question one- class case study

Has the power of mainstream media been challenged by the impact of digital technology? Focus on the BBC and Sky News

1. Has new and digital media had an impact upon ownership and control of the media institutions involved in your case study? Explain in detail and what exactly has changed.

The BBC (British Broadcasting Company) was founded on the 18^th October 1922, however, the first radio broadcast wasn’t until 14^th if November the same year which featured a news bulletin. Television news bulletins didn’t begin until 5^th July 1954, however the general public interest in the BBC as a news corporation did not begin until the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, when an estimated 27 million viewed the programme in the UK. On the 9^th of November 1997 BBC 24 began allowing 24 hour non stop news coverage; this was to keep competitive against the BSKYB Sky News, which had been running since 1989.

BSKYB (British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC), is a British satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony company headquartered in London. Commonly known as ‘Sky’ it was formed in 1990 and is the largest pay-TV broadcaster in the UK with over 10 million subscribers. Sky news is a 24-hour, national British broadcaster, Sky news began in February 1989 as part of what was a four channel sky television service.

Both the BBC and Sky News have since adapted to present needs and gratifications of audiences by allowing access to its channels online. Convergence online is relevant in both institutions, however the BBC despite being a public funded company still remains the most popular out of the two due to not only mobile, television and internet, but its origin the radio. However BSkyB is accessible via Xbox following an online, hot spot digital media revolution, this allows it’s channels to be accessible via any digital media product such as iPad, SMART phone or laptop from almost anywhere worldwide.

It’s debatable as to whether BBC news or SKY news is more popular due to the consumers vary depending on accessibility and platforms. The BBC being funded publically by the television license for £145.50 per year, however they are currently debating whether to introduce a pay-per-view scheme to charge for individual programmes on iPlayer. However as BSkyB is a pay-TV service provider so this makes which media institution is more profitable.

BBC iPlayer introducing a pay-per-view scheme has potential to make the BBC lose some control of the media institution, however due to Levison enquiry BskyB has lost a fair amount of custom due to Rupert Murdoch. Many members of the general public have argued that BBC news is mess biased than Sky news, especially on the Levison enquiry due to Rupert Murdoch’s links to the institution. There is plenty of conspiracy theories and moral panic based around Rupert Murdoch which is making Sky lose popularity due to the amount of control Murdoch has on the media industry, however legislation may soon make his large ownership illegal which should make BskyB lose plenty of control of the media.  

Treatment

Treatment

For my practical piece of work I am planning to create a magazine article, the magazine I am specifically proposing to use as a base model is ‘Nuts’ or possibly ‘FHM’ a specialist male orientated magazine. ‘Nuts’ is a fairly simplistic magazine with informal language and at times explicit, it caters to the needs and fantasies of the male gender with various images of models, however sometimes it does have interviews with female celebrities, especially if they have appeared seductive in either films, photoshoots or television series. Most of the male readers would be older teenagers and young adults, this is based on the fact that there are jokes, as well as gory and explicit images which suit the needs of the consumer, however there are articles about football amongst other things which would attract a larger demographic. I have chosen ‘Nuts’ or ‘FHM’ as a model for my project as I feel it emphasises the points I am making in my critical essay as my main focus is on how women are portrayed in films, with reference to Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze which states how women are portrayed with the camera focussing on curves etc to meet the needs of a male audience. To create the article I am using Adobe Photoshop CS5 and InDesign CS5.

As my critical investigation is titled, ‘An examination of the way women are portrayed in action and horror films. How have female roles in action and horror films changed over the last decade’, I am planning to create an article with still frame images from on-set of the film as well as a modelling photo in the stylisation of Nuts/FHM with an interview about the actress which will be quite crude, I have chosen to do this as I feel is accents as well as pin points how women are portrayed within not only the film industry but in the media industry as a whole, thus emphasising my points from my critical investigation. I will follow the codes and conventions of the magazines structure, as well as the informal language with frequent expletives used which will suit the typical male working class audience.

