Week 11 - 'Twitter suspends 'alt-right' Donald Trump backers'

'Twitter suspends 'alt-right' Donald Trump backers'
http://news.sky.com/story/twitter-suspends-alt-right-donald-trump-backers-10659876

• Twitter has suspended accounts of 'alt-right' figures who championed Donald Trump's bid for the White House 
• Richard Spencer, director of a white nationalist think tank, accused the social media site of "corporate Stalinism" after his personal account was terminated
• Twitter would expand its "mute" option in a bid to combat cyberbullying.
• Spencer said "I think Twitter, Facebook and others are deeply triggered by this election and that social media helped elect Trump."
• USA Today reports -  a non-profit organisation asked Twitter to remove more than 100 accounts of white supremacists
• In February, Twitter suspended more than 125,000 accounts, most of them linked to Islamic State, as part of efforts to eradicate "terrorist content"

This story is interesting due to the idea of censorship; the issues with social networking are that liberation and freedom of speech is what they revolve around, therefore how can we essentially ban accounts for reflecting their own opinion. The problem here is what different people account for as being'extremist' views and what should and should not be allowed to be published online because surely a number of people will share the same views and values, therefore it becomes a more difficult task to crack down on censorship. 

Week 11 - 'Deals on drugs, weapons and stolen data - Black Friday comes to the dark web'

'Deals on drugs, weapons and stolen data - Black Friday comes to the dark web'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/11/25/deals-drugs-weapons-stolen-data-black-friday-comes-dark-web/

• The dark web is not immune to the forces of capitalism 
• Underground marketplace - reduced prices for black friday, illegal items, weapons, stolen items 
• Stolen credit card details and account numbers for sale 
• "Once again we can see how professional the cybercriminal underworld is in their operations," said James Chappell, chief technology officer and co-founder of Digital Shadows.
• "The days of amateurs showing off their computing skills have long gone, today criminal gangs control the majority of cybercrime. They deploy professional tactics to compromise our computers and networks, and utilize ‘best’ retail practice to monetize their gains."

This story is interesting due to the fact that illegal activity can go undetected for so long and the issues with the internet as a dark force and the negatives of this. In terms of news, this story clearly breaks laws and defeats the idea of capitalism and therefore makes us question the safety of our data and our information online. Cyber-criminality is an overriding issue that emphasises the negative aspect of the internet and reveals how difficult it is to essentially monitor the internet and the dark web in particular. This idea of censorship and privacy is explored through this as the access to the dark web is easy enough for anyone to discover, revealing the negative impacts and the potential dangers of the internet. 

Marxism & Pluralism: Alain de Botton on the news

To what extent do you agree with Alain de Botton's views on the News?

I agree a great deal with Alain de Botton's views; I agree with the fact that the architecture of news is changing and how the idea of important news and popular news should go hand in hand. I think that the news is something that should priorities the important news as being the most popular as something that is simply a confirmed idea by all consumers. However this is not the case and unimportant news becomes more popular, making it worrying that we are not interested in good quality news journalism. I also agree with the idea that we are unable to care or empathise with incidents that we were unaware about initially, for example a natural disaster in a small third world country would not really appeal to us as we did not understand their current state before the tragedy. One thing that I didn't agree with, however, is de Botton's views about the BBC and how the best news has to be biased. The reason I do not agree with this is because I think that news should be impartial in order for the consumer to make their own judgement on certain situations, for example with the recent incidents of brexit, I personally turned to the BBC for my news because I wanted to be aware of both arguments and understand all of the information impartially. I agree that being biased helps to share your own political ideologies, however with particular news stories it makes it difficult to actually have a confirmed view about it, therefore the BBC acts as this impartial source to help form our own opinion.

How can you link Marxism and Hegemony to de Botton's criticisms of the News?

de Botton criticises the news through the idea that consumers are too passive and do not question the idea of the news or where it comes from as it is conventionally seen as an important and required. This links to the idea of hegemony and how the ruling classes dominate the news, the government and the institutions dominate the news and consumers are simply passive to this news. We, as consumers, do not question where we get our news from and who is reporting, therefore this Marxist idea of Hegemony and the more superior classes being the controllers of this highlights how we are simply submissive in terms of the news agenda. 

