Mobile giant Three to block online advertising #14

Mobile giant Three to block online advertising

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/02/18/mobile-giant-three-to-block-online-advertising/

Three one of Britains largest mobile company are partnering with hong kong company using shine technology to block all or almost all of advertisement on mobiles. This means customers wont have to see advertisment along side there normal but will have some sort of contract system to replace revenue lost from advertising.

-O2, which Three UK is attempting to acquire for £10.25bn, has also said it is looking at restrictions.

To some extent i do agree with Threes decision to block nuisance ads, the type that are data hungry and the videos the pop up and begin to play automatically. I believe that ads like these should pay for data and not be allowed to force the questions.

Facebook, Twitter Join Network to Tackle Fake News #13

Facebook, Twitter Join Network to Tackle Fake News

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/facebook-twitter-join-network-tackle-fake-news-n648041

Several large digital media companies plan to come together to help create some sort of system to help validate and check news stories. This also means the checking and removal of malicious or extremist content, something already being done by twitter.

I believe that this is a step in the right direction to make the online world a lot safer and more reliable, however the removal of certain accounts and content because of online regulations is arguably a breach of the freedom of speech act and takes power away from the people. Although if done properly it could be successful in removing extreme material.

Newspaper sales decline in first half of 2016 #12

Newspaper sales decline in first half of 2016

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/newspaper-sales-decline-in-first-half-of-2016-1.2760884

This article explores the decline in print newspapers and gives various statistics.

• Print circulation of the Irish times is down 5.5% year on year 
• the growth in digital editions sales (at 103%) meant that the Irish times grew 1% year on year
• The company is currently behind a paywall
• papers on sunday has fell by an average of 6% across all companies, even those owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Mainly because of the rise of new and digital media newspapers across the world are suffering and print is dying out. This is a trend that we will continue to see across the world over the next few years. However, some parts of the developing world have completely skipped the print phase and jumped straight to digital media.

Donald Trump as president 'would be a threat to press freedom' #11

Donald Trump as president 'would be a threat to press freedom'

https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/oct/17/donald-trump-as-president-would-be-a-threat-to-press-freedom

This article talks about the comments trump has made reguarding several media institutions and singleing out some journalists to insult them. All of this points towards that if trump were to win the election then he could end up limitting the power of the media and what the journalist was worried about was that if other countries follow suit and limit the power of their media institutions.

I believe that this could be a possibility but its completly unethical to limit the press as this would most likely ocurr in the form of censorship. Because of things like investigative journalism corruption and other political scandals are revealed like the watergate scandal and with someone like trump in office this would be an important mean of scrutiny however if this were to be limitted then there would be a problem.

The decline in newspapers: MM case studies

1) Read the feature: 'A New Day for British journalism' on page 6 of Media Magazine 57 (our Media Magazine archive is here).

2) What was the New Day trying to achieve?
What they were trying to achieve was to target a specific part of the market, both male and females who wouldnt typically choose to read or purchase a newspaper.

3) List the key statistics on the first page: how many people buy newspapers in the UK? How has this declined in the last year?

• first standalone newspaper in over 30 years
• over a million people have stopped buying the newspaper in the past two years
• 6 million people buy a newspaper in Britain everyday 

4) What audience were the New Day trying to attract?

They were trying to attract and audience possibly younger to 20's/30's who dont read the newspapers and try to entice them to buy theirs.

5) Why do you think the New Day failed so spectacularly? There are several possible reasons listed in the article but do develop your own opinion here as well.

They failed because they attempted to start a newspaper in an already declining market, but also because the audience type that they were targeting are more involved in new and digital media instead of traditional media especially in print form, of this newspaper would have been exclusively  online then possibly it would have survived for longer.

1) Read the feature: 'Can The Guardian survive in a changing media landscape?' on page 9 of Media Magazine 57.

2) List the key statistics on page 10: How many unique digital browsers used the Guardian website in June 2016? What are The Guardian's latest print sales figures? How does this compare to the Telegraph? In terms of finances, how much did the Guardian lose in 2015? 

• explosive growth of the internet in the 90's
• Guardian has 3rd most viewed website in the world
• 120 million monthly unique browsers
• daily average in June of around 9 million 
• 5 million daily online readers more than the telegraph
• print circulation for the guardian was only 161000
• print circulation for the Daily telegraph was 472000
• The guardian lost around £70 million 
• cut backs of almost 20%

3) What has been The Guardian's strategy for reversing this decline?

By updating news stories 24/7 on its online page and on its app it keeps readers interested and use the Guardian as their main source of instant,  and more intellectual news. Also by sending users push notifications when ever a breaking news story come up.

