Microsoft joins Amazon and Expedia in lawsuit against #muslimban #41

Microsoft joins Amazon and Expedia in lawsuit against #muslimban
Read more at http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/microsoft-joins-amazon-expedia-lawsuit-against-muslimban

http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/microsoft-joins-amazon-expedia-lawsuit-against-muslimban/1422622


This article only briefly talks about the 3 media tech companies that have shown support for the US attorney general's decision to file a lawsuit against Trumps order to ban people entering the US from the set of 7 countries.

-Citizens of the seven countries named as security risks are banned from entering the United States for the next 90 days

-7 countries include;
Yemen 
Somalia
Syria
Libya
Iran
Iraq
Afghanistan

-Obama also had ban which lasted for 6 months

I believe that the ban is unnecessary but people referring to it as a 'muslim ban' isnt correct either as it doesnt say this anywhere in the executive order just a review of screening for these 'suspicious' countries. whether or not he has the authority to do this is being argued by the attorney general and the extent to which Amazons support goes is limited as this is a federal issue. 

MM conference notes

D-word conference with Leon mann

people with different views to have conversation over diversity in sport media...boss of sky sports news among other bosses of sport media related companies 

lack of diversity in sport media 

being encouraged more now especially within the BBC 

media and democracy 

bloggers to influence democracy 

media good for democracy 'lse-Banaji'

15-25 year olds most unlikely to vote in elections 

apathetic to democracy and voting 

LSE research suggests media is full of stereotypes 

Brexit- people not knowing what they were voting for..voting for change.

tips for being creative 

always volunteer, never know what youre going to get could be worthwhile

Winning back advertisers is key to saving the newspaper industry #40

Winning back advertisers is key to saving the newspaper industry

https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2017/jan/24/winning-back-advertisers-is-key-to-saving-the-newspaper-industry

The article describes the current print media situation as 'a near-death experience'. This is also suggesting that the lack of advertising, which has mostly moved online, is one of the main causes for loss of revenue and is partly to blame for the decrease in newspaper circulation. According to Ebiquity (the largest UK media auditor) 75% of the money in the marketing pot does not actually reach the publisher from an advertiser using “programmatic”

-Total readership across print and digital news brands is 35% of the total UK population daily, 63% weekly and 90% monthly, 

-with the highest monthly reach among the youngest groups (18-34) who tend to access via mobile devices.

-In the first quarter of 2016, Facebook’s net income increased 300% and its margins jumped from 26% to 37%.

-In effect, 90% of the increase in mobile revenue is going to Facebook and Google. 

I believe that this article highlights what is involved in what exactly is causing the loss of advertising revenue for newspapers. They not only have to worry about digital giants like Facebook and Google coming through and taking what should be their revenue, but also a lack of transparency in terms of media intermediaries.

Identities: Post-colonial theory & blog tasks

Identities: Post-colonial theory & blog tasks

1) Read the excellent article exploring the different representations of black people in British film and TV from Media Magazine 42 (MM42 fromour Media Magazine archive - page 51)

2) List FIVE films, FIVE TV programmes and FIVE online-only productions that are discussed in the article.

FILMS:

Anuva hood

Attack the block

Kidulthood

Brotherhood

Ill manors 

TV PROGRAMMES:

Top Boy

55 Degrees North

Luther

Line of Duty

Citizen Khan

ONLINE ONLY PRODUCTIONS:

Brothers with no Game

Venus vs. Mars

The Ryan sisters

All about the McKenzies

Meet the Adebanjos

3) Watch Destiny Ekaragha's clips above (more of her work is available onher website, including the short film The Park). To what extent can we apply Alvarado's and Fanon's theories to these films? Do they reinforce or subvert typical black stereotypes in British film and TV? Refer to specific scenes and events in the clips in answering this question and aim for at least 350 words.

The most evident of Alvardos theory which can be applied to 'Tight jeans' is the pitied concept as the location for the film is set around an estate and other low-income housing which suggests these people arent well off and creates the sense of poverty which people tend to pity. Moreover, alvarados theory also includes 'exotic' which refers to the Nigerian culture reflected by some of the characters in the film ( gone too far) including 'Ikudayisi and his mother, this is done by their colourful choice of clothing, the language they speak including their accents but also things like the food they go and retrieve from the shops which is Nigerian reinforces Alvarados theory of 'exoticness' here. This also links to Fanon's theory of their exoticness being primitivised as this reinforces the stereotypes of Nigerian people. Furthermore, another part of Alvarados theory, 'dangerous can be applied to the teenagers/youths in tight jeans who wear hoddies and tracksuits and hand-out in large groups, this is more of a negative stereotype as infers all youths are dangerous. Subsequently, gone too far especially makes humourous references about the characters 'exoticness' which is viewed in a more positive way.