For my images that I am going to use in my article I will take photos of a female in tight clothing particularly focussing on her curves to emphasise Mulvey’s theory. Then for the other images that are a representation of a photo shoot for the magazine I will use the female model in revealing clothing, to fit the codes and conventions of my chosen specialist male magazine. My intention for the magazine is to show in still frame images how women are represented in the films only to emphasise the theories and points I have made in my critical investigation.

Progress Sheet

Planning Task Sheet

Tasks	Task Instructions	Date Completed
Brainstorm/ ideas plan/ Mood board	- Key words outlining the Key Areas of your practical piece using ICARLING with relevant examples for each point. - Find examples of the visual style of the magazine looking at colour schemes, type fonts, illustrations, graphics, logos etc. - Upload to your blog or keep in a folder.	STILL TO SUBMIT
Idea Research	- Examples of relevant magazines analysing the codes and conventions, language used and target audience using post-it notes. Keep samples in a folder for reference. - Upload to your blog or keep in a folder.	STILL TO SUBMIT
Treatment/Statement of intent	- Write an outline of your intentions using ICARLING (see worksheet) - Upload to your blog or keep in a folder.	STILL TO SUBMIT
Audience Research	- Create a questionnaire to find out WHO is the target audience for your magazine (this could be completed via Face book). - Create an audience profile for the typical reader for your product. - Upload to your blog or keep in a folder.	STILL TO SUBMIT
Production Schedule	- Outline of tasks and dates they need to be completed by using the deadlines as a guide. - Upload to your blog or keep in a folder.	STILL TO SUBMIT
Flat Plan/1st Draft	- Create the layout of the magazine in Indesign, creating areas of text/imagery, titles etc. - Upload to your blog or keep in a folder.	10th February
Draft of written articles	- Produce a draft version of the article using the appropriate language for the target audience.	10th February
Photoshoot	- Shoot a series of images using the relevant conventions for your article. - Organise models - Use appropriate lighting - Props and costume	17th February (complete during half term)
Digital layout in Indesign	- Create your magazine layout using Indesign and importing all images and text and following the conventions of your magazine.	(complete during half term) 24th February
Submit your 2nd Draft digital layout	- Submit your magazine layout in Indesign and with all imported images and text and following the conventions of your magazine.	2nd March

essay

“Marxism is no longer relevant in a society alive with plural messages and mediums”

Marxism and pluralism are two opposing theories; however in today’s society it is almost impossible to completely dismiss parts of Karl Marx theory. Karl Marx theory could easily be connected with the hypodermic needle model; this is because the media creates ideologies that the consumer has ‘injected’ in to their heads, thus changing the beliefs of the consumer. This is very similar to a Marxist theory of being in a state of ‘false consciousness’ in that the consumer just accepts that what they are being fed with is the status quo.

Karl Marx acknowledged the importance of ideas, beliefs and values with regard to class struggle in society. Marx was concerned with the fact that the ruling class in society, the bourgeoisie and capitalists, could control such ideas, beliefs and values. In the ‘German Ideology’ Marx writes:

‘The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas: i.e. the class, which is the ruling material force of the society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental production…’

The ruling class controls not only the means of material production but also the means of mental production; this means that the ruling class also controls the mass media and the institutions of civil society in general.

One example of Marxism within the media is the belief that the media will ‘dumb down’ its output to achieve a larger audience. The popular ITV television programme The X Factor, available to view on several platforms, takes on the everyday person which Marx considers a proletariat and they then face a panel of judges which arguably could be considered as the bourgeoisie. The live shows allow the general public to cast votes as to which contestant they would like to remain in the competition in order to win a record contract. As the public are allowed to democratically vote this suits the needs of the viewers which distracts them whilst the media slowly feeds them ideologies, this arguably acts as a distraction as the final decision deciding who remains in the competition still remains with the judges. The viewer’s accept the judges’ final decision as if it is just the way things are, much like in Marx theory of domination that oppressed and low paid workers accept that it is the natural order of things.

In contrast with this theory is Pluralism, this theory suggests that media societies are seen as independent from the state, the theory views society as a system of varying groups and interests such as ethnicity and sexual orientation none of which are predominant.

