Monday 28 March 2011
It has been said that media representations often reflect the social and political concerns of the age in which they are created. Discuss.
Over time the television still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes because it reflects dominant social values. Our society is still dominated by men which has resulted in men dominating most TV production and influencing these stereotypes, therefore reproducing a usual “masculine” view upon things. By the 1970s, women's roles were changing form the more traditional to a freer nature. Women’s roles were often shown on the television in roles such as housewives, mothers, secretaries and nurses. Men were portrayed in employment and tend to have a higher status and are less likely to be shown at home; this is still apparent today. In recent years there has at least been a notable increase in the number of women news presenters. It was argued that women were less likely to be taken seriously by viewers but however, their physical attractiveness can be a key factor to being shown on the television. In this recent time, homosexuals have become increasingly publicized in the media due to the awareness brought out by celebrities and the acceptance by the public. On the TV there has been a slightly increasing tendency to feature gay stereotypes, though they are rarely shown enjoying happy lives Stories about gays tend to reinforce conventional values. Even when gay men are portrayed the central focus tends to be on the reaction of others to this as a “problem”. The representation of homosexuals are slowly becoming accepted by society and are being shown more in the media.
Thursday 10 March 2011
“Digital media have in many ways changed how we consume media products”. Who do you think benefits most – consumers or producers?
Over a short period of time, the way we consume media has rapidly changed and developed to revolve around the way we live of lives. The change in consumption has enabled a larger ranged age audience to become interactive and use the media easily and more efficiently. Producers have had to keep up with the latest trends and fashion to stay in demand and to produce a profit. The traditional consumption of media has mostly declined and producers are finding it difficult to create new forms of media to keep up with the changing times.
Facebook has become a very popular website, created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The website allows users to communicate and share pictures all over the world. The site has become so popular, with 600 million active users. Its popularity has encouraged new ways of using Facebook, such as Smartphone apps. The apps have allowed audiences to download the feature and use it effortlessly wherever they are. Facebook has become a source for obtaining the news and weather which shows the obvious declines in traditional consumption. Facebook has also been seen with negative impacts such as becoming addictive, less active and anti social. Facebook is also a new way of keeping in communication with people, resulting in old communication methods becoming extinct. The producers have benefited from Facebook by attracting many users and generating profit, $800 million in 2009.
The use of Newspapers are declining due to the new forms of media. People have now created blogs where they upload their own news for people to read, which reduces the need for newspapers. Also, Newspaper companies have now produced websites for people to read off the internet which allows audiences to recieve the interent a lot easier. The Guardian newspaper have recently released an app where people can pay £4.99 a month to recieve the newspaper on their Smartphones. The benefits the consumer gets is they have no need to buy a Newspaper from the shop which takes time and money, recieving their news on their phones is a more efficient and reliable way. On the other hand, producers are finding it difficult to cope with the Newspaper decline where they’re losing out on profit and having to cut jobs because they’re no need for extra journalists.
This generation has become more online active and revolve mainly around the computer. This has become apparant as television views have reduced due to the creation of BBCi player and 4OD. This online television viewing allows audiences to watch programmes they enjoy or have missed on the television. They can be viwed whenever and however many times. This has allowed audiences to create their own schedule which best suits them. This is also the same for Sky+ where audiences feel more in power and makes them happy.
To conclude, i believe audiences benefit mostly from the change in the way we consume media because things have been developed to revolve around our lives and to make things easier for us as consumers. Producers also benefit but only eith profit.
Facebook has become a very popular website, created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The website allows users to communicate and share pictures all over the world. The site has become so popular, with 600 million active users. Its popularity has encouraged new ways of using Facebook, such as Smartphone apps. The apps have allowed audiences to download the feature and use it effortlessly wherever they are. Facebook has become a source for obtaining the news and weather which shows the obvious declines in traditional consumption. Facebook has also been seen with negative impacts such as becoming addictive, less active and anti social. Facebook is also a new way of keeping in communication with people, resulting in old communication methods becoming extinct. The producers have benefited from Facebook by attracting many users and generating profit, $800 million in 2009.