Popular newspapers suffer greater circulation falls than qualities #39

Popular newspapers suffer greater circulation falls than qualities

https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2017/jan/19/popular-newspapers-suffer-greater-circulation-falls-than-qualities

This article talks about the continuing falling trends of print newspaper circulation in Britian.

-The Daily Express, for example, sold an average of 391,626 copies a day in December 2016, down by 2.3% on the same month the year before.

- The Sun didnt do much better: down by 10.5% to 1,611,464

-the Guardian fell by 3% on the year (to 161,191)

- Daily Telegraph was down by 3.4% (to 460,054)

-Sunday: 257,790 (-13.2%); 

-Sunday Mirror: 620,861 (-16.3%);

- Sunday People: 239,364 (-15.1%);

-Sun on Sunday: 1,383,048 (-5.83%);

- Sunday Express: 335,271 (-5.6%);

 - Mail on Sunday: 1,284,121 (-7.34%)

-national newspapers jointly enjoyed a 16% year-on-year uplift across digital platforms

This trend is something to be expected and something that we will continue to see every month. The growth of new and digital media is one of the main reasons why print has been declining but these traditional mass media institutions are thriving online but at the same time in competition with websites like facebook and twitter which have their own system of news which is circulated to a much larger audience than what the traditional mass media institutions can offer.

January assessment: Learner response

January assessment: Learner response

1) Type up your feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to).

WWW: Well structured, articulate and engaged writing 

EBI: Could do with more extended case study-some more examples of the news industry, linked to theory with a paragraph doing this.

38/48 B+

2) Read through the mark scheme (go to the last two pages of the document - Section B New/digital media). Of the six different statements for each level (e.g. A sophisticated and comprehensive essay, showing very good critical autonomy.) write which level you think YOU are currently working at for each one. Explain WHY and, for any that are not Level 4, what you are going to do to improve in that area.

-I believe i am currently working on a level 4.

-A sophisticated and comprehensive essay, showing very good critical autonomy.

-Sophisticated and detailed understanding of new and digital media.

-A sharp focus on the question throughout.

-Sophisticated application of a wide range of media debates, issues and theories and wider contexts.

For this point i could have added more examples throughout the essay and explained them a bit better, as well as adding a few more theories to help back up my points.

-A comprehensive individual case study, with a wide range of detailed examples.

-Well structured, articulate and engaged.

3) Look at the Examiners' Report for this particular paper. Read page 10 - Section B New/digital media. How many of the good points or higher level answer examples did you include in your essay? What were they? What could you have added to improve your mark?

I mentioned most points but forgot to mention the digital divide and its affect on democracy, also i only mentioned citizen journalism briefly and should have had a larger paragraph dedicated to it. 

4) Read through these exemplar A grade essays from last year. What do these essays offer that yours does not? Identify THREE things you can take from these essays to improve your own responses in future.

-Using current examples from the weekly news stories.

-Have clearer topic sentences like 'From a Marxist perspective'

-Have a longer conclusion showing more critical autonomy

5) Write ONE new paragraph for your January assessment essay. Ideally, this should be a section you did not cover in your original essay. This paragraph needs to be comprehensive and meet the criteria for Level 4 of the mark scheme.

'Furthermore, blogs which attract 18 million people per day are something that a pluralist would argue strengthens democracy. This concept of citizen journalism and allowing people to voice their own opinions. Social media like facebook and twitter make this possible as well as blogger and thousands of other sites. However, citizen journalism can also be just as easily fabricated and is easily shared via social media. For example, during the us election 20 fake news stories largely in favour of Trump were circulated on facebook over 30 million times, and this can be very damaging for democracy. Although, citizen journalism allowed for the prosecution of the police officers involved in the beating of Rodney king in 1994. Without the citizen filming this and reporting it the police officers would never have been tried.Moreover, as citizen journalism grows the amount of professional journalists decreases as pluralist would argue that this means more opinions are being shared but this is hurting professional journalism and possibly democracy as citizen journalists arent being paid to tell the truth. None the less, the lack of gate keeping and regulators for citizen journalists can be quite damaging for democracy.'