4) What global event did The Guardian's digital coverage win awards for?

They won an award at the press awards 2015 mainly for their coverage of the Paris shootings that same year.

5) In your opinion, will the global website strategy be enough to save The Guardian?

I believe so as the strategy involves attracting a larger audience more readers will come to the guardian website and this will begin to interest more advertisers who will want to advertise on the website creating more revenue for the guardian and a continued high readership.

NDM News: The future of journalism

3) Why does Clay Shirky argue that 'accountability journalism' is so important and what example does he give of this?
Shirky views accountability journalism as a 'public good' as sometimes without this scandals go unaccounted for and it allows for scrutiny of those in power with corruption charges against them. A fictional example would be in the American tv series 'Homeland' when an american journalist exposes leaked CIA documents and revealing evidence of corruption and this is important because it shows that even the central government wasnt willing to expose this so this makes accountability journalism important. The example from the text was about the catholic church crisis of 2002 in which the Boston globe revealed the abuse of children from members high up in the church. Without accountability journalism cases like this would tend to go unnoticed.

4) What does Shirky say about the relationship between newspapers and advertisers? Which websites does he mention as having replaced major revenue-generators for newspapers (e.g. jobs, personal ads etc.)?

The relationship between newspapers and advertisers isnt on the best of terms as advertisers are accused of being 'undeserved' by the newspapers and 'overcharged'. This makes life difficult for both parties as newspapers depend more on advertisers but the advertisers know that newspapers are an influential mean of advertising.In terms of replacing major revenue-generators, he cites Craiglist, Monster and Match as these of course would grant you the most profit possible.

5) Shirky talks about the 'unbundling of content'. This means people are reading newspapers in a different way. How does he suggest audiences are consuming news stories in the digital age?
Shirky states that people nowadays tend to stray away from the traditional mass media institutions with the example given the times which has a continuously falling readership. Shirky says that people go to social media websites like facebook and twitter for their news stories rather than traditional mass media institutions.

6) Shirky also talks about the power of shareable media. How does he suggest the child abuse scandal with the Catholic Church may have been different if the internet had been widespread in 1992?
If the internet was widespread in 1992  this story would have been more available to be people around the world and to a younger audience however during this time TV and newspapers would have been the dominant source for news so to some extent the internet might not be as useful as some people still say that tv news is their main source of news although this is changing as the internet is becoming more widely available to more people across the world.

7) Why does Shirky argue against paywalls? 
The reason Shirky argues against paywalls is because he believes that they damage general news and only benefit financial news and large conglomerates like Rupert Murdoch. 

8) What is a 'social good'? In what way is journalism a 'social good'?
A social good is something that benefits the majority of people in a positive way. Sometimes parts of journalism like investigative journalism can be called a social good because it can make the public aware of some corruption and other scandals going on that otherwise wouldnt have come to light.

9) Shirky says newspapers are in terminal decline. How does he suggest we can replace the important role in society newspapers play? What is the short-term danger to this solution that he describes?
Shirky believes newspapers are irreplaceable and the  time spent trying to replace newspapers is misspent effort and that we should instead be transferring our concern to the production of lots and lots of smaller, overlapping models of accountability journalism.

10) Look at the first question and answer regarding institutional power. Give us your own opinion: how important is it that major media brands such as the New York Times or the Guardian continue to stay in business and provide news?
I believe that major media institutions like the new york times and the Guardian now more than ever have an important role to play as news providers as they have skilled professional investigative journalists responsible for exposing and holding some people and or institutions to account over corruption and other scandals.

Newspapers: the effect of online technology

Newspapers: the effect of online technology

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

To some extent i do agree as the bbc earn money from tv licensing whereas others rely on advertising and paywalls online as most of the advertising revenue has moved online and away from print and other traditional mass media. However, it would be difficult to enforce paywalls on ever online news website as people dont want to pay for news and theyd only find free news alternatives for instance the majority of young people would use social media like twitter or facebook for their news. So unless the BBC decide to scrap the tv license and start earning revenue from advertising then enforcing a paid online news system wont work.

1. Was Rupert Murdoch right to put his news content (The Times, The Sunday Times) behind a paywall?

The figures show an increase in online readership after the paywalls were set up so arguably this could be a good idea and if other institutions were to go behind a paywall online readership would increase across the board. However, Murdochs other newspaper the sun went behind a paywall for a year but failed so this tactic doesnt always work and could be damaging for the institution.

1. Choose two comments from below the Times paywall article - one that argues in favour of the paywall and one that argues against. Copy a quote from each and explain which YOU agree with and why.

