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?
To a extent I agree with this statement, that audiences are empowered by these developments as of the advance level of new and digital media that has been introduced. It has allowed millions of people to access the internet on different types of devices such as a laptop, mobile phone, tablet or game consoles. The advance technology allows people to get information quicker, therefore becoming more aware of a situation. The world is changing, as "we're shifting from a 24 hour news cycle to a 140 character one" (Adam Sharp) as people are getting news updates through twitter, as any major news that breaks upon T.V is automatically discussed upon on Twitter. This is also a form of immediacy, as if it is more important than ever due to the news breaking on Twitter or other social networking sites, The use of social networking sites just allows audiences to publish their viewpoints, and give the story a different angle to be looked at upon.
To a extent I agree with this statement, that audiences are empowered by these developments as of the advance level of new and digital media that has been introduced. It has allowed millions of people to access the internet on different types of devices such as a laptop, mobile phone, tablet or game consoles. The advance technology allows people to get information quicker, therefore becoming more aware of a situation. The world is changing, as "we're shifting from a 24 hour news cycle to a 140 character one" (Adam Sharp) as people are getting news updates through twitter, as any major news that breaks upon T.V is automatically discussed upon on Twitter. This is also a form of immediacy, as if it is more important than ever due to the news breaking on Twitter or other social networking sites, The use of social networking sites just allows audiences to publish their viewpoints, and give the story a different angle to be looked at upon.
Through the use of different news websites, such as MailOnline and other free news websites, where audiences are allowed to comment and publish their own news, allowing audiences to feel powerful. It allows audiences to obtain important information as well as giving away their opinions, web 2.0 is growing, and as it is part of the internet, and the internet is an "empowering tool"(Al Gore) it allows audiences to become producers of the media text. Audiences are able to publish their own text on Wikipedia, which means it isn't fully reliable, as there are no sources to back it up, due to everyone being able to publish anything on it. However, in terms of audiences, they can publish any news they find, there is no need for a journalist to be sent from another side of the country to another, as anyone is able to publish news, and then it is gradually passed along. This could even be in terms of a citizen journalist, which can be an ordinary person recording something they believe is interesting or suspicious and would give the audiences something to talk about. As users are able to make their own blog posts, it is a sense of becoming producers of it, as we own it, this makes audiences believe "everyone has a chance to be seen" (Chad Hurley- Co-Founder of YouTube). This supports Pluralism, as we live in a classless society and media organisations are responsive to an audience and are economically determined. Audiences have been empowered by the capability to challenge the media organisations, and the "technology blossoming of the culture of freedom, individual innovation and entrepreneurial-ism" (Castells) makes audiences believe they are free to do what they want, as they have the ability to do so.
On the other hand, Marxist view capitalist society, as being one of class dominance, the media are seen to promote hegemonic ideologies, and they ensure the dominance of certain classes. The main news audiences receive are from either their T.V or an official news website such as the BBC, then audiences produce their own texts on unofficial websites such as a blog post, or a tweet, as audiences believe "communities cab come together" (Jimmy Wales - Co-Founder of Wikipedia) if they post up news and spread it on unofficial websites. The media has a lot of power over audiences, as Pareto's law says 80% of the media is owned by 20% of institutions, this therefore implies, the world has to accept it as a "common sense and natural" Also, Paerto's law says “a minority of media producers always serve a majority of consumers suggesting that social networking sites which allow users to create their own pages/accounts, which have connection with celebrities, such as Twitter, it is a form of promotion for celebrities, and for them to gain more followers and have a bigger fan base, it is a sense of competition for all artists among themselves within the same category, as they want to have more followers
Furthermore, as Marxists would argue that user-generated content creates illusion that we have a free opinion, and can say whatever we wish to, and it gives audiences a sense of "complete freedom" (Libertarianism). Marxist argued that the media is dumming down. The order in which media texts are being consumed are changing, however, people are still consuming it through different ways as the technology is developing, they still are aware of what is happening around the world, suggesting innovation is occurring but people will still be informed through the new devices as such.
In conclusion, I believe that as technology is developing but people are still aware about what is happening around the world, through the development of news. News has had a long process of how it has been developed, and the way news is passed around has developed over the years majorly. New and digital media has allowed audiences to get news from different sources, and Rupert Murdoch said "the internet has given readers much more power" as audiences are able to access news through different manners such as on Twitter, Facebook or even the Guardian website or still the traditional manner of newspapers sometimes. However, Rupert Murdoch said "newspapers have to adapt" this is to the fact news is being processed through the internet. Also, citizen journalists are impacting the way audiences have access to it, as it is challenging the qualified journalists with a degree, who have learnt their job role correctly and try following it, but citizen journalist just record anything they see which may be suspicious and then publish it for audiences to view. Audiences are able to say their views and publish it on Twitter or Facebook, and have discussion on forums, through the use of new and digital media. However, the institutions are still in power as they provide these services for the audiences. Without the institutions setting up these grounds for audiences, audiences wouldn't be able to give their opinions or create content for others to view. If Twitter didn't have log-in services for audiences, then audiences wouldn't be able to leave their opinions or create content of their own. They'd just be able to view what they see, and there would be no user generated content, this would mean a situation wouldn't be able to be looked at from different viewpoints.
In conclusion, I believe that as technology is developing but people are still aware about what is happening around the world, through the development of news. News has had a long process of how it has been developed, and the way news is passed around has developed over the years majorly. New and digital media has allowed audiences to get news from different sources, and Rupert Murdoch said "the internet has given readers much more power" as audiences are able to access news through different manners such as on Twitter, Facebook or even the Guardian website or still the traditional manner of newspapers sometimes. However, Rupert Murdoch said "newspapers have to adapt" this is to the fact news is being processed through the internet. Also, citizen journalists are impacting the way audiences have access to it, as it is challenging the qualified journalists with a degree, who have learnt their job role correctly and try following it, but citizen journalist just record anything they see which may be suspicious and then publish it for audiences to view. Audiences are able to say their views and publish it on Twitter or Facebook, and have discussion on forums, through the use of new and digital media. However, the institutions are still in power as they provide these services for the audiences. Without the institutions setting up these grounds for audiences, audiences wouldn't be able to give their opinions or create content for others to view. If Twitter didn't have log-in services for audiences, then audiences wouldn't be able to leave their opinions or create content of their own. They'd just be able to view what they see, and there would be no user generated content, this would mean a situation wouldn't be able to be looked at from different viewpoints.
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