How could you use Pluralism and new technology to challenge de Botton's views on the News?

The idea of Pluralism is based around coexisting governments, therefore several ideologies being presented; this would challenge de Botton's views as we can essentially choose what we want to read. New technology is a great example of a way that we can do this and especially social media as we are able to read certain news articles that resonate with us as consumers, therefore we become users and consumers rather than simply being submissive to the news.

Choose two news stories from the last six months - one that supports de Botton's views and one that challenges his belief that the News is used for social control.

The news story of the cryogenically frozen 14 year old girl highlights de Botton's views as it focuses on the element of death and being afraid of death. It also focuses on the fact that we like stories that involve some sort of element of hope or a moral panic rather than simply news that will benefit us; this story is one that emphasises life and death issues and as it is technology that is far from being developed and fully functioning, it shows the potential irrelevance of the story and how it should be kept as a mere private family matter rather than a public news story. Essentially, this story is trying to brag about the new technology being created and how science is evolving but in theory this project is far from being accessible, revealing false hope. 

The US elections challenged de Botton's views as it is important news that is also very popular even in the UK as it is something that effects a large portion of the world and therefore adds interest for all. The coverage of the elections also reveals several various political ideologies about the issue and therefore challenges the idea of hegemony and challenged de Botton's views as he believes that unimportant news is more popular. 

NDM News index

Institution: the impact of Google on the newspaper industry
Ofcom report: how news consumption has changed
The future of newspapers: Build The Wall analysis
The decline of newspapers: the effect of online technology
The future of journalism: John Oliver and Clay Shirky
The decline of newspapers: Media Magazine case studies
Citizen journalism and hyper-reality: Media Magazine article and questions
News Values: theory and updating them for digital media landcape
Marxism & Pluralism: Media Magazine article and questions
Alain de Botton on the News: lecture and questions
Full NDM essay including paragraphs on Marxism and Pluralism
Globalisation and news: cultural imperialism
Globalisation: taking it further (Google Glass case study and capitalism)
Fake news and globalisation - Guardian and New York Times articles
News on the Tweet

NDM: Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony

Research the Ian Tomlinson case. What would the traditional, hegemonic view of the police be in a case like this? How did new and digital media create a different story? What does the police officer's subsequent acquittal suggest about the power of new and digital media?

Ian Tomlinson died in London after being struck by a police officer during the 2009 G-20 summit protests. Lewis 2009 statement described "attempts by police medics and an ambulance crew to save his life after he collapsed – efforts they said were marred by protesters throwing missiles as first aid was administered." However, the video that was captured by a New York lawyer revealed the real incidents and how the police force had been misleading audiences and essentially lying to them. The traditional hegemonic view of the police force would be that they are trusted as they have the power in societies, therefore there would not be much speculation around the incident if no other sources to challenge it would be found; however due to the impact of new and digital media, it has formulated a discussion around the idea of who is to trust and how valid is the news we receive. The fact that the police officer was acquitted due to the power of the video shows the effects of new and digital media and how this has a huge dominance in society and therefore bases power in the audiences hands and not only the professionals. It also reveals how audiences become powerful and therefore can challenge professionals and high-ruling professionals, such as the police force, it highlights how the citizen journalism can be used as evidence and can essentially bring about justice. 

What does the author argue regarding whether hegemony is being challenged by Web 2.0? 

Through the example of the Ian Tomlinson case, The Guardian posted the video on their website, which is user-generated content, emphasises how audiences can challenge the traditional media and therefore challenges the idea of hegemony. The internet has a liberating political function due to user-generated content because "Technology empowers the people, who, oppressed by years of authoritarian rule, will inevitably rebel, mobilizing themselves through text messages, Facebook, Twitter..." Morozov 2011. Although audiences have power to challenge governments and ruling forces, governments are able to exert a large amount control over the internet and an example of this is in countries such as China and Iran, whereby they have successfully controlled the general population's access to media and prevented the circulation of information so that the ruling classes, the government, are in control. Therefore the power of Web 2.0 alone cannot be successful when against the ruling government as they have the over ruling dominance and power as 'We Media' is not strong enough alone to allow 'people power' to succeed.

