Weekly NDM

YouTube: 'There's going to be a point where people don't want to see ads'

 

This article is about how YouTube is considering different ways to charge viewers for watching YouTube videos. It discusses how their previous attempt to charge those via subscriptions had failed in 2013. It also states that there will be a point when viewers will say that they dont want to see ads anymore.

• The company has previously said that “almost 40%” of its watch time comes from mobile devices.
• Wojcicki revealed the new statistic during an on-stage interview at the US Code/Mobile conference, where she added that YouTube’s overall watch time is still growing at a 50% rate annually.
• In May 2013 it introduced subscriptions as an option for some of its channel owners, enabling them to charge people to watch some videos, and keep 55% of the proceeds.

I find this article interesting as YouTube, which is currently owned by Google; both of which predominantly run due to advertising, are looking for a new way to run their company, even though that is what they have been doing since the start of their parent company.

Weekly NDM

Google is developing a cancer and heart attack-detecting pill

This article is about how Google, one of the largest media institutions, are taking a different path, and is looking to create a nanoparticle pill that could identify cancers, diseases, and other problems, before they become severe.

• More than £100bn a year is spent on the National Health Service in Britain.
• The system known as the “nanoparticle platform” is Google’s latest venture into the lucrative health market, which is worth around 10% of the economy of developed nations.
• The pill would contain magnetic particles approximately 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

I believe that this article is very interesting as it shows how big of an institution Google actually is; they are working on producing driverless cars, pills that could find out whether you will have a disease, and even contact lens that can monitor signs of diabetes. 

Weekly NDM

Newspapers

Spain moves to protect domestic media with new 'Google tax'

This article is about how the Spanish government has passed a new copyright law that forces online content aggregators such as Google News, to pay a fee for the information that they portray from other news sources.

• Failure to pay up can lead to a fine of up to €600,000.
• The company says that it is “disappointed” with Spain’s new law. “We believe that services like Google News help publishers bring traffic to their sites.
• Google defends itself by claiming that it 10 billion views to newspapers’ websites every month.

I find this article interesting as it shows how big instittutions such as Google are using other organisations contenet to present on their own news feeds and that there is a fight back from these institutions which in turn have caused the governement to take action. 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/31/spain-newspaper-google-tax

Examples of UGC

•  9/11 Recording
• London Riots

Citizen Journalism

Examples:

• Rodney King
• Virginia Tech
• Asian Tsunami
• Mumbai Bombings
• London Bombings
• Hudson River

Benefits to Institutions:

• Crowd sourcing.
• Institutions can pay less to trained professionals as there will be a reduced amount in empyed trained professionals.
• Institutions cna see what news impacts what audiences the most and present articles accordingly.

Benefits to Audiences:

• Peoples stories can be heard.
• Can gain recognition through UGC and make breakthroughs.
• More choice and people can generate their own news/content.

Wider issues and debates:

• There would be more incorrect information published.
• Less censorship.
• Sites could be run by controversial people.

SHEP:

• Social: People are able to have more control in what they read and can socially interact with one another easily compared to before.
• Historical: Prior to new/digital media, people recieved their news through newspapers, radio broadcasts, and TV. Most of the news was limited as not all news stories were able to be shown due to the fact that there was more news then could be presented.
• Economical: As online apps and websites are free, such as Twitter, and Facebook, and YouTube; in order to keep them running, they make their money through advertisements.
• Political: The governement cannot mediate everything that is online as they do not have the same control as they do with broadcast platforms and print platforms.

What impact is new/digital media having on the following:

• News Stories
  - People can now create and produce their own news and their own stories.
  - Audiences have more option and can select what they want to know and read about rather than what they are shown.
  - News is now more accessible and you can receive news more frequently and as soon as it occurs, compared to traditionally waiting for the next days paper or few days even.
  - News also is ever changing, people become bored of a story and move on after a while.
   
• The News Agenda
  - People are more in control of what they want to read and what is shown in the news as the news is now primarily based on what people want to hear and know about.
  - Audiences are able to comment on articles and now have the ability to voice their opinions; therefore the more relevant a news article is to an audience, the more likely the news article would be presented.
   
