Weekly New/Digital Media homework 7

Snapchat Responds To Chatter About Privacy Policy Change

This story demonstrates the amusing influence of social media in creating and distributing false information which then evolve into corporation-enticing hoaxes.

FACEBOOK’S INSTAGRAM TAKES ON SNAPCHAT AND TWITTER WITH CURATED VIDEO CHANNEL

This new Instagram feature is an attempt from Facebook to compete with Snapchat’s Discover feature, and the recently launched Live Stories. The feature shows topics and events with participants that broadcast videos and photos to the rest of the community - a new way of crowdsourcing to collect news stories. Product of competition in new and digital media to gain producing audiences which rejoice in service use.

Galtung and Ruge | NDM News Values

Immediacy: has it happened recently?
Familiarity: is it culturally close to us in Britain?
Amplitude: is it a big event or one which involves large numbers of people?
Frequency: does the event happen fairly regularly?
Ambiguity: is it clear and definite?
Predictability: did we expect it to happen?
Surprise: is it a rare or unexpected event?
Continuity: has this story already been defined as news?
Elite nations and people: which country has the event happened in? Does the story concern well-known people?
Negativity: is it bad news?
Balance: the story may be selected to balance other news, such as a human survival story to balance a number of stories concerning death.

How has new and digital media technology changed each of Galtung and Ruge’s news values and how would you update them for 2015's NDM?

Immediacy: With the prevalence of smart devices becoming increasingly integral in the lifestyles of first-world masses, news is instantly accessible to audiences in many multimedia formats. This leads to traditional newspapers needing to adopt a different angle (content is predominantly based on views and opinions rather than information as this is already available by the time newspapers are distributed)

Familiarity: Audiences are now able to familiarise themselves with foreign cultures which may not necessarily be relevant to them, because of the worldwide web and social media networks.  This is demonstrated by the influence of Southern American urban culture which is imitated by the urban London scene (music, clothing and dialect). The way news is reported now is in an abundance of ways which leads to the selection of no single stream of content which is necessarily already familiar to the audience. 

Amplitude: Among the millions of stories shared by the hour, the amplitude of events being reported is always a factor for selectivity and ranking by all news agents, regardless of the platform. Such is demonstrated even on Snapchat as large events will receive exclusive coverage from official 'stories', supported by UGC. 

Frequency: Local news providers tend to report frequent events more than wider-regional news services, this is usually due to the concern of residents who require information on the regular events. This includes traffic updates provided by apps and other digital news servers. 

Ambiguity: The fact that digital content is amendable and less costly allows news providers to speculate on uncertain stories before they are confirmed. This is used to generate debate within the news (opinion leaders, voice figures, journalists), as well as among news recipients via online forums and social media. 

Predictability/Surprise: Shocking news stories, by default, always make for more intriguing headlines and cause more of a buzz across new and digital media alongside the critical support (views and opinions) by newspapers. Without a doubt however, new and digital media proves to be more dominant in providing unpredictable news stories due to the audience's engagement and involvement. 

Continuity: 'Debuting' news stories which have not been previously reported will gain more momentum through traditional platforms but decrease to less predominance in the papers as it is continuously updated. This seems to differ for new and digital media platforms however which (on platforms inc. Twitter) use trending tactics to continuously discuss stories and provide in-depth analysis. 

Elite nations and people: Celebrities now receive higher attention than ever as the people choose to consciously stay tuned to their favoured public figures. National socio-political stories of elite nations receive the most coverage (adhering to Perkin's law: power to the producer) as they are prioritised above third-world national stories. 

Negativity: As ever, audiences would rather hear a story about "teens going wild" rather than "teens sitting down and studying". This reflects the nature of thrill and shock value that actually increases with the role of new and digital media due to the reactions from digital masses (parodies, memes etc)

Balance: It seems that there is no particular agenda to the balance of stories, however it is noteworthy that positive news is reported to higher extents on social media platforms as studies have proven that exposure to positivity results to correspondent feedback from audiences. 

NDM News: Citizen journalism

"Is reality becoming more real?" MM30 pg55

Examples

• Rodney King case - LAPD 
• Asian Tsunami - Dec 26 '04
• London bombings - Jul 5 '05
• Mumbai bombings - Nov '08
• Hudson river plane crash - Jan 15 '09

Theory

• Two-step flow model and hypodermic needle model transgressed by NDM providing audiences active opportunities 

Benefits to institutions

• Social networking sites - increased engagement and functionality on UGC 

Benefits to audience

• Opportunity to report, share and discuss actively 

Wider issues and debates

• Police racism towards Afro-Americans 

Socio-historic-eco-political 

• Bourgeoisie, systematic oppression 
• Power of the canon - The white man  

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1) What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?

