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?

LR Introduction-

New and digital media has given the audience a sense of empowerment because it has allowed the audience to have more access to a variety of views and values. This is hugely beneficial for the audience because their ability to gain more information through NDM has allowed their empowerment to grow and has given them a chance to experience news from different sources, whether that is a verified account or a citizen journalist on social media which is also as valuable. Accessibility to sources such as Citizen journalism has allowed the audience to feel empowered due to their ability to make their own assumptions and opinions with this due to a variety of sources. A prime example of this is the use of video camera phones and how this has given the audience a chance to become journalists themselves allowing them to share but also consume news from citizens such as themselves.

Globalisation and the media

1) Why was Google Glass controversial?

Google glass was controversial because it is believed that it is likely to make people less interactive in general. In addition, Google glass records the public and it is able to recognise peoples faces, this caused a lot of controversy because people felt that this was an invasion of their privacy and didn't find this acceptable which allowed Google glass to become such a controversial source.

2) What are the positive elements to Globalisation that the article highlights?

A positive is that news is more accessible meaning that the audience are empowered giving them a sense of satisfaction and value. This is a positive element because the audience are the key.


3) What are potential negatives to Globalisation?

Globalisation will have a big impact on smaller organisations because it is likely that they will find it harder to compete. Also, there wont be enough room to become competitors in this type of industry as Google are already a well known and trusted organisation.

4) What is a techno-panic? How does it link to moral panics?

A techno panic is a moral panic but for the technology industry. An example of a techno panic is the Google glass situation that invaded peoples privacy. "a techno-panic is therefore a moral panic that centres on fears regarding specific contemporary technology or technological activity. Some of the dialogue regarding Glass and its release could be viewed as both moral and techno-panics."

5) What is your opinion on the privacy debate and major corporations being able to access large quantities of personal data?
Personally I think that peoples privacy is such a valuable aspect meaning for it to be invaded will cause a lot of debate and controversy due to it being such an important element of peoples' lives. Invasion of privacy is bound to bring debate and arguments due to it being a huge topic that many feel strongly about. Also, corporations being able to access personal data can be worrying for many, this is because personal data should only be handled in a necessary and suitable manner.

weekly news 24

Michel Faber sends David Cameron latest novel in protest over Syria

In an accompanying letter, Faber tells the prime minister that he realises “a book cannot compete with a bomb in its ability to cause death and misery, but each of us must make whatever small contribution we can, and I figure that if you drop my novel from a plane, it might hit a Syrian on the head”.

Faber, the author of acclaimed novels including The Crimson Petal and the White and Under the Skin, said the move was intended to be “a satirical gesture, just to let off some impotent steam”. “I am donating this copy of my latest novel to the war effort,” he writes to Cameron in a letter which he posted, along with his book, ending his proposal that his novel be dropped from a plane with the line: “With luck, we might even kill a child: their skulls are quite soft.”

Obviously, said Faber, the delivery “is not actually going to do anything”. But he added: “I just felt so heartsick, despondent and exasperated that the human race, and particularly the benighted political arm of the human race, has learned nothing in 10,000 years, 100,000 years, however long we’ve been waging wars, and clearly the likes of Cameron are not interested in what individuals have to say.”

weekly news 23

Man charged with attempted murder over Leytonstone tube station attack

Police investigating a knife attack at a London tube station have charged a man with attempted murder over the alleged stabbing of a commuter.

Scotland Yard named the suspect as Muhaydin Mire, 29, from Leytonstone, who is charged over the attack on a 56-year-old man on Saturday evening at Leytonstone underground station.

Detectives and the security services were investigating whether the alleged attacker was acting alone. The incident took place after months of warnings from security officials that there has been an Isis-inspired drive to kill on Britain’s streets.

Two men were reportedly attacked at the station by a knife-wielding man who eyewitnesses said had declared: “This is for Syria.”

The episode was captured by fellow commuters, who filmed it on their phones and spread it on social media. The man was eventually overpowered by police officers, who used a Taser to disable and disarm him.

Weekly news 22

Giving away shares?

The Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have just had a baby and, as is the way of babies, she seems to have changed their lives. They’ve just announced that they’ll be giving away 99% of their Facebook stock – which is precisely the sort of thing one does when crazed with sleep deprivation and hormones – to a charitable foundation aimed at saving the world through technology.

This sudden urge to do your bit for humanity, to create a better world for other people’s children too, is one of the nicer surprises of parenthood. Perhaps the most moving exposition of it this week came from Emma and Andrew Lee, whose daughter Hope has became Britain’s youngest organ donor. Born with a fatal brain condition, she lived for only just over an hour after her birth, but her parents ensured that her liver cells and kidneys live on in others. It helped to know that in her few minutes on Earth, they said, she had “achieved more than some people do in a lifetime”.

Weekly news 21

Cameron wins Syria airstrikes vote by majority of 174 – as it happened

Britain will join the coalition of nations conducting airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria after MPs in the House of Commons voted to authorise the UK’s participation. MPs voted 397 to 223 in favour of sending RAF Tornados into the skies over Syria, after an all-day debate in parliament. As Patrick Wintour reports, 66 Labour MPs backed the government in defiance of the party leader,Jeremy Corbyn. In a day of soul searching, recrimination and often heartfelt speeches, it became clear David Cameron was guaranteed a clear overall majority. Corbyn, who was forced by divisions in his party to give his MPs a free vote, will be pleased that a majority of his MPs and nearly half the shadow cabinet opposed strikes. But his foreign affairs spokesman, Hilary Benn, prompted rare applause when he gave an impassioned speech, regarded as the best of the debate, in favour of strikes. “We are here faced by fascists. Not just their calculated brutality, but their belief that they are superior to every single one of us in this chamber tonight and all of the people we represent. They hold us in contempt,” he said.