BBC sets up team to debunk fake news #38

BBC sets up team to debunk fake news

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/12/bbc-sets-up-team-to-debunk-fake-news

The BBC hopes to work with Facebook. Facebook have said they will tackle fake news after coming under criticism for its fake news problem especially during a time of the US election and Brexit. fake news to help users identify fake news and report/flag it. The team plans to create a fact checking service, they also plan to invest close to £300 million in researching into new languages to expand its data journalism. False information around big events such as the UK’s referendum on leaving the EU and the US election has been especially rife, with numerous instances of completely fabricated stories, many of which are created with the sole aim of generating advertising revenue from people viewing the stories.

I believe this is important for the bbc to do. As an unbiased median the BBC is good to moderate this influx of fake news but this is long overdue and there should have been a moderator or gatekeeper for this when it was created. 

Peter Preston on press and broadcasting In a post-factual presidency, Trump can play both victor and victim #37

Peter Preston on press and broadcasting In a post-factual presidency, Trump can play both victor and victim

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/15/trump-post-factual-presidency-both-victor-and-victim

This article talks about DonalD Trumps social media appeal, and his excessive use of twitter. The article goes on to question whether it is damaging or not and whether it is right that the next commander in chief  would be making such disrespectful comments regarding many different people including Miss Streep and various other celebrities and reporters. The article also suggests that the media specifically traditional media has grown as a result of being able to broadcast on Donald Trump.

Considering Trump has received over $200million in free media twitter and other social medias have allowed trump to gain attention by posting...nonsense. During the campaign fake news was largely in Trumps favour and some would argue it helped him to win the election but now it may not be in his favour.  

 

Identities and the Media: Reading the riots

Identities and the Media: Reading the riots

1. How did the language and selection of images in the coverage create a particular representation of young people? 

The language used and pictures made it seem as all young people were to blame for the riots with some papers going as far to call them 'students'. It also shows images of young people with flames behind them-one of the iconic images of the London riots but the media continuously associated young people with destruction.

1. Why does David Buckingham mention Owen Jones and his work Chavs: the demonisation of the working class?

This is mentioned because the main group participating in the riots were the working class who were already being ridiculed by the media and the riots helped to reinforce many of these stereotypes.

1. What is the typical representation of young people – and teenage boys in particular? What did the 2005 IPSOS/MORI survey find?

A 2005 IPSOS/MORI survey found that 40% of newspaper articles featuring young people focused on violence, crime oranti-social behaviour; and that 71% could be described as having a negative tone. 

1. How can Stanley Cohen’s work on Moral Panic be linked to the coverage of the riots?

This is suggesting that the media help to blow things out of proportion and create 'moral panics'. By claiming there was 'anarchy' on the streets people in the future would start fearing young people, This is similar to the 1973 oil crisis in Germany in which the media claimed there to be a shortage creating a moral panic despite there being no critical decrease in supply.

1. What elements of the media and popular culture were blamed for the riots?

Some newspapers went as far as to blame rap music and video games for people to go out and start rioting. Also, The Daily Mirror, for example, blamed the pernicious culture of hatred around rap music, which glorifies violence and loathing of authority (especially the police but including parents), exalts trashy materialism and raves about drugs.

1. How was social media blamed for the riots? What was interesting about the discussion of social media when compared to the Arab Spring in 2011?

Social media like facebook, twitter and Blackberry messenger were blamed for allowing rioters to communicate and orchestrate new riots in other places. Much like the Arab spring protests in 2011 social media was used as a platform to gather attention to an issue and rally people together. 

1. The riots generated a huge amount of comment and opinion - both in mainstream and social media. How can the two-step flow theory be linked to the coverage of the riots? 

Whatever the politicians were saying the media, still following their partisan ideologies would reiterate this on their front pages to their audiences. Moreover, the step flow model can be applied to social media in the sense that opinion leaders like celebrities or bloggers would post their opinions to twitter for example and this could reach a very large audience.

1. Alternatively, how might media scholars like Henry Jenkins view the 'tsunami' of blogs, forums and social media comments? Do you agree that this shows the democratisation of the media?

Some media scholars like Henry Jenkins tend to celebrate these kinds of ‘participatory’media, this suggests the media are opening up and allowing the people to form their own opinions. To some extent i do believe that this is part of the democratisation as people are given a say but how much power is given to the people? As the majority of the power still lies with the elites and the opinion leaders.