-no comments relating to queation

Although i do agree that going behind a paywall was the right idea as it means professional journalism can still exist as they will still be getting paid from the online subscription and advertising, however with free websites like twitter and facebook giving citizens the opportunity to be journalists the paywall does put them at a disadvantage.

1. Is there any hope for the newspaper industry or will it eventually die out? Provide a detailed response to this question explaining and justifying your opinion.

Its difficult to say as advances in new and digital media in the past 20 years has been so significant that many newspapers have already stopped printing and many journalists have lost their jobs although some of the largest online websites are that of traditional newspapers which dont do to badly online but in terms of remaining in print form newspapers may cease to exist in that way as readership is falling consistently ever year.

 

I'm with you on the digital revolution, it's the lack of journalism I can't face #10

I'm with you on the digital revolution, it's the lack of journalism I can't face

https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/oct/11/im-with-you-on-the-digital-revolution-its-the-lack-of-journalism-i-cant-face

This article is about the decline in journalism and print publications whilst the rise of new and digital media continues. A local paper in the US state of New Hampshire has stopped production after  90 years because it was becoming too expensive to continue printing.

• Panama Papers exposure was carried out by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a network of more than 190 investigative journalists based in more than 65 countries
• This statistic displays Google's advertising or ad revenue since 2001. In 2015, Google's ad revenue amounted to almost 67.39 billion US dollars

I agree with the fact that journalists are loosing their jobs because of the digital revolution.  As the figure above shows most of the advertising revenue is going to online places like google and away from newspaper resulting in journalists losing their jobs. 

Are mobiles changing how we shop? #9

Are mobiles changing how we shop?

Industry data suggests technology is finally catching up with impulse-buying urge

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/12172230/Are-mobiles-changing-how-we-shop.html

This article talks about the increased use of mobile phones for shopping purposes, also it gives the opinions of different retailers and researchers. Some say that this will continue to be the trend whilst others argue that this could just be an anomaly as this is the only year that mobile phones for shopping purposes have exceeded the normal process.

-51 per cent of online sales between November and January in the UK involved hand-held devices rather than traditional computers or laptops.

-A Mintel study of Christmas shopping habits found that only 37 per cent of those surveyed bought all or most of their presents online.

-Of those who bought presents from a mainly online retailer, 73 per cent used a laptop while 19 per cent used a tablet and 14 per cent used a smartphone.

I believe that online shopping via mobile phones will continue to increase as the online shopping websites are much more developed and make buying things so much easier and more comfortable for the customer. Moreover, mobiles and online shopping in general have become a lot safer in recent years which would entice more people to spend online. Also i believe mobiles are becoming more important in managing our everyday lives and shopping is a big part of that so mobiles have changed the way we shop to a large extent but regular shop will still stay open as going into the shop itself could offer some exclusive stuff but online also has those perks known as premium content. 

'Build The Wall analysis'.

• Section 1 (To all of the bystanders reading this…)

This section is about the importance of news and why journalists need to be paid for the work they do. It states that news has to come from somewhere, and that it is the job of the journalist to unlock the stories with evidence and give it to society.

• Section 2 (Truth is, a halting movement toward...)

Simon states the success and use of his theory of using an online subscription, like the Timesand The Post do. He is claiming that this method is already being used and people are actually using this feature, as in applying for the subscription.

• Section 3 (Beyond Mr. Sulzberger and Ms. Weymouth…)

newspaper's overall agenda to fill pages of articles and advertisement isn't coherent for a social climate that is constantly prone to change

• Section 4 (For the industry, it is later than it should be…)

Evaluating the possible outcomes for a couple of newspapers if they decide to 'build the wall' eg for the times...the post.

Summary of argument 

He's very adamant this will work and sees no other way as to how sufficient revenues will be gained. He suggests that the two Newspapers mentioned above are like market leaders and when they choose to go behind a paywall all other Newspaper companies will follow. Back in the late 90's they thought that the Internet would benefit the newspaper industry and were excited about gaining a larger audience in young readers.Furthermore, David Simon analyses how the decline in newspapers leads to a reduction in staff. The example provided is from ‘The Sun’ where the staff dropped drastically from 500 to 160. There is major risk behind the paywall as newspapers have to ensure their audience are engaged with the content all the time.

I believe that this article is quite positive about developments in new and digital media. I think that because the uk reports news on a more national scale compared to the US localised way there is more influence and NDM has allowed this to reach more people in a number of ways. Although this because of this news has lost a lot of credibility because of the lack of checking before something is published online. Moreover, regaurding paywalls i disagree about using them as people now-a-days especially the millenials wouldnt pay for news and it just means they are potentially loosing out on money.