Pluralists see society as a complex of competing groups and interests, none of which are predominant all the time. Media organisations are seen as bounded organisational systems, enjoying an important degree of autonomy from the state, political parties and institutionalised pressure groups. Control of the media is said to be in the hands of an autonomous managerial elite who allow a considerable degree of flexibility to media professionals. A basic symmetry is seen to exist between media institutions and their audiences, since in McQuail’s words the ‘relationship is generally entered into voluntarily and on apparently equal terms’… and audiences are seen as capable of manipulating the media in an infinite variety of ways according to their prior needs and dispositions and as having access to what Halloran calls ‘the plural values of society’ enabling them to ‘conform, accommodate or reject’. (Gurevitch et al. 1982: 1)

Within todays’ society with the introduction of new digital media technology where on websites such as the BBC the audience are able to vote on polls for what they want to see and write feedback society is much more alive with plural messages and mediums. The audience are those who decide according to a pluralist view, if they don’t like what they see on television or read in print products, and then ratings and circulation figures fall and the media organisations respond by catering for the needs of the audience. On the subject of the media displaying political bias then it stems not from the media itself, but from the consumers, in any case the plurality of different viewpoints guarantees that there is no overall bias. For example if a person doesn’t like the ‘pro-Tory’ line of The Times, then there are other options such as The Guardian.

The pluralist theory accentuates that society is made up of several interacting but competing sections, which have more of less, equal access to resources and influence.  Pluralists produce plenty of evidence which in today’s society makes Marxism appear irrelevant, such as the media do not occupy the power as governments hold legislations against media owners having too much power ruling out such trends in ownership as vertical integration. Vertical integration is considered as unfair as it not only denies competition the chance to survive as smaller companies can’t compete with the lower prices, secondly it reduces the choice of its consumer as one person or groups views or products can become too dominant, a prime example of the argument surrounding Rupert Murdock and his dominant media empire.

The sociologist Habermas came up with the theory of ‘The Public Sphere’, this arguably ties in with democratic pluralism as within his theory he describes the public sphere as ‘a discursive space in which individuals and groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a common judgement’. The public sphere introduces the idea that through social interaction people are able to communicate amongst each other in order to reach a judgement, this denies the Marxist belief that audiences are controlled by people more powerful to them as different social classes could congregate and discuss anything of interest, thus making their own verdict and not being forced to believe the opinion of others.

Digital Britain Report

  1)      What is the purpose of the report?

The purpose of the Digital Britain Report is to check how digital technologies adapt and improve over time. It also works try and improve new technology for the use of other people, always working to make its technological advances easy for the use by general consumers.

2)   What are the 5 main objectives set out by the report?

·         Modernising and upgrading our wired, wireless and broadcasting infrastructure to sustain Britain’s position as a leading Digital Economy.

·         Securing a range of high quality public service content, particularly in news.

·         Providing a favourable climate and innovation in digital content, applications and services.

·         Developing the nation’s digital skills at all levels.

·         Securing universal access to broadband, increasing its take-up and using broadband to deliver more public services more efficiently and effectively.

3)  What are the 7 main achievements that the report highlights?

·         An analysis of the levels of digital participation, skills and access needed for the digital future, with a plan for increasing participation, and more coherent public structures to deal with it.

·         An analysis of our communications infrastructure and capabilities, an identification of the gaps and recommendations on how to fill them.

·         A statement of ambition for the future growth of our creative industries, proposals for a legal and regulatory framework for intellectual property in a digital world, proposals on skills and a recognition of the need for investment support and innovation.

·         A restatement of the need for specific market intervention in the UK content market, and what that will demand of the BBC and its role in digital Britain. What that means for the future of the C4 Corporation. An analysis of the importance of other forms of independent and suitably funded news, and what clarification and changes are needed to the existing framework.

·         An analysis of the skills, research and training markets, and what supply side issues need addressing for a fully functioning digital economy.

·         A framework for digital security and digital safety at the international and national levels and recognition that in a world of high speed connectivity we need a digital framework not an analogue one.

·         A review of what all of this means for the Government and how digital governance in the information age demands new structures, new safeguards, and new data management, access and transparency rules.