• The role of professionals in the news
  - There are fewer and fewer permanent trained staff in organisations.
  - News is left unmediated as people can produce their own news and present it far easier than ever.
  - Professionals are having to adapt to the availability of new technology and are now having to post articles online.

Weekly NDM

The dizzying decline of Britain’s local newspapers: do you want the bad news, or the good news?

This article is about how local newspapers are on the decline in sales and less and less people are buying them due to the ability to access news from a variety of new and different sources. Also it discusses how users themselves are producing their own content .

• Sales are in freefall – down by an average of 13.5 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2014. The poor South Wales Argus fell by an eye-watering 33.2 per cent and the Doncaster Star sold barely 1,000 copies a day.

 This article is interesting as it shows that people are infact becoming active producers and that maybe in the future local newspapers will not be available as nobody is willing to purchase them due to the digital age.



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/the-dizzying-decline-of-britains-local-newspapers-do-you-want-the-bad-news-or-the-good-news-9702684.html

Weekly NDM

How should we deal with death in the social media age?

This article is about a family who had recieved messages from their late grandmother saying “I’m watching over you, you’ll get through this, you’ll be all right.” although they had burried her mobile phone with her. it discusses how social network is used for grieving and how people for instance post up news of deaths before the next of kin can even be informed.

I think this article is interesting as it shows how much social media is used in a variety of ways; and that it is a platform for news and it spreads the word.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/17/death-social-media-grief-facebook-twitter-text

The Rise Of UGC

1. What is meant by the term 'Citizen Journalist'? 
   The term 'Citizen Journalist' means when non-professionals collect, analyse, present news on blogs, wikis and websites that allow them to share information using tablets, laptops, smartphones, etc. It is also known as Public Journalism.
    
2. What was one of the first examples of news being generated by 'Ordinary People'? 
   One of the first examples of news being generated by ordinary people was the home-video footage which made prime-time news globally and had become a sensation internationally. The video showed 4 LA police officers taser and beating Rodney King with clubs after finally capturing him after a high speed car chase om 1991.  Which in turn lead to riots due that had taken the lives of 53 people and left 4000 people injured.
    
3. List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations. 
             ·      Blogs
             ·      Forums
             ·      Comments
             ·      Opinion Polls
     
4. What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)? 
   Professionally shot footage always is seen to be in some form bias as it only shows what the news institution wants the audience to see, whereas first-hand footage always normally portrays a different view to the story. Also, first-hand footage shows how truly bad something is as it isn't edited or cut short and people trust others more than news institutions with power.
     
5. What is a gatekeeper? 
   A gatekeeper is someone who controls access to something and in terms of news it would be the editor who selects stories for publication based on their organizations criteria or remit as such.
     
6. How has the role of a gatekeeper changed? 
   In some ways the role of a gatekeeper has changed as there is less control from these professionals who used to dictate what is presented and what isn't. Traditionally if a citizen had a story to tell or a piece of news they would have had to go through these news organizations, however UGC and sites that encourage that such as Twitter and Facebook allow citizens and ordinary people with a story to be heard.
     
7. What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
   One of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC is that there will be fewer trained professionals in news organisations leaving a small amount of staff to be in control and manage UGC from citizen journalists, also known as 'crowd sourcing'. Also, another concern is that there would be less mediators moderators and they would eventually disappear which would leave the media unmediated, which allows people to present information that could be false or very negative towards groups of people and much more. 

Weekly NDM

Can Twitter make money out of breaking news or is it a PR platform?

This article is interesting as it discusses how the head of news and journalism partnership at Twitter has stepped down and how others have followed due to the direction of which Twitter is going.