In your opinion, does new and digital media reinforce dominant hegemonic views or give the audience a platform to challenge them?

I think new and digital media allows audiences to challenge hegemonic views due to the idea of user generated content, however I also believe that above all else, the ruling classes hold the dominant power over societies and audiences. The new and digital media is essentially able to do both reinforce and challenge hegemonic views as organisations are able to voice their opinions online to then get challenged by an audience and go viral, to the point where a huge phenomenon would break through, challenging the ruling classes and institutions; however the power still belongs to the ruling class as they are able to make the final judgement and create the change, whilst the audience are unable to do so. The audience can only have so much say to the point where governments can exert their power and essentially flip this control almost instantly. So whilst new and digital media offer a platform to challenge dominant hegemonic views, there is also the counter argument to suggest that institutions are similarly able to reinforce dominant hegemonic views through new and digital media and the higher, ruling classes are the ones to hold the dominant control within a society, regardless of new and digital media and it's impact amongst a controlling government.

Do recent world events such as Brexit or Donald Trump's election in the US suggest dominant hegemonic ideologies are being challenged or reinforced? There are arguments for both sides here - explain your opinion and why.
Donald Trump's election is a great example of dominant hegemonic ideologies being challenged and how hegemony is essentially fading when it comes to the US and the UK, through Brexit. The rise of far-right, fascistic movements both in the US and across the EU reveals an anomaly in terms of the shift in global order. For example, Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen against the wishes of the US and therefore challenges a powerful and dominant country's forces and emphasises how hegemony is fading. In terms of the election and UK coverage of it, comedy broadcasting institutions such as 'South Park' spoofed the US elections, creating humour out of the event before taking place and therefore slating Trump, revealing a negative light on him already. In addition to this, Comedy Central also hosted The Roast of Donald Trump and therefore publicly announced the negative effects of him as a ruling power and his ideologies as being immoral and completely self-aggrandised. The fact that comedy broadcaster institutions exposed the coverage of the elections and highlighted the negatives of Trump reveals the true impact of institutions and how dominant hegemonic ideologies are being challenged. Through dominant media coverage being focused on the negatives of Trump, it puts into perspective the actual influence of new and digital media; through user-generated content and social networking sites like Twitter, discussions are able to be held about an individual's political ideologies, which simply causes a moral panic online rather than within society. Through these moral panics being exposed, through the media, it is interesting that Trump was still elected and therefore it reveals how the dominant hegemonic views are being challenged and moreover, how new and digital media has become something that may not be as influential as we all initially believed. 

Week 10 - 'China's Xi urges cooperation among nations in governance of global internet'

'China's Xi urges cooperation among nations in governance of global internet'
http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-china-internet-idUKKBN13B1FF

• The Chinese president Xi Jinping called for greater cooperation among nations in developing and governing the internet - needing to respect so called 'cyber-sovereignty'
• Xi said "The development of the internet knows no international boundaries. The sound use, development and governance of the internet thus calls for closer cooperation"
• The communist party led by Xi, has censored and controlled the flow of information online 
• China infamously operated the 'Great Firewall' - world's most sophisticated online censorship system 
• China hopes to cooperate with other countries to develop international rules and standards for the internet
• "There can't be national security for one country while there is insecurity in another."

China is a communist led country, therefore the information that audiences receive in China differ heavily from the information we receive in the UK, therefore the idea of censorship is something that could potentially be seen as both a positive and negative thing. The liberation we are allowed within the UK, and with the content we receive, allows us to access a range of sources and therefore be exposed to a lot more valid and reliable sources too, however the government in China filter everything they believe their audience should see and not see, therefore have a controlled exposure, which would therefore completely control the country and their ideologies. I think there needs to be an acceptable balance between censorship and content being controlled as this will essentially help audiences receive content that is more valid and not misleading; however the power of the Chinese government reveals how there is no liberation within their society. Censoring certain content online, such as false news or invalid sources is something that would benefit a society, however controlling the whole internet within a country, would destroy the liberation of an individual. 

