James Murdoch

1) Do you agree with James Murdoch that the BBC should not be allowed to provide free news online?

I agree with James Murdoch to an extent, as it wouldn't be fair if BBC is allowed to provide free news online, and other companies such as The SUN you would have to pay, also the news is not always accurate therefore, the news BBC wish to put up should be examined beforehand, and it should be shown how correct it is. Furthermore, if BBC provides news for free, it would be incredibly difficult for private news organisations to ask people to pay for their news, as they would be receiving it for free anyway's therefore they wouldn't want to pay. However, other companies such as Daily mail also provide news for free which people are able to read.

However, BBC is a licensed funded company therefore it should be free, as most information provided by BBC is accurate, and people may not have the facilities to get news, they may be from a low income background, therefore it would benefit them to get news for free. Also, they may not have T.V's to watch news on or any other sources. Also, news can be edited like information on Wikipedia. Also, people are able to place on their own news on the guardian so it can be made up, BBC wouldn't make up false news, as they're not allowed too. 

2) Was Rupert Murdoch right to put his news content (The Times, The Sun) behind a paywall?
Rupert Murdoch was right to put his new content behind a paywall, as he had a USP of the up to date seconds of goals, there are many factors which increase the reasoning behind him being right to have a paywall. He had 140,000 paying digital subscribers who were willing to pay for this service. This meant any loss in profits that NewCorp may have made would have been made up, which meant there wouldn't have been a decline in newspapers. This would allow readers to pick what sources they would prefer to receive news through. Readers have a choice of either paying for news or receiving it for free, through many different websites. 

New and digital media #14

Press freedom under attack - the risks journalists face in order to report

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/feb/12/journalist-safety-press-freedom

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is carrying eight essays on its website based around the theme of "attacks on the press in 2013."

One, by San Francisco lawyer and university tutor Geoffrey King, deals with the threats to freedom posed by the National Security Agency.

It is long, 4,500 words long, so a précis doesn't really work. But it merits reading so set aside 20 minutes to absorb it. Among the people who should definitely read are those who think the wholesale collection of metadata is an innocent and unthreatening activity.

See also Maya Taal on the threats to journalists by the supranational sphere of cyberspace and Joel Simon on the implications of the US-China dispute over control of the internet.

Another piece that shouldn't be missed is on impunity by Elisabeth Witchel, "When journalists are killed, witnesses may be next". One factual paragraph stands out:

"In the last 10 years, 348 journalists have been murdered for their work worldwide. In only a handful of cases- one in 10 - have any perpetrators been brought to trial and sentenced."

Witchel shows how dangerous it is becoming for the witnesses to such murders. They are being killed in turn to prevent them giving testimony.

Michael Casey, in "Without stronger transparency, more financial crises loom", argues that the press needs to overcome secrecy in a market economy because of the threat to everyone's well-being posed by banks and financial institutions.

The other three articles are about censorship; the role of journalists asthe voices of the poor and powerless; and the risks journalists must take in certain countries in order to report rape and sexual violence.

Journalists are being attacked, and it is really dangerous for others to witness these murders. Journalists are being killed in turn to prevent them giving testimony, this is very bad, as journalists are loosing their lives.

New and digital media #13

Flappy Bird creator takes down madly popular game as he had threatened

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/10/flappy-bird-creator-takes-game-down

The developer of Flappy Bird, the former most popular free mobile game on Apple and Android devices, has taken the game down as he announced he would do earlier in the weekend. 

The game is no longer available to download. but users can still play the game if they already downloaded it to their devices. 

Nguyen Ha Dong, a Hanoi-based game developer, announced the grounding of the addictive game in a tweet on Saturday in which he also apologised to Flappy Bird players. 

“Twenty-two hours from now, I will take Flappy Bird down,” Dong said, adding “it is not anything related to legal issues. 

“I cannot take this any more,” he wrote. 

Flappy Bird caused a sensation after rising from obscurity to become one of the most downloaded mobile games on both Apple and Google’s online stores. 

Users have to steer a bird between green pipes. The Android version has been downloaded up to 50m times and attracted more than half a million reviews. 

Many people have been questioning Dong on Twitter about his decision to take down the game as only a day earlier he had been talking about developing the game for Microsoft’s Windows phones. 

Dong could not be reached for comment. He turned his phone off after cancelling an interview with Reuters on Thursday and not finalising arrangements for one on Friday. 

Unlike other successful game makers such as Rovio Entertainment, which produced the hugely popular Angry Birds game and has hundreds of programmers, Dong made Flappy Bird by himself in a few nights, he said on Twitter earlier.