• Twitter over whether it should largely be a conduit for journalism or PR. And whether a technology company, even one with 271 million monthly users, believes it can make money out of breaking news. 
• Twitter has always seemed bigger than it actually is because of the type of people – celebrities, sports stars and politicians as well as newshounds – who use it 

This article is interesting as it shows how big media institutions who have very intelligent employees high up are still stepping down due to disagreements with the company themselves.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2014/oct/12/twitter-breaking-news-pr-vivian-schiller

Buzzfeed

21 Signs Your Tea Obsession Is Getting Out Of Control

This article shows its audience signs of how their obsession with tea is getting out of control. It contains 21 pictures and sentences such as 'You have more varieties of tea than pairs of shoes. Or Shirts. Or friends.' This would appeal to audiences that like to read random meaningless articles that are made to generally kill time. This goes with the idea that audiences are dumbing down

This news is different from traditional media as it portrays short concise information in a sentence to its audience about the current news. This is different as it allows audiences to be able to pick and choose at ease what they want to read and at the same time be able to see what else is happening around the world. Unlike traditional media which only presents key information that is assumed to be relevant to its audience, like the hypodermic needle model.

Weekly NDM

Media
Ofcom: one in three children under 15 have their own tablt computer, supplanting TV

This article is about research conducted by ofcom which finds that 34% of five to fifteen year olds have thir own tablets, and has increased from 19% in 2013 to 34% in 2014. 

• Apple dominates with 50% of the UK tablet users.
• Ofcom found that 84% of parents directly supervise their children.
• Tesco says the Hudl sold 750,000 tablets in the past year.

I think that this article is very interesting as it shows that new and digital media is increasing in demand and traditional media such as television is not a must have any more due to the wide range of use of tablets. This means that the internet is more accesible for younger children, which also means they are also less protected and monitored online.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/09/ofcom-one-in-three-children-tablet

Weekly NDM

Technology
Car that parks itself rolls off Tesla production line in California

This article is about a well known car manufacturing company who specialise in making electric sports cars, who have now started to make cars that drive all by themselves, more specifically, park themselves. It also discusses other intitutions such as Google who are developing this technology to create a driverless car.

I think this article is interesting as it portrays the change in times as car manufacturing companies are looking to develop the industry to help drivers and create a safer driving environment, and media institutions such as Google, are also getting in on this technology themselves.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/10/car-parks-itself-tesla-motors-california-elon-musk

Weekly NDM

Newspaper
The Sun's 'Unite against Isis' campaign is a proxy for anti-Muslim bigotry

This article is about the Sun's attempt to persuade people of Britain, especially Muslims to stand up to extremists and display their loyalty to Britain by placing a mini cut out flag which was  placed in th Sun's newspaper where it could be seen by everyone. The front page of The Sun showed a lady in a hijab of the Union Jack.

I find this article interesting as it is another attempt from The Sun newspaper to persuade the British people as they did with the elections in 1992. However this article is controversial as this could make the British Muslims feel as if they are under watch and they must display their loyalty to Britian constantly.

Weekly NDM

Technology

Amazon Fire Phone review: Setting nothing ablaze

This article is about how the recent smartphone released by Amazon; one of the largest online shopping institutions in the world, had not met its expectations. According to the critic, the smartphone felt outdated and had a terrible software which ran everything.

I think that this article is interesting as it shows how media institutions keep on growing and they all want to get in on producing different things, other than what they set out for. Such as apple starting off making personal computers, and now produces phones and much more.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/07/amazon-fire-phone-review-android-smartphone

Research Study

Major News Providers:

Broadcast:

• BBC radio 4
• BBC news
• Sky News
• ITV News

Print:

• The Times
• The Guardian
• The Sun
• Metro

E-Media:

• Twitter
• Guardian
• Daily Mail
• BBC News
• Sky News

Commercial institutions such as The Sun and ITV news present news in a way which would allow them to gain money; The Sun, owned by NewsCorp, charges its audience a fee in order to purchase their newspapers, and ITV news presents adverts to its audiences after/before their news presentations. 

Non- commercial institutions such as the BBC and the Metro, a London based newspaper usually given out near the tube, do not charge their audience for their services as such and they usually tend to present unbiased news stories. The BBC is paid for by a TV license, of which everyone with a TV must have in the UK, that in turn pays for the news and everything that comes with it, so an argument can be made that they are a commercial institution, however they do provide their services based on the fee they receive from their customers for their customers and do not aim to generate profit.