General public adopting the role of actively publishing/sharing reports of news.

2) What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?

The Rodney King incident in New York. 
3) List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
Offered uploads/submissions of news info/videos/pictures/audio, discussions on online forums and social media.
4) What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?

Professionally shot footage is usually constrained and curated according to institutional values whereas UGC is raw and original (in most cases).
5) What is a gatekeeper?

Regulator of published news content

6) How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?

Chance for self-representation and the audience can choose for themselves what is 'news' instead of the institutional gatekeepers regulating the information shared around in the industry. 
7) What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?

Journalists fear the redundancy of their jobs due to the reduced requirement of trained staff at news organisations. 

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

• news stories

News stories are now available in a larger variety than ever on the abundance of forums/blogs and online sources through social media platforms 

• the news agenda (the choice of stories that make up the news)

The traditional news agenda does no longer hinder the variety of news accessible for the general public and niche audiences

• the role of professionals in news

Professionals in the news industry must strive to acquire roles which are integrated with the uprising relevance of NDM

Weekly New/Digital Media homework 6

Facebook tightens its grip on news

"Where do you get your online news? For millions, the answer is Facebook, and now the social media giant is moving to make it even easier to access news articles."  The increasing emphasis on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) alongside social media networks has led to the form rays of sunshine for news organisations who can now share their content in a multimedia interactive form in order to appeal to social media users on Facebook via the 'Instant Articles' feature. Debate is awoken through trepidation employed by the news institutions who are weary of stats suggesting a large proportion of news by Americans is accessed via Facebook. 

BBC Ukranian News Launches on ICTV in Ukraine

BBC World Services undergoes an expansion after a deal with Ukrainian prime-time leading news service ICTV news. They claim an aim for supplying Ukraine with international news that resonates with them. 

Weekly New/Digital Media homework 5

Netflix and bill: monthly fee goes up 
The success of the TV/film streaming service sees an inflation in the monthly price for the subscription service. However, it can be presumed that sales won't be affected much and the revenue collected will increase substantially to thus increase reinvestments into producing Netflix exclusive content. As a result, leading to better content and a larger library for the subscription-ship. 

Sky News Cleared over Ian King Live F-Bomb

This news story marks the prevalent tension surrounding censorship and regulation and how importantly it is considered. For a single word to be shared at the 'wrong time and place' can cause a frenzy for institutions as large as Sky News. 

Weekly New/Digital Media homework 4

Desmond boosts DailyStar sales with price-cut

This strategic move in the tabloid's business model has seemed to reap rewards of sales increased by 23,000, hence competing closely with rivals the Sun and the Daily Mirror. For the current temperament of the industry this seems a tactical move as evidenced by the sales increase. However, tabloids must develop a creative niche in order to achieve tremendous success - this move must be integrated with new/digital media advancements. 

Barrie Keeffe - a loss to journalism but a gift to playwriting

The downfall of professional journalism sees writing talents becoming translated to other forms of entertainment, literature and academia. This can be perceived nutritious to the wealth of culture and arts and can thus prove as one of the positive externalities deriving from the uprise of new & digital media. 

NDM: The future of newspapers

Build the wall analysis 

Summary

• Section 1 (To all of the bystanders reading this…)

The introduction of a new revenue stream through paid subscriptions intimidates an audience which is so naturally resolved to online free content. 

• Section 2 (Truth is, a halting movement toward...)

High-end journalism remains unnecessary as audiences prefer the news in its plain form. The attention provided to news is sufficed by online discussions and interaction on social media, rather than critical news reporting served by journalists - which is also paid for. 

• Section 3 (Beyond Mr. Sulzberger and Ms. Weymouth…)

Online subscription provides the incentive of delivering news to the consumer's 'doorstep', which builds from the initially suggested method of encouraging consumers to purchase the newspaper after finding it online - a failed strategy.

• Section 4 (For the industry, it is later than it should be…)

The requirement of a niche is intact with the decision for a newspaper to go behind an online paywall - as demonstrated by The Times.

Overall summaryThis essay discusses the decay of print journalism as a previously unfathomable event to the uprising phenomenon of the internet and new/digital media. David Simon recognises the faults in a system of online subscriptions because of the transgression of journalism into social media, blogs and online forums. Due to this abundance in sources where news is essentially reported, the digitised versions of the newspapers become peripheral as it is - the implication of a paywall only hinders its exposure and coverage even more in a wide market of free online content. The essay continues to discuss the repercussions of falling revenue on the newspaper institutions and how it leads to an ultimate death of the company due to: lower cash-flow, reduced overall output content and reduced quality of content. This links in with the fact that the curation of content which is the sole niche high-end journalism essentially has to offer, is no longer available for these companies to exploit in their business model. As a consequence, the paywall becomes an impractical marketing choice and leaves the newspaper with even more negligence than it already receives.