Week 10 - 'Facebook’s failure: did fake news and polarized politics get Trump elected?'

'Facebook’s failure: did fake news and polarized politics get Trump elected?'
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/10/facebook-fake-news-election-conspiracy-theories

• Company accused of abdicating responsibility to clamp down on fake news stories and counter echo chamber that defined the election
• Facebook could be dividing world instead of bringing it together
• Truth of a piece of content is less important than whether it is shared, liked and monetized. "These 'engagement' metrics distort the media landscape, allowing clickbait, hyperbole and misinformation to proliferate"
• The Pew Research Center found that 44% of Americans get their news from Facebook
• 'Yet fake news is not a uniquely Republican problem. An analysis by BuzzFeed found that 38% of posts shared from three large rightwing politics pages on Facebook included “false or misleading information” and that three large leftwing pages did the same 19% of the time'
• Trump himself has routinely repeated false news and identifying conspiracy theories 
• "There is a cottage industry of websites that just fabricate fake news designed to make one group or another group particularly riled up,” said Fil Menczer, a professor at Indiana University who studies the spread of misinformation.
According to Menczer’s research there’s a lag of around 13 hours between the publication of a false report and the subsequent debunking.

This article reveals the problems with social networking and the manipulation of the media. Facebook is a digital echo chamber, therefore when we as users resonate with a particular ideology or piece of content online, we find it difficult to ignore it as we share the same ideologies; this confirmation bias therefore reveals the issues with new and digital media as we are unable to filter what is valid or not. This therefore means that the news we receive on sites such as Facebook, cannot be trusted even if we want to trust the source and the content - however the biggest problem with this is the fact that this would be globally shared if a large amount of people share similar views and values; this creates a chain of false news being spread all over the internet in a matter of seconds, making it misleading and invalid. 

Week 9 - 'Politics has gone wrong. Is digital technology to blame?'

'Politics has gone wrong. Is digital technology to blame?' 
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/31/politics-digital-technology-brexit-donald-trump

• Digital technologies makes it easier to do a lot of things, it has shaped us to make life easier 
• Politicians still have weapons at their disposal that Google and Facebook can't match 
• The power of the Bitcoin could change the power of the state 
• Digital technologies are changing human behaviour 

Digital technology is important with shaping the community, it has influenced people in various ways as we rely on the internet for a lot of things and nearly everything, from information to buying things. I think the effects of the media create problematic situations for people, however it also brings people together that share similar views and values. These groups that hold similar ideologies are therefore able to come together and find an attachment - the influential middle men, such as celebrities are able to influence users and therefore would cause followers to easily follow the same principles as their 'role models.' Although politicians hold power through what they are able to achieve through the government, the media is able to counteract that and create huge controversy through journalism and more importantly, social media. 

Week 9 - 'The rise and rise of fake news'

'The rise and rise of fake news'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-37846860

Social media has meant that real and fiction stories are presented in such similar ways that it is difficult to tell the two apart

• Winston Churchill - "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on"
• Increasing population of US adults get their news from social media - therefore how do we know what to trust 
• The National Report advertises itself as "America's Number 1 Independent News Source" and was set up by Allen Montgomery, who thinks that "There are highs that you get from watching traffic spikes and kind of baiting people into the story. I just find it to be a lot of fun."
• One of the stories was a scare about a US town being cordoned off with a deadly disease
• There is big money to be made from sites by The National Report which host web advertising, and these potentially huge rewards entice website owners to move away from funny satirical jokes and towards more believable content because it is likely to be more widely shared
• Snopes, one of the largest fact checking websites which fights online misinformation
"A recent study of local TV stations in the US conducted by Adornato revealed that that nearly 40% of their editorial policies did not include any guidelines on how to verify information from social media, yet news managers at the TV stations admitted that at least a third of their news bulletins had reported information from social media that later was revealed to be false or inaccurate"

This shows the problematic cause of social media and news online. This idea of news stories being fake shows that the information online cannot be trusted and therefore the news that we receive should solely come from trusted and reliable quality news sources. I think due to the efficiency of social media and news being so accessible through applications like Twitter, it makes it easier for audiences to consume fake news or misleading news stories without even planning to find them; this shows the power of the social media and the negative impacts of it on journalism.

