Audience & Institution

1) Read this extract from the Ofcom 2014 report on the consumption of news in the UK. What are the key statistics relating to the influence of new and digital media?

"Television is by far the most-used platform for news, with 75% of UK adults saying they use TV as a source of news;"

"There has been growth in the number of those who use any internet or apps for news, with over four in ten (41%)"

"This is particularly evident in the 16-34 age group, where use of internet or apps for news has increased from 44% in 2013 to 60% in 2014."

2) Come up with an example of an institution that has benefited from the changes new and digital media has brought to the news industry. Explain how new technology has helped the institution and try to find statistics or financial figures that support your point.

An institution such as the BBC have benefited from the changes in new and digital media has brought to the news industry. New and digital media has advanced significantly over the years giving the audience easier access to news e.g. phone apps. This has benefited the BBC because they are now able to publish their news across different platforms. This advancement of NDM has brought the BBC many new viewers over the years. The younger generation talking strictly about teenagers and young adults are more likely to access their news through the internet, phone apps or social media. This means that NDM has given an institution such as the BBC the chance to reach different target groups through different methods that relate to that specific group.

3) Answer the following question in a mini-essay on your blog:

Who has benefited most from the changes new and digital media have had on the news industry - audiences or institutions?

This is a very debatable topic seeing as both sides the institution and the audience have both benefited significantly from the advancement of new and digital media over the years.

The institution side has benefited in many ways because with new and digital media (NDM) an institution such as BBC is now able to promote their news and topics through all platforms making their stories and articles more viewed with a higher awareness. This means that the BBC are now able to reach different audiences such as the younger generation who aren't usually the audience for the BBC due to their lack of news watching. However, with the BBC app and BBC social media sites such as Instagram and Twitter, younger audiences are able to get in touch with watching, reading or hearing about global and local news. This is all down to the advancement of NDM because if NDM was still stuck at the period where broadcast/TV was their only platform then the younger proportion of viewers is likely to be a lot smaller than now making it accessible on all platforms. This has given Institutions a chance to gain revenue and popularity through different ways ensuring their chances of success is increasing as NDM is advancing.

The audience side of this debate has also benefited from NDM because audiences are able to access news from institutions much easier and faster due to advanced technology. Audiences are now able to view news on the go, on their way to work or school. This has benefited the audience because this has made watching the news more convenient. Also the younger generation as an audience have benefited massively from this because they are now able to access news through social media such as Twitter allowing them read about news while interacting with friends making this a natural habit. Many audiences do not realise that they are reading the news because it has become a daily process. Audiences that access Twitter on a daily could receive news from ITV,SKY or BBC from a retweeted service on their timeline and they may not even realise they are reading the news because it is a daily normal process. 

Weekly News 3/4

"Mark Zuckerberg calls for universal internet access to combat poverty"

Facebook founder launches connectivity campaign to bring the internet to the some 4 billion people who now do not have access

This is an article from the telegraph talking and informing audiences about Mark Zuckerberg's intentions with a new campaign that is being launched. Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook. Mark has launched a campaign attempting to make internet accessible to everyone worldwide by 2020. Mark believes that the internet is a useful tool that will help poor countries overcome poverty with knowledge and power.

Personally I understand the aims and intentions of Mark however I do not completely agree with this statement and campaign. Mark states that providing children worldwide with internet will help overcome poverty and lift communities. I agree with this to an extent because I believe that instead providing them with the internet which a controversial tool in terms of negative images. I believe that providing education to children in poverty is more likely to lift communities and overcome poverty providing children with knowledge and the power to become. 

"Netflix knows which episodes get you hooked to a series"

Netflix has been very successful recently and its revenues has reflected this. This is an article that I read from the Guardian about Netflix's methods of getting the viewers attached or hooked to a series or Netflix show such as Orange is the new black. This has helped them gain many Netflix viewers that constantly pay their monthly Netflix bill to ensure they are able to watch new episodes of the show they are attached to and also an easy way to  catch up to anything they have missed.

News institution research

News institutions

Newspaper providers(Print)                        

The Sun

The Sun is a daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded in 1964 as a successor broadsheet to the Daily Herald, it became a tabloid in 1969 after it was purchased by its current owners. It is published by the News Group Newspapers division of News UK, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

The Times:

The Times is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register and became The Times on 1 January 1788. The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times (founded in 1821) are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, itself wholly owned by the News Corp group headed by Rupert Murdoch. 

TV Channels (Broadcast)

Sky:

Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting or BSkyB) is a British telecommunications company which serves the United Kingdom. Sky provides television and broadband internet services and fixed line telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest pay-TV broadcaster with 11 million customers as of 2015. It was the UK's most popular digital TV service until it was overtaken by Freeview in April 2007. Its corporate headquarters are based in Isleworth.