Dave Levy's response

Dave Levy states the importance of accessibility in new/digital media. The prime differences in professional print journalists and online amateurs are irrelevant in the sense that an audience prioritises accessibility above all - especially when technology (smartphones and apps) serves the content right at the consumer's fingertips in a matter of seconds. 

What is your own opinion? Do you agree that newspapers need to put online content behind a paywall in order for the journalism industry to survive? Would you be willing to pay for news online? 

I believe it is impractical for newspapers to lock their content behind an online paywall due to the main reasons discussed in the embedded articles of this blogpost. This consists of the abundance of other sources (among citizen journalism, online sits/blogs/forums/communities and social media). The reason why companies such as BuzzFeed have grown is because they have something DIFFERENT to offer in the market. This is discovered in the content itself because BuzzFeed is renowned for its close integration with online interactivity which essentially provides the life of the website (users post content, users react to content by sharing, discussing etc). For newspapers to generate revenue they'd have to exploit new and digital media instead of simply reinstating significance to high-end journalistic content - which is tangential in today's second-by-second world where everything changes in a couple clicks. 

Weekly New/Digital Media homework 3

Buzzfeed moves into local news by hiring new regional reporters

NBC's $200 million investment into BuzzFeed has enabled the company to branch out into reporting local news. This grants the growing platform with more coverage and a larger catalogue to offer. The consequent effect of this is that audiences are treated with more news from this one growing source (partnered with TimeWarner) - thus leading to a monopolisation in the market. 

VISION Group debuts digital newspapers

The Ugandan news institution has also adopted the ways of the digital paywall. This has been seen to promise better quality news in the third-world nation and demonstrates the contagion created by the uprise of new & digital media. 

Newspapers: The effect of online technology

NEWSPAPERS: The effect of online technology

1) Do you agree with James Murdoch that the BBC should not be allowed to provide free news online? Why?
As a consumer of the news I oppose Murdoch's argument because of the contagion this emits across the news industry, thus deterring news companies from putting up digital paywalls. However, I do believe that the quality of content would be enhanced as a consequence of the pay requirement, which may be an exciting change in the way we consume news from leading institutions. 
2) Read this blog on the Times paywall three years on.
 Was Rupert Murdoch right to put his news content (The Times, The Sun) behind a paywall?
I believe that the paywall was a right decision because it seems practical for an audience to be offered a subscription to quality content in the form of digital news reporting. Mike Darcey's point about loyalty to a subscribed platform having higher value than odd traffic stumbling upon a website via Google is valid as the niche audience would desire a trusted source amongst a digital abundance.
 3) Choose two comments from below the Times paywall article - one that argues in favour of the paywall and one that argues against. Copy a quote from each and explain which YOU agree with and why.
Comment favouring paywall - "In any business, success depends on delivering one of three things to customers: lowest cost, differential quality, or a niche unavailable elsewhere. Newsprint is no exception, but the lowest cost product in the marketplace is set at zero.

The Times isn't niche, that's the like of aviation monthly, so it has to deliver a product of sufficient quality for readers to be willing to pay the premium. Is it doing this? I would say not really, more work is needed, and it's hard to see how the quality can improve with costs being cut." 

This supports my earlier stated argument favouring the paywall as the standard of quality from the print-press has evidently dropped. 

Comment disputing paywall - "It is so ridiculous if these mainstream newspapers believe that they can "force readership of fee-based news. One can get the same "news" for free almost anywhere on the internet. I'd take a hint from the alternative free weeklies that survive just off their local advertising. I don't think anyone would read them otherwise. These papers are full of paid advertising. The fee model will never work." 
There is an abundance of news sources especially today with the integration of social media and citizen journalism. 

4) Read this article from the Media Briefing on the continuing decline of the newspaper industry. 
 Why do you think the Evening Standard has bucked the trend and increased circulation and profit in the last two years?
The ES has succeeded due to its liberal availability across the London metropolitan. This has enticed advertisers to invest in features due to the vast coverage of the paper. 
5) Is there any hope for the newspaper industry or will it eventually die out? Provide a detailed response to this question explaining and justifying your opinion.
The newspaper industry will inevitably die out (as vinyl and CDs have in the music distribution industry) if digital media is to remain predominant in the lifestyles of mass audiences. I propose the possibility that newspapers will become antique and vintage and thus produced scarcely for a very specific demand, but not as a method of mass distribution for news because all is digitally accessible. This is reinforced by digital advancements and the abundant availability of resources such as internet access and hardware for audiences to access this news immediately and to their own convenience.