1. What were the right-wing responses to the causes of the riots?

The right wing responses largely blame the young the people and 'students'. Some newspapers describe the young people as 'They are essentially wild beasts,' and 'They respond only to instinctive animal impulses'

1. What were the left-wing responses to the causes of the riots?

The left wing responses were more sympathetic towards the youths as they blamed Government cuts in their communities for them acting out. Moreover, It also blamed the many inequalities in society and how it was unfair that this 'working class' group of people were being blamed for tall of the 'bad' on society.

1. What are your OWN views on the main causes of the riots?

I believe the protests may have started with a cause in mind -against 'excessive' police violence however, they spread with the message of giving people an excuse to loot and destroy things with the majority of people not caring about the initial cause of the protests in Totenham. 

1. How can capitalism be blamed for the riots? What media theory (from our new/digital media unit) can this be linked to?

This can be linked to the Mraxist theory is the sense that the political elite and the media elite immediately blamed the young people for the 'bad' in society and managed to convince the general public of this to. 

1. Were people involved in the riots given a voice in the media to explain their participation?

In the traditional mass media- no. However, on social media people were free to voice their opinions, although social media is mainly made up of youths and younger people so they werent changing anybody's opinion when explaining themselves on social media. However, some left wing papers did offer some young people to voice their opinions. (below)

1. In the Guardian website's investigation into the causes of the riots, they did interview rioters themselves. Read this Guardian article from their Reading the Riots academic research project - what causes are outlined by those involved in the disturbances?

This article doesnt quote any rioters directly but is instead paraphrased, it outlined the main reason for the riots being anger towards the police. It also blames unemployment and the lack of jobs available for young people which could have fuelled their outrage towards the establishment.

1. What is your own opinion on the riots? Do you have sympathy with those involved or do you believe strong prison sentences are the right approach to prevent such events happening in future?

I believe there needed to be sanctions but some of the prison sentences were over the top for things like petty theft and if things were handled properly in the first place, excessive jail sentences could have been avoided.

Theresa May: media are misrepresenting my Brexit views #36

Theresa May: media are misrepresenting my Brexit views

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/09/theresa-may-media-is-misrepresenting-my-brexit-views

This article talks about Theresea May having to negotiate new trade deals with 27 other countries as well as new relationships. She is also quoted saying the media were responsible for the drop in the pound and not because of Brexit. Moreover, May was also saying that it was up to her and her government to 'set things right' as post referendum Britain has been in a bit of a shambles. May also addresses the £1 billion promised to mental health in the uk saying no more will be added to this but school awareness programmes will take place. 

-British pound at a 2 month low

-£1 billion to mental health 

-New trade deals with over 27 countries 

I believe that the media is partly to blame for the decrease in the pound as this is similar to the oil crisis in Germany in which the media claimed there to be a shortage which caused somewhat of a moral panic. Also, foreign minister Boris Johnson has met with Trump to start discussing Britain's first trade deal. The problem with the media today is the lack of fact checking which doesnt appear to be getting any better and this confuses lots of people and according to Theresea may has caused the pound to drop yet again.

Can you spot the fake US election news stories? #35

Can you spot the fake US election news stories?

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/17/fake-election-news-quiz

This article talks about the problems the us election faced with fake news and how this may have been influential, the majority of the article just gives examples of fake news stories which will be included below.

-Donald Trump won the popular vote in the US election by 700,000 votes-fake 

-An FBI agent suspected in Clinton's email leaks found dead in an apparent murder-suicide

-Pope Francis backed Trump for the White House

-In 2013, Clinton told Goldman Sachs bigwigs: "I would like to see people like Donald Trump run for office. They're honest, and can't be bought'

-Donald Trump was born in Pakistan

-Facebook page 'American News' has racked up almost 5 1/2 million likes

I believe that the abundance of fake news on the internet was significant in the US elction as people are untrained to spot fake news and tend to believe it which can be damaging on democracy. A study suggested that 60% of 9-19 year olds were not educated to spot fake news and this is a significant amount with 18-19 year-olds being able to vote they could be voting based on a lie. 