NDM: The decline of the newspaper industry

This article is talking about who or what is responsible for the 'death' of the newspaper. One of the main causes was because advertising revenue had shifted online as this is where the highest density of people are viewing news, this had meant many journalists have lost their jobs.Publications like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal should be able to put up the price of their journalism to compensate for advertising revenues lost to the internet



1) Do you agree with its view that it is ‘a cause for concern, but not for panic’?
Respected publications like The New York Times are able to put up the prices of their newspapers to compensate for the loss of advertising revenues, though young people in particular dont tend to pay for any news now a days.

2) The article is 10 years old - an eternity in digital media terms. Have the writer's predictions come to pass? Use statistics from your Ofcom research to support or challenge the writer's argument.
I believe the predictions have come true. Also in the past 10 years developments in technology have meant people can now access digital media is so many different ways probably more than what the writers had first thought.

3) The Economist suggests that high-quality journalism in the future will be backed by non-profit organisations rather than profit-seeking media corporations. Is there any evidence for this? How is the Guardian funded? What do major stories from the last year such as the Panama Papers suggest about how investigative journalism is conducted in the digital age?
People are recording news and content on their smartphones and releasing it to the web free of charge. They are not necessarily profit driven, but rather spreading awareness. News paper companies are already seen to be losing money as well as being a commercial news provider. The Panama Papers is a great example of investigative journalism and the difference that it makes to have social media and the online platform to rapidly upload information and get it exposed to a large group of people quickly.  

Revenues from TV advertising exceeds $5bn for the first time #8

Revenues from TV advertising exceeds $5bn for the first time

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/02/23/tv-advertising-exceeds-5bn-for-first-time/



The TV advertising market has once again gotten larger as more companies are spending more money on advertising. It is the fifth consecutive year that money spent on TV advertising has risen. Big spender include companies like Google and Facebook with spending going into the Billions. The figures are based on the UK TV market for last year.

• Facebook spent close £11mil on advertising 
• Sky totalled up around 22bn views on advertisements
• Advertising on TV is now 30% cheaper than it was 10 years ago

I think this is a good thing that money spent on advertising has gone up as Broadcast media is now becoming more and more out of use every year, the funding from the advertisements keeps the channels running so people can still enjoy it and people who are on the other side of the digital divide still have a chance to enjoy the media.  

Daily Mail owner to cut more than 400 jobs as it battles 'challenging market #7

Daily Mail owner to cut more than 400 jobs as it battles 'challenging market

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/sep/29/daily-mail-cost-cuts-dmgt

This article from the Guardian says that the Daily Mail (A competitor) has to axe over 400 jobs from its human resources. This is because it has been ordered to pay fees going upwards of around £million. It says that most of it's editorial jobs will be secure as they don't want to face a slip in quality. Although this would be a large cost for DGM (Daily Mail's parent company) there ad revenues online has risen 18% since August giving them some support.

-cuts at DMG Media, which employs 2,700 staff,

- About 40% of the total job cuts will come from the company’s DMG Information business in the US

-Print advertising across the Mail and Metro titles fell by 19% in September, compared with 12% in the 11 months to the end of August

When researching this story further i noticed that the Daily Mail itself hasn't posted about it axing jobs but its competitors have, this may be because they're not proud of the fact they have to loose so many people in order to make a profit. Also the jobs being axed come from more people in marketing  and ad sales and not from there editors. In a time like this where jobs in the media are getting much more competitive because of the shrinking market it won't be unusual to see more dramatic job cuts like this.

NDM baseline assessment learner response

NDM baseline assessment learner response

4) 
33/48 'B'
WWW- very well balanced, with good insight into institutional issues 

EBI- Lacks key details in places. Add developed examples, linking back to question where iv'e asked for eg's.

5)
Moreover, large NDM institutions can to an extent be held responsible for the decline of the traditional mass media institutions. According to paretos law large media conglomerates have control over the majority of media, 20 or so years ago this would have been true for the traditional mass media institutions but because of developments in NDM, companies like google and facebook are at the top of the hierarchy and control most of the market. This empowers audiences greatly as many more opportunities can arise from online companies being the most powerful for instance offering the space for UGC like citizen journalism. For instance on twitter and facebook many different pages report the news that arent part of the traditional mass media institutions. Though this may mean empowerment for audiences, traditional mass media institutions struggle a great deal because of these developments and it often means that journalists are loosing their jobs because most things have moved online which is much more competitive. Although some would argue that audiences arent being empowered but instead 'spoon-fed'. I dont believe this to be true as the developments in NDM have given audiences access to a greater variety of news and entertainment plus other sources that werent widely available when traditional mass media companies were at the top of the hierarchy.

