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.