4)     What were the Governments targets by 2012?

·         Deliver the Universal Service Broadband Commitment at 2Mbps (in more than one in ten households)

·         Public support for the network, so customers in the Final Third, who can’t be reached by the market, can enjoy next generation broadband.

5)      What examples does it outline that the internet is useful for other than social networking?

·         Communication

·         Self-Publishing

·         Job Applications

·         Online Banking

·         Online Shopping

·         Health Services

6)       What is the fundamental reason for improving Digital Media in Britain?

Building a Digital Knowledge Economy

7)         How does the digital sector in Britain compare to other countries?

It says that the digital communications through network are getting much better in other countries than Britain, eg) countries around the Pacific Rim are adopting next generation networks. Elsewhere in Europe, Germany, France and Finland they have all adopted national broadband or wider digital strategies.

8)    Indicate some of the negative factors for people not accessing the internet.

·         They are unable to access some information.

·         People without the internet are expected to be at a considerable disadvantage. This is because people expect that more vital services will be delivered solely online in the future, or be provided offline in a way that penalises people who access them in this way, perhaps at a higher cost or lower quality. It is expected that people could lose access to a wide range of services and activities: shopping, banking, school work, public services, and downloading TV content.

·         There’s less access available to entertainment.

9)        What percentages of jobs require digital skills?

90%

10)      How many people in Britain still do not use the internet? What were some of the main reasons for people still not using the internet?

15 million adults

·         Financial/ resource exclusion such as can’t afford or no computer accounted for 30% and the remaining 18% intended to get internet access at home within the next six months. This evidence suggested a strong correlation between experience of the internet and the intention to receive it at home – 72% of this group were internet users outside of home.

·         42% of people interviewed were willing to pay something for an internet connection, 13% would get it if they could get a free internet connection and a computer, but 43% would not get it even if both were free and said that it was irrelevant to their lives.

·         Within the 30% of those in the financial/ resource exclusion group, two subgroups were identified – 26% were those whose main reason related to costs or equipment and 4% were those who said they did not have the knowledge or skills. 55% of those who cite cost live in social category D/E homes.

·         Awareness of the internet has widespread with only 3% of respondents saying they have never heard of it. Use outside the home also varied widely: 32% of respondents used the internet outside of home; 24% were non-users with indirect access via family or friends carrying out tasks on the internet on their behalf; and 43% were non-users without access either directly or indirectly.

·         Within the self-excursion group, two subgroups were identified: 37% for whom the internet was not of interest and 5% who said they did not need it at home because they were happy with the access they had. Respondents who said they were indifferent tended to be older and did not use the internet.

11)   Indicate 6 positive factors of increasing digital participation in Britain?

·         Online Shopping

·         Wider access to entertainment

·         Better access to television.

·         Better control over under-age children

·         Easier to do school/general work at home

12)   Give some examples of how you think improving access to broadband to all homes will vastly improve people’s lives.

I think that having the internet accessible in every household gives potential to students that come from a lower social category to have a better education, I think it could also prevent students being teased for not accessing the internet as plenty of students speak about videos on YouTube for example and if someone didn’t have access then they would feel outcast. Another advantage of having the internet available to households is that it could introduce people to job opportunities, it could improve awareness about embarrassing situations as e-mail is available and online healthcare, I think that it would make people much more open minded to technology as a whole if broadband was introduced to every household. However I think this providing the access is used correctly and not for illegal reasons as the internet plays a role in plenty of crime.