The game, which he said was inspired by Nintendo’s Mario Bros, had been earning on average $50,000 a day from advertising, Dong said in a media interview. 

Two friends of Dong said Nintendo had sent him a warning letter, but the Japanese game maker said it was not considering a lawsuit. 

“It sounds very much like a rumour and if it is, we certainly can’t comment on that,” Nintendo’s media representative told Reuters on Friday. 

Flappy bird had received many views and 50m people had downloaded the game, this shows how popular it was and how word of mouth spread within a few hours, and everyone had been downloading it. It was a very frustrating game as it was hard to get through the pipes. The developer of flappy bird had stuck to his words and removed Flappy bird from app store, which meant people weren't able to download it and play it. However, the people who already downloaded it were still able to play the game. 

New and digital media #12

Today's media stories from the papers

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/10/media-briefing-monday-10-february

Public service broadcasters join forces on catch-up service for smart TVs
BBC, Channel 4 and ITV work to make catch-up services available as standard on smart TVs under Freeview Connect brand

BBC chief: no more comedy shows with all-male panels
Corporation is acting on recommendations by the Trust to boost female presence on screen

Libération journalists fight investors' vision for future of French newspaper
Staff fear shareholders are intent on making money from brand and building, 'with no mention of journalism'

Line of Duty's Jed Mercurio: 'I like to write characters who are conflicted'
Maggie Brown: The creator of the BBC2 hit on his fascination with corruption in public service – and why Lennie James is a great leading man

Advertising sales could transform as programmatic trading takes off
Computer auction-based system is set to go beyond its roots in display sector but questions remain on transparency

Danny Cohen: 'TV panel shows without women are unacceptable'
The BBC's director of television talks to Rachel Cooke about sending executives back to the floor, the fallout from the Savile scandal and the 'joy' of Mrs Brown's Boys

Guardian's Georgina Henry dies aged 53
Launch editor of Comment is Free was 'a real pioneer', says Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger

Simon Cowell to return to The X Factor UK
Music mogul to return as a judge in the ITV talent show for the first time in four years in bid to reverse ratings slide

This article has many different articles attached to it. One major story is that Simon Cowell returns to the X factor U.K, there are many different stories which would attract audiences and affect the news. 

New and digital media #11

New iPhone music app lets any fan rap like Tinie Tempah

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/05/tinie-tempah-iphone-music-app

British rap star Tinie Tempah has launched a new mobile app for fans to lip-sync along with tracks from his new album – using his lips.

The app – Rap Demonstration – identifies songs from the album (and a few of his older hits) being played in the real world, for example on the radio, in clubs or on a nearby TV or hi-fi.

It then synchronises with the exact point in the track, and plays video of Tempah’s lips rapping in time to the song. The idea being that fans hold their iPhone up to their mouth with the screen facing outwards. They will also soon be able to visit a companion website to record animated Gifs of themselves using the app.

British agency We Make Awesome Sh. developed the app, working with Tempah and his label Parlophone. The company, which works with various brands and music industry clients, previously made an app for Calvin Harris that got fans to dance in order to stream his latest album.

Co-founder Syd Lawrence told the Guardian that the Tinie Tempah project shows how official artist apps can be much more creative than simply pushing news, download links, videos and social networking updates to fans, as many do.

There is a new app which allows people to lip sync, which allows people to imagine they are him, it has different effects, which would engage the audiences further. This is on the iPhone, and it allows people to also see an image, as this was launched by Tine Tempah who is a British rap star, it shows that people would download it due to celebrity endorsement, 

New and Digital media #10

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2014/feb/05/flappy-bird-new-angry-birds-makes-rage-apps

Flappy Bird is not the new Angry Birds - it's pure rage

In a single week, it has become the No 1 free app on Google Play's app store. But this game with a pudgy green bird isn't fun to play - it just sends you into a fury

Flappy Bird is the No 1 free app in the Google Play app store. Since its launch on the site last week, it has become such a phenomenon that people are already calling it the new Angry Birds. In it, you control a pudgy green bird. Tap the screen once and the bird soars into the air. Leave the screen untapped and it plummets to the ground. The bird lives in a world full of pipes, and you have to guide it through the gaps between them. If the bird misses one gap - just one, no matter how glancingly - it dies, and you have to start again.

- Flappy birds was originally launched in May 2013, but all off a sudden everyone has been downloading it from play app store, the use of word of mouth advertisement had become big, and everyone has been telling their family/friends to download it, hence it being no1 on the play app store. The game is really frustrating as it is hard to get through the pipes. However, it really challenges you and makes people want to play more until they get a good highest score.