NDM: News Values

Come up with a news story from the last 12 months for each of the categories suggested by Harriss, Leiter and Johnson:

• Conflict

-Syrian War 

• Progress

-The US elections - Donald Trump + Hilary Clinton 

• Disaster

-Ladispoli tornado 

• Consequence

-US Elections/Brexit 

• Prominence 

-Prince Harry's relationships with Meghan Markle - the monarchy vs the media 

• Novelty

-Katie Hopkins 2012 tweet "my daughters name is Poppy, I won't forget... will you?" memes 

What example news story does the Factsheet use to illustrate Galtung and Ruge's News Values? Why is it an appropriate example of a news story likely to gain prominent coverage?

The factsheet uses the story of a British soldier being killed and compares this to Afghanistan - the prominent coverage here would be for the British soldier as the story would gain cultural proximity for a British audience - the first female officer to be killed is seen as the more newsworthy story due to it being unusual too. The more facts that the story has and the more clarity, the more prominent the coverage would be for the story as well. 

What is gatekeeping?

"Gatekeeping is the process of filtering information prior to dissemination." A gatekeepers job is to identify which story has more prominence to therefore be published and which should not get any coverage at all. 

What are the six ways bias can be created in news?

• Bias through selection and omission 

-editors are able to select which stories they choose to include and can also ignore specific details to give readers and the audience a different opinion about the event. 

• Bias through placement 

-front page stories are considered more important than the back page on a newspaper; in TV/radio bulletins, the most interesting story is covered first and the least interesting or important are usually later, creating unimportance to potentially important stories 

• Bias by headline 

-headlines can often be misleading through the portrayal of the excitement of the story, however when read this may not always be the case 

• Bias by photos, captions and camera angles 

-the photo that an editor decides to use can influence the reader's perception of that person as we may see them in a situation that would cause us to judge them incorrectly, through the manipulation of an image 

• Bias through use of names and titles

-the labels used to describe people may be misleading for example a person who is labelled as a terrorist may be considered a freedom fighter

• Bias by choice of words

-Audiences can be influenced by the choice of positive or negative words, which would express a different tone and therefore heavily influence an audience perspective 

How have online sources such as Twitter, bloggers or Wikileaks changed the way news is selected and published?

It gives readers the opportunity to access news stories which may have been censored or mediated prior to being reported. Some critics believe that these sites have changed the way of the gatekeeper as the mediation of news posted to Twitter for example is diverted through the exclusion of the gatekeeper, allowing freedom of speech. 

Give an example of a news story from the last 12 months that was reported as a result of online technology - Twitter, Wikileaks or similar.
-Hilary Clinton's leaked emails on Wikileaks revealing her pro-Israel positions.

Complete the task on the last page of the Factsheet regarding Sky News and Twitter:

“The Twitter phenomenon continues to explode. A photo with

an eyewitness in Lahore yesterday came to us through Twitter.

Last night’s breaking story on the death of a Briton in the

Alps came to us from Twitter. The first phone on the Buffalo

plane crash came from Twitter. The first photo of the Hudson

River rescue came from Twitter. Convinced?”

• What does this reveal about how Sky views Twitter as a news source?

-it reveals how everything is initiated first on Twitter and the fact that we continue to see things on Twitter first could potentially make it unconvincing. However, it also suggests that the break through on Twitter is large and could therefore aid audiences to the exposure is certain events. 

• What does it say about how news is being produced?

-this removes the role of the journalist, through the institutions being heavily influenced by Twitter and social media; institutions rely on the what citizen journalists have pulled together to then cover, which shows that the work of the journalist is being cut out and therefore may effect the quality of a news story. 

• What role does the audience have in this process?

-audiences are able to post a picture of events happening in the world and therefore be part of citizen journalism - audiences are also the ones who would retweet and forward these images and posts, creating a viral accessibility and large coverage. 

