to make sure we’re allocating [our resources] on things that are really fundamental and important to what people are thinking about.”