The use of Newspapers are declining due to the new forms of media. People have now created blogs where they upload their own news for people to read, which reduces the need for newspapers. Also, Newspaper companies have now produced websites for people to read off the internet which allows audiences to recieve the interent a lot easier. The Guardian newspaper have recently released an app where people can pay £4.99 a month to recieve the newspaper on their Smartphones. The benefits the consumer gets is they have no need to buy a Newspaper from the shop which takes time and money, recieving their news on their phones is a more efficient and reliable way. On the other hand, producers are finding it difficult to cope with the Newspaper decline where they’re losing out on profit and having to cut jobs because they’re no need for extra journalists.
This generation has become more online active and revolve mainly around the computer. This has become apparant as television views have reduced due to the creation of BBCi player and 4OD. This online television viewing allows audiences to watch programmes they enjoy or have missed on the television. They can be viwed whenever and however many times. This has allowed audiences to create their own schedule which best suits them. This is also the same for Sky+ where audiences feel more in power and makes them happy.
To conclude, i believe audiences benefit mostly from the change in the way we consume media because things have been developed to revolve around our lives and to make things easier for us as consumers. Producers also benefit but only eith profit.
Tuesday 1 March 2011
The mutualisation of news
The Guardian and Observer controlled the delivery of news, comment to the readers and carefully controlled letters page.
The development of the internet, with now the public creating their own media have now made journalists believe they are now equal with the public writers.
"There was a very clear wall, dividing readers and writers" - Things have now changed causing an uproar between professional writers and the public.
"What we are doing is taking down those bricks, lowering the barrier and positively encouraging the relationship between the two. This gets over the tired argument that this is an either/or battle between old media and bloggers.” - Gaining the support of the public, newspapers believe they can build relationships with bloggers to gain the perfect and truest story.
"We can use the community of our readers in ways we would not have been able to in the past."
"It cannot be true that there are only a handful of people worth listening to in the world. Comment is Free is infinitely richer and more diverse and more plural. These bloggers who write for us could have done it very happily on their own, but what we offer them is the influence and the clout and an incredibly interesting audience to commune with."
"By continuing to go down this route, we will be more diverse, and genuinely more plural than other media organizations and create a huge external resource. We need to continue breaking down the perceptions of a remote journalist who is a preacher, living distantly, and newspapers as being in bed with power and on the side of power, rather than the reader.”
Rusbridger believes Twitter make it possible for the public to publish outside the constraints of our newspaper and website and develop direct relationships with communities of readers.
But in the world of Twitter, for example, journalists are now publishing information without any monitoring and outside of the Guardian's own publishing platforms.
"The way we tend to work is that there are always early adopters of these new technologies, and it works best when individual journalists who have a passion for it, use and explore it. If at some point the technology becomes too large in scale, that is the time to build guidelines.”
Any information coming from the public as a primary source that needs to be checked like everything else.
The investigation into the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 demonstrations in London was an excellent example of linking traditional journalism with information from the public.
The development of the internet, with now the public creating their own media have now made journalists believe they are now equal with the public writers.
"There was a very clear wall, dividing readers and writers" - Things have now changed causing an uproar between professional writers and the public.
"What we are doing is taking down those bricks, lowering the barrier and positively encouraging the relationship between the two. This gets over the tired argument that this is an either/or battle between old media and bloggers.” - Gaining the support of the public, newspapers believe they can build relationships with bloggers to gain the perfect and truest story.
"We can use the community of our readers in ways we would not have been able to in the past."
"It cannot be true that there are only a handful of people worth listening to in the world. Comment is Free is infinitely richer and more diverse and more plural. These bloggers who write for us could have done it very happily on their own, but what we offer them is the influence and the clout and an incredibly interesting audience to commune with."
"By continuing to go down this route, we will be more diverse, and genuinely more plural than other media organizations and create a huge external resource. We need to continue breaking down the perceptions of a remote journalist who is a preacher, living distantly, and newspapers as being in bed with power and on the side of power, rather than the reader.”
Rusbridger believes Twitter make it possible for the public to publish outside the constraints of our newspaper and website and develop direct relationships with communities of readers.
But in the world of Twitter, for example, journalists are now publishing information without any monitoring and outside of the Guardian's own publishing platforms.
"The way we tend to work is that there are always early adopters of these new technologies, and it works best when individual journalists who have a passion for it, use and explore it. If at some point the technology becomes too large in scale, that is the time to build guidelines.”
Any information coming from the public as a primary source that needs to be checked like everything else.
The investigation into the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 demonstrations in London was an excellent example of linking traditional journalism with information from the public.
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