Change never stops, but we will always need journalism #34

Change never stops, but we will always need journalism

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/01/we-always-need-journalism-but-change-never-stops

Fifteen years ago, Britain went through around 15m newspapers every day. Now it’s 6m and falling. Meanwhile digital consumption/addiction accelerates away and social media dominate reading time and attention. The article predominantly talks about Paul Preston becoming a journalist.

-only about 10% of news on the net comes with a price tag

-6m and falling every day (newspaper circulation)

I believe that the decline in newspapers is partly due to the rise of new and digital media and although Herman and McChesney suggested that traditional mass media would not be relinquished so easily. This can partly be true as print newspapers are still surviving but steadily declining because of the lack of advertisement and the rise of new and digital media
.

News Corp Australia announces redundancies and $40m cost-cutting #33

News Corp Australia announces redundancies and $40m cost-cutting 

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/dec/07/news-corp-australia-announces-redundancies-and-fresh-cost-cutting

This news story looks at how News Corp Australia has dropped it's staff across all sectors and aims at cutting $40 million in extra costs. News Corp has already cut around 2000 jobs between 2012 and now which is a huge step in cutting costs and it did show how extensive these media corporations were before the Internet took over.  News Corp Australia suffered an 11% fall in advertising revenue in the first quarter, according to the company’s financial results in November.

Job losses are expected and something needs to be done as a result of the decline of people paying for news across all platforms. If institutions refuse to go behind a paywall then of course they loose out on a lot of money but it also comes a disadvantage because people now a days expect news to come for free.

Take 'Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare' UK Sales Doom And Gloom With A Grain Of Salt #32

Take 'Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare' UK Sales Doom And Gloom With A Grain Of Salt

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2016/11/07/take-call-of-duty-infinite-warfare-uk-sales-doom-and-gloom-with-a-grain-of-salt/#3cba6f764b3e

This article states that the new Call of duty (infinite warfare) has its sales down by around 40% compared to Black ops 3 from last year. The article suggests its because of the hate the game received before it even hit the shelves. Also the article states the game had tough competition from other games released around the same time.

I believe this was to be expected as activision didnt listen to the audience and produced a game too futuristic again and this was unpopular with most people. This is why games like battlefield one did slightly better as they had listened to their audience who wanted to go back to the past.

The pedlars of fake news are corroding democracy #31

The pedlars of fake news are corroding democracy

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/25/pedlars-fake-news-corroding-democracy-social-networks

This article talks about how most grown-ups get their news from Facebook and that there ought to be laws to consider the informal organizations responsible. The article starts by saying that the most essential question around 2016 is not why the Brexit result and Trump happened but rather if students of history will view both as coincidental; whether these occasions will go down as the year popular government uncovered itself unworkable in the age of the web - in which reality at last offered approach to "alt - reality".

I believe that with the improvement of the computerized age we as the article states have ended up familiarize to getting our news online especially by means of web-based social networking which is the reason the quantity of grown-ups in the USA getting the news along these lines is so high, with Britain said to take after.

Battlefield 1 review – savage and exciting, a landmark shooter #30

Battlefield 1 review – savage and exciting, a landmark shooter

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/25/battlefield-1-review-ea-dice-shooter

Battlefield 1 is a structural move for the military shooter type. By hopping back to world war one, engineer EA Dice has not just found new amusement outline thoughts through the out of date weaponry, it has additionally guaranteed that its diversion stands separated from different shooters, which have dominated the market for as long as 10 years.

I believe games like this are important to have as normally games arent realistic and become quite repetitive. This game also features some true stories from the great war which without this game wouldve gone untold in such fine detail. 

Facebook to begin flagging fake news in response to mounting criticism #29

Facebook to begin flagging fake news in response to mounting criticism

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/15/facebook-flag-fake-news-fact-check

Fact checkers now endeavour to help facebook with its fake news problem. Facebook has uncovered its arrangements to flag fake news stories that manifest on the informal organization. This will work through clients firstly hailing the potential fake stories and this report being alluded to outside certainty checking associations once enough clients signal a story as fake. Among these reality checkers will be ABC News, AP, FactCheck.org, Politifact and Snopes (none of these associations being paid for their administrations). In the event that they regard it that a story is fake, it'll be 'freely hailed as "questioned by 23rd gathering certainty checkers.

I believe that this is long overdue but nonetheless still important for facebook to do. Despite earlier claims by mark zuckerburg who insisted facebook wasnt to blame for the influx of fake news stories this move sort of admits guilt on their behalf as this wouldnt need to be done now if it was never a problem in the first place.