NDM case study- How has news changed?

1) Read this Ofcom 2015 report on the consumption of news in the UK. Note down the key statistics and changes that Ofcom document.

Nine in ten adults in the UK (89%) say that they follow news

Newspapers are used by three in ten (31%),

decrease in those that say they use radio as a source of news (from 36% in 2014 to 32% in 2015).

One in ten (10%) of adults say they don’t follow news 

Those aged 55+ are more likely than those aged 16-24 to use TV, newspapers and radio for news consumption

Around half (51%) of people aged 16-24 use TV for news, compared to 86% of those aged 55+

Seven in ten (69%) men use TV for news, compared to 65% of women

2) What are the most popular platforms for audiences to access news and how has this changed in recent years?

53% of those who consumed news said that the most important news source to them was a tv channel.

3) How do different age demographics access news in the UK?

86% of over 55's use television for their news whereas 59% of 15-24 year olds use the internet for their news. Also 44% of over 55's still use newspapers for their news.
4) Does socio-economic status change attitudes to news? If so, how?

People in the AB socio-economic group are more likely than those in the DE socio-economic group to consume news on any of the four main platforms: TV (71% vs 67%), the internet (50% vs. 29%), newspapers (38% vs. 26%) and radio (46% vs. 23%). 

5) How many different sources of news are used on average? How does differ between different groups?4 major platforms- 3.5 sources used.

6) How has news consumption through television changed in recent years?

BARB shows that each adult watched 108 hours of national and international news on tv in 2014. This figure has been decreasing steadily in recent years. Over 60% of tv viewings were either on bbc1 or bbc2- 76% of people using bbc for news at least once a day, this would suggest that tv news is still being watched quite frequently but not as often as before most likely due to social media.
7) How much has news consumption through newspapers declined since 2005?

Among adults newspaper readership had fallen by around 27% in the past years. Though newspaper readership remains high amongst over 65's at 67.9%. However, combining online readerships of some newspapers like the daily mail make it the biggest in the UK with 5.5 million users...important to realise this number is also falling.

8) How does newspaper reach differ by age group?

Reach of national newspapers varies by age group: 29.3% of 15-24s are print newspaper readers, compared to 67.9% of over-65s.21% of those aged 16-24 said they used newspapers as their main source of news whilst 44% of those aged 55 and over said they used newspapers. These figures are to be expected as a higher percentage of younger people use the internet for their news.

9) Which are the most popular newspapers and websites in the UK? What do you know about those newspapers' political viewpoints?

Of those who use the internet or apps for news, around half (51%) say they use the website or apps of TV and radio companies to get news.

a10) How does online news consumption differ for age, gender and socio-economic status?

 about six in ten (61%) 16-24s who use the internet/ apps for news say they use social media sites. Those in the ABC1 brackets tend to use online sources for news like news websites or social media. 

11) What percentage of people use social media to access news? How does this differ by age and socio-economic status?

;about six in ten (61%) 16-24s who use the internet/ apps for news say they use social media sites, however, only a quater if over 55's would say that they use social media as an access to news.

12) What percentage of users only use social media sites for their news?

Couldnt find an actual perecnatge.

13) What are the most popular online sites for news?

Around 56% of people said the bbc was their main source for online news, then it is facebook at 29% and finally google search engine.

14) What percentage of 16-24 year olds access news mostly from social media?

61%

15) How do audiences find stories online? Do you follow links or go to the homepage of the news provider?

36% of people said that  they go from the homepage of an app to find news stories whilst a quarter said that they go from popups from search engines such as yahoo.

New/digital media: audience and institution

16) What are the benefits for audiences from the changes new and digital media have had on the news industry?

The benefits is that NDM has allowed audiences to access news in many different ways. Whilst people still have access to traditional mass media in print form but this is also available online and are some of the biggest websites available 

17) What are the benefits for institutions from the changes new and digital media have had on the news industry?

The benefits for institutions are that they can reach more people online.

18) What are the downsides for audiences as a result of new and digital media in news?

The disadvantages for audiences is that some news online may false and not everything is trustworthy.

19) What are the downsides for institutions as a result of new and digital media in news?

The downside for institutions is that online has taken most of the advertising revenue and as a result some journalists.

20) Who has benefited most from the changes new and digital media have had on the news industry - audiences or institutions?

I believe that  audiences have benefited most from changes in NDM because of things like UGC with citizen journalism it means audiences have grater freedom but it also means that institutions miss out and are at a disadvantage.