Sky gives audiences accessibility to sports and news in high quality and has recently released a 'on the go' app to give their viewers the ability to watch news on their smartphones on their way to work,school etc. 

BBC:

BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online news coverage.
The BBC is the largest viewing freeview news provider in the UK making it a very successful broadcast channel. The BBC has developed massively over the years giving views top information from a trustworthy source that the public have learnt to trust over the years. 

Online news (E - Media)

BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for news gathering and production. The website is the most frequently accessed news website in the United Kingdom, and forms a major part of BBC Online (BBC.co.uk), which records around 40 million unique users a week (around 60 to 70% of visitors are from the UK).
BBC news online has gained many users over the years making the BBC's overall success rise quickly. BBC have also created an app for users to use on their smartphone with free access of this app this has given them the upper hand and has allowed their audience to view their trustworthy news any time of the day free of charge.

Impact of Google

The impact of Google

1) Why has Google led to the decline of the newspaper industry?
Google has led to the decline of the newspaper industry because it is such a powerful well known search engine that allows you to gain information from many different sources worldwide. Google also allows the public to read newspapers online so the print industry has declined due to this. Google has made daily news accessible in many different ways so the newspaper isn't an essential for the public anymore, although it is still used to an extent with maybe the older generation but the decline is remaining and is bound to get worse as time goes by.
2) Do you personally think Google is to blame for newspapers closing and journalists losing their JOBS ? Why?

I do think Google plays a big role in the blame of the newspaper industry closing down and journalists losing their jobs. I strongly believe this because Google has made information and news more accessible giving links such as BBC.co.uk/news this has allowed the public to gain this information easily on the go and most importantly for free. This has made it much more convenient for people and has caused them to drift away from buying newspapers which has resulted in journalists losing their jobs because they aren't needed or valued as much due to new modern ways of seeking news.

3) Read the comments below the article. Pick one comment you agree with and one you disagree with and justify your opinions.

"Obviously, Google is not to blame. I don’t think it’s about blame. I think the Internet is incredibly poorly designed. Rather than being free, everything on it should cost something in order to compensate creators."

I completely disagree with this comment because I think that Google is to blame for the decline in the newspaper industry. Also, he stated that going on sites should cost money and the internet is 'poorly designed' which is absolutely false. This is because the reason for Google success and the internet's success in general is that it is convenient for the public meaning it is easily accessible and free. This makes it easy for the public to use however newspapers cost money which is the main reason people prefer online news rather than print.

Weekly news 1/2

Is social media harming teenagers' mental health? (The Guardian)

The digital landscape has put increased pressure on teenagers today, and we feel it. There are so many social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, you name it. I made a conscious decision to avoid Snapchat and Instagram because of the social pressure I saw them putting on my 14-year-old little sister. If my mum turned off the WiFi at 11pm, my sister would beg me to turn my phone into a hotspot. She always needed to load her Snapchat stories one more time, or to reply to a message that had come in two minutes ago because she didn’t want her friend to feel ignored. If I refused, saying she could respond in the morning, I’d get the “You’re ruining my social life” speech. Even as a teenager as well, I sometimes find this craze a little baffling.

This article above from The Guardian clearly showed a story of a 14 year old girl being attached to social media. The article even showed that she would go to desperate measures of using her sisters hotspot to continue using her phone past 11pm. This article is debatable and does show social attachment to an extent. It also supports the stereotype that teenagers are obsessed with social media and online sites such as Instagram and Twitter.

iPhone 6s?

I don’t need a new phone. My 11 month old IPHONE 6 Plus works perfectly fine, easily getting me through a day’s worth of work without any issues. The camera is the best I’ve ever had on a phone. The battery life is still amazing, usually ending up with about 20 percent left after about 16 hours off the charger. But none of that stopped me from buying an iPhone 6S Plus last week.

Now, I didn’t buy it because of new features like 3D Touch (meh), the additional RAM (finally), or even the 12MP camera (likely amazing). I bought it because Apple made a version in rose gold.  Ninety-eight percent of the reason why I bought the iPhone 6S Plus was the colour.  (The other two percent is because I have an incessant need to own new gadgets partially because I’m a journalist that covers technology and partially for reasons only a psychologist could explain, but seeing one would take away from MY TABLET budget.

This article shows the power that Apple has when releasing new products such as this one. This article explains how a lady bought the 6s even though she had a 6 that was functioning well all because of the colour. This shows the power that Apple have because such a tiny new feature is able to give them extreme overall profit.