A reminder of the question we've been looking at in lesson:
The development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view.
We need to make sure we can write well developed paragraphs answering the question we are given. Remember what we said made for a good paragraph:
- Focus on the question
- Application of theories, issues/debates, wider contexts
- Detailed evidence; range of examples
- Well structured; clearly expressed
For the Marxist perspective, we looked at the following exemplar paragraph:
A Marxist perspective would argue that the so-called “information revolution” has done little to benefit audiences or to subvert the established power structures in society. Far from being a “great leveller” (Krotoski, 2012) as many have claimed, it has merely helped to reinforce the status quo by promoting dominant ideologies. The most popular news website in the UK by a considerable margin is the ‘Mail Online’, which receives more than 8 million hits every month and is continuing to expand rapidly – with forecasts that it will make £100 million or more in digital revenues in the next three years. Similar to its tabloid print edition, the website takes a Conservative, right-wing perspective on key issues around gender, sexuality and race and audiences appear to passively accept what the Marxist theorist, Gramsci, called a hegemonic view. When one of their chief columnists, Jan Moir, wrote a homophobic article about the death of Stephen Gately in 2009 there were Twitter and Facebook protests but, ultimately, they did not change the editorial direction of the gatekeepers controlling the newspaper.
This includes plenty of excellent points, quotes, examples and uses of media language that help raise this to Level 4:
- Marxist perspective
- “information revolution”
- “great leveller” (Krotoski, 2012)
- promoting dominant ideologies
- ‘Mail Online’, 8 million hits/month
- £100 million in the next three years
- Conservative, right-wing
- Gramsci, hegemonic view
- Jan Moir, homophobic - death of Stephen Gately, 2009
- gatekeepers
You now need to write a similar paragraph using the Pluralist perspective.
The key aspects of Pluralism we discussed in lesson included:
- Pluralist perspective
- audiences: “conform, accommodate or reject” (Gurevitch)
- uses and gratifications theory
- Castells “culture of freedom”
- “The Great Leveller”; “Paradigm shift” (Krotoski)
- Ferguson protests (tweets/hashtag); Tomlinson case (G20)
- Arab Spring, protests
- UGC, citizen journalism, blogs
- democratization
- “mutualisation of news” (Rushbridger, The Guardian)
Homework
If you don't finish the paragraph on Pluralism, ensure this is on your blog by Friday.
Your main homework is to answer the question we have been working on in lesson on your blog:
The development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view.
This must be a complete response including everything we have learned in the unit so far: the decline of newspapers, paywalls, citizen journalism, hyperreality and UGC, news values, the impact NDM has had on audiences and institutions in the news industry (both positive and negative) and finally Marxism and Pluralism.
Use the quotes you have been given wherever possible and a wide range of examples from across the news industry and beyond (this is where your regular NDM stories should be useful).
Due: next Monday (13C)
