13E: News on the Tweet

News on the Tweet is a report from Newsworks (a marketing organisation representing newspapers) and Twitter designed to show the positive impact new and digital media can have on traditional media.

Read the report and answer the questions on your blog. Include the News on the Tweet infographic above in your blogpost.

1. Why are respected news brands good news for Twitter?
2. Why in turn is Twitter good for respected news brands?
3. The report suggests that old and new media “are not, in fact, in direct competition, but often work extremely well together to enhance both the media eco-system and the consumer experience”. What evidence do they provide to support this idea? Do you agree with it?
4. On page 24/25 of the report, the focus turns to gossip or banter. What example tweets from journalists are used to illustrate this? 
5. Do you think the increasing amount of gossip or banter is harming the reputation of news and journalists?
6. What does the report say about trust in Twitter and journalists (look at pages 34-39)?
7. Finally, do you think new and digital media developments such as Twitter have had a positive or negative impact on traditional newspapers?

Finish for homework if you don't get it finished in the lesson - due on Thursday.

13E homework

Right, we're nearly done with our class topic for new and digital media: News.

Next week you'll be starting your own individual case study on another aspect of new and digital technology, so please have a think about something specific you'd like to research. An industry or issue that we can use to draw links with our News case study is particularly helpful here. Make sure you've got a few ideas of what your case study could be - some good ideas so far include the impact new and digital media has had on the music industry and the audience experience of sport (although both of these need to drill down to pick one aspect of these broad topics). These can both be linked to News because previous revenue streams have been decimated or changed but you could argue that the audience experience has improved.

You also need to make sure you find your regular two new and digital media stories and, if you missed Tuesday's lesson, create an index of the 20 stories you have found so far. Have a look at Akshay's blogpost if you're not sure what this involves.

So, to sum up your homework:

1) Finish the classwork on News Corporation.

2) Find your regular two new and digital media stories.

3) Think about what case study you are going to research over Easter.

Due: next week

13E: News Corporation research

News Corp is the world's third-largest media conglomerate.  

In the UK (under two subsidiary companies, News International and BSKYB), its news interests include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun & The Sun on Sunday (plus their online versions) in addition to Sky News & Sky Sports News.

News Corp is a cross-platform, vertically integrated multi-media company.

Some of the ideas we discussed in class regarding the impact of new and digital media on News Corp included:

• Online subscriptions/paywalls
• Price promotions for newspapers
• Impact on institution content and its appeal
• Paid subscriptions for TV content
• Quality of journalism
• User generated content
• Social media/online news providers (Huff Post, Ampp3d etc.)

Tasks

1) Research News Corporation’s response to the growth of new and digital media by listing each of the institution’s brands (Sky News, Times etc.) Have any closed, changed or been in the news in the last five years for any reason?

2) Develop examples of the impact that new and digital media has had on News Corp’s brands (paywalls, readership figures, audience share etc.)

3) Use what you have found out about News Corp to answer the following question:

Why and with what success are traditional media institutions adapting to the challenge posed by new/digital media?

Complete for homework if you don't finish it in the lesson.

New and Digital Media stories

With coursework deadlines approaching, it's easy to lose focus on our exam topic - New and Digital Media and, specifically, news. However, you need to keep finding regular stories on these key issues and if you visit the right websites it won't take you long. After a quick look this morning, I found the following:

Here's a brilliant one for New and Digital Media and news in particular:

US paper tells reporters the more stories you post the more pay you get 
It contains a brilliant quote from New York Times journalist David Carr: "Journalism's status as a profession is up for grabs. A viral hit is no longer defined by the credentials of an individual or organisation. The media ecosystem is increasingly a pro-am affair, where the wisdom — or prurient interest — of the crowd decides what is important and worthy of sharing."

You've also got the ongoing story in Turkey regarding banning Twitter:

Turkey steps up bid to block Twitter after users flout ban

And there's a lot about Apple and iTunes recently with talks of streaming:

7 ways a streaming iTunes could compete with Spotify and its rivals

All those are just from a quick look on the Guardian website Media section.

A quick look at the Telegraph reveals plenty more out there:

How your tweets can reveal where you live

Remember, you need two stories a week, one involving news.

13E: Your next two are due on Thursday.

13E: Globalisation

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) Is our news influenced by American cultural imperialism? What examples can you think of?

2) Has the increased globalisation of news improved the audience experience? How? Why?

3) Has globalisation benefited or damaged major news institutions? How? Why?

Complete for homework if you don't get it finished in the lesson.

NDM Case Study

You will need to complete ALL twelve questions from the New and Digital Media Case Study pack. 

You should also find as many up-to-the-minute links/research from Media Guardian and other more academic sources (in a similar way to how you did your Critical Investigation) for your NDM case study and post them up onto your blog

Then do TASK 13 - the detailed presentation, in which you summarise your case study, providing at least three detailed textual examples, using as much of your research as you can, and as much media theory/terminology as you can include.

Deadline - when we return after Easter.

13E: Marxism and Pluralism

Remember our definitions:

Pluralists argue that we live in a classless society and media organisations are responsive to an audience and are economically determined. 


Marxists believe the mass media are a tool used by ruling bodies to maintain hegemonic control over the masses and a class divided society.

Having completed the 'To what extent...' exercise in class looking at the question from both a Marxist and Pluralist perspective, answer the following question on your blog:

Developments in new/digital media mean that audiences can now have access to a greater variety of views and values.  To what extent are audiences empowered by these developments?

13E: homework catch-up and the examiner's report

In our single lesson we need to make sure we are keeping up with homework and continuing to publish our New and Digital Media stories every week. I'll be calling you up individually for a brief chat on this subject. 

Hopefully, the mock exam will have reminded you how important it is to develop a wide range of examples from across the media - but in case of any doubt the AQA Examiner's Report from 2012 exam will confirm it.

Read the Report on the Examination you did for the mock and then add to your learner response blogpost by answering the following questions...

1) How many of the examiner's points did you manage to cover in your answers?
2) How many examples did you provide in your answers that did not come from classwork?
3) What will you do between now and the exam in June to ensure you have a wide variety of examples to refer to in questions two and three?

NDM News Articles 10/3/14

Two key articles from the last fortnight...

Daily Mail and Guardian digital 'minnows', says News UKchief. Mike Darcey says relying on online ads as main revenue stream is risky in market containing rivals such as Google and Facebook.

News travels fast in cyberspace but can we trust it? Social media is now a major source of information. The challenge is ensure that it is reliable and correct.