FACEBOOK

Facebook is a social networking service launched in 2004 and was created by Mark Zuckerberg; it is privately owned and operated by Facebook Inc. Facebook was created with the intention of allowing peers and families to communicate whilst away at university, allows students to make new friends or to communicate about essays due with class mates, however since then the reasons behind the expansion of Facebook is to allow people to meet new friends.  The social networking site as of July 2011 has over 800 million active users and according to Social Media Today, in April 2010 41.6% of the United States population had a personal Facebook account. Facebook is worth approximately $15 billion, companies such as Microsoft purchased a share of 1.6% of Facebook which cost $240 million. As of April 2011, Facebook has over 2,000 employees and offices in 15 different countries.
Most of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising, Microsoft is Facebook’s exclusive partner for serving banner advertising, and therefore Facebook only serves advertisements that exist in Microsoft’s advertisement inventory. Facebook is used for many different things depending on the user, some bands use Facebook to promote themselves, students use the site to interact with other students, generally the whole sites purpose is to allow its users to meet new people or interact with friends. Despite controversy Facebook has made many changes in an attempt to increase its privacy as pictures, personal information and contact information are shown on personal profiles, the site allows its users to communicate either privately through messaging or chat or publically using wall posts. Facebook is free to use and only makes a user’s name accessible to others, users are able to control who can search for them in privacy settings, there are regular updates made to the site offering much more privacy and features for its growing amount of consumers.
Facebook is accessible on most platforms, it can be downloaded as an application on iPhones, Blackberry’s can access the site, most mobile phones with internet either come with a Facebook application and when they don’t it’s easily accessible using 3G. Primarily Facebook is an internet social networking site but many handheld devices such as iPads and some iPods can access the website also. Facebook was originally named ‘Facemash’ and then ‘The Facebook’ created for students to communicate around Harvard University in America, however it eventually ended up being accessible by other universities in the Boston area. Finally it expanded to all universities and high schools around America for people aged thirteen and over to use, however it was discovered in May 2011 that there are 7.5 million children under the age of thirteen using Facebook, thus violated the sites terms. Facebook is globally known, there are a few countries that have banned access to the website for various reasons but it is still to this day the most used social networking site.

Web 2.0

The term Web 2.0, invented by Tom Berners-Lee, is associated with web applications that allow people to participate with information sharing, the working with different products or systems without restriction, user- centered design and the working together to achieve a goal on the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 site allows its users to communicate and work with each other in social media as creators of their own content, which in contrast with websites is a breakthrough as websites only allow viewing of content that was created for the viewing of others. A few examples of Web 2.0 are social networking sites such as facebook and twitter, blogging sites such as tumbler, file sharing sites and wikipedia where multiple people can define things to inform others.

Web 2.0 has had a great deal of impact especially in education. Many colleges use Web 2.0 as students can use a college blogging site such as www.blogger.com to interact with other students which proves very advantageous in a student’s learning curve as when a topic on a certain subject proves difficult they are able to view input from other students, which in turn helps with the completion of set tasks. Alongside this many students use social networking sites, particularly facebook, to interact with each other. This is again advantageous as it not only allows relationships between students to develop creating a much more comfortable atmosphere but colleges can create pages within the social networking site which informs students about set tasks and deadlines. There are a variety of benefits in Web 2.0 as its consumers are to an extent the creators, this is advantageous as it allows room for rational debate and participation, there’s also room for intertextuality as links can be posted about magazine subscriptions, new television shows and advances in technology which promotes businesses from all different platforms.

There are disadvantages of Web 2.0 though as there is possibly too much freedom, it leaves room for SPAM and ‘trolling’ by irrational users. Trolling has been a problem within the Web 2.0 community as the use of this means that radical trust is involved, however some users purposely post things on to websites with the intent to receive an emotional reaction from other users whilst being able to conceal their identity and remain anonymous. Web 2.0 was surrounded by controversy due to people trolling, after the suicide of Alexis Pilkington, anonymous posters began trolling for reactions across various message boards, referring to Pilkington as a ‘suicidal slut’ and posting graphic images on her facebook memorial page. Across media platforms Web 2.0 has been criticized as the freedom given means that false information can be written as fact by users, which then brings the gate-keeper principle in to the subject as something that was heard could be misperceived and then explained on sites as fact. In the United Kingdom any contributions made to the internet are covered by the Communications Act 2003, sending messages that are ‘grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character’ is an offence, two persons have been imprisoned in the UK for trolling already.

Web 2.0 has impacted the expectations of audiences in many ways, there are positive effects such as easier interaction allowing a business’s product for example to be improved due to rational debate etc. However alongside this it has impacted the expectations of the consumers negatively as now not all information on the internet as a platform is believed to be valid.