• Why might this be a problem for journalistic standards?

-the quality of the news may be effected as journalists may heavily rely on the resources of citizen journalists. The underlining issue here is the fact that these journalists are professionals and need to create high quality journalism to report rather than reporting the already reported news. 

In your opinion, how has new and digital media technology changed Galtung and Ruge’s news values? 

The news values are not completely changed but they are in the process of being completely reformed through the impact of new and digital media. The most prominent change being the idea of immediacy and how the coverage of a news story can be reported almost immediately and shared in the matter of second, whereas for a newspaper, it is almost impossible to report a breaking story as quickly. 

How would you update them for 2016? Choose SIX of Galtung and Ruge's news values and say how each one has been affected by the growth of new and digital technology.

• Immediacy 

-news has now been made accessible almost immediately online, on social networking sites. The power of retweeting and sharing stories enables the story to reach a large global recognition rapidly. Newspapers are only able to report yesterday's news, therefore having online websites and resources which are able to report an event live and immediately, aids an audience to be exposed to breaking news stories. 

• Familiarity 

-familiarity is no longer an issue as we are able to be culturally aware of events happening all around the world through online news. Take the recent events of the US elections, this was a huge event for America but the coverage of this online was highly accessible and prominent throughout online sources and social media. 

• Unambiguity 

-the role of citizen journalists remove this element of unambiguity as they are able to post anything online, therefore even if it is not clear or definite, it essentially does not matter because if recognised by a large amount of people it will become recognised news. This therefore conjures up issues of validity as we cannot trust or rely on particular sources. 

• Predictability 

-social media creates unpredictability through the use of things trending and creating something out of nothing. An example of this is the blue and black dress and how certain people perceived this in different ways, this event is something that unpredictably took the nation by storm through one picture being tweeted; this reveals how quickly things can change and how they can become significant. 

• Elite nations/people 

-the power of the media is changing through the influence of celebrities in particular; trends begin which causes many followers to follow and therefore become influenced by this. Apps like Instagram and Snapchat cut out this element of journalists covering as much celeb news as celebs themselves are able to post about their social lives and keep followers updated.

• Balance 

-novelty news becomes something of prominence now through social networking applications such as Facebook and Twitter. Therefore, this idea of balance is no longer needed through the fact that audiences are no longer passive and therefore can choose what they read and view - therefore the order or news stories is something that does not necessarily have to be considered as a large portion of people get their news online, actively choosing particular stories rather than passively consuming them. 

Citizen Journalism + UGC + Hyper-reality and the Digital Renaissance

Citizen Journalism + UGC

Examples:

• Rodney King, 1991 - event filmed by onlooker from apartment window. The home-video footage made prime-time news and became an international media sensation.
• Asian Tsunami, 2004 - 'accidental journalists' tourists filming holiday, caught up in the natural disaster 
• London bombings, 2005 - citizen journalism footage was raw and uncompromising: The first hand view is more emotive than professionally shot news footage 
• Seung-Hui Cho - mailed to NBC news his shootings - a student recorded the footage on his mobile revealing the events 
• Mumbai bombings, 2008 - reports were posted on Twitter and Flickr, by broadcasting these tweets people believed that they may have been putting their lives at risk 
• Hudson River Plane Crash, 2009 - dramatic picture available on Twitpic -While national news organisations quickly swung into action, it was the citizen journalist, empowered by social networking sites, that first broke the story

Theory: 

• Gatekeepers are there to avoid misleading the public within the news and therefore prevent publishing of stories that are not validated 
• However the way of surpassing these gatekeepers is simple - the independent media on the internet 
• Blogosphere provides an opportunity for independent, often minority and niche views and news to reach a wide audience.

Benefits to Institutions: 

• Moderators would still be required in order to filter out the bigots on websites 
• Although how to ‘monetarise’ UGC – how to make money for both the generator and the host of the content – is still being debated, bigger institutions have been buying up social networking sites for the last few years. Rather than launch their own challenge, they simply buy the site.

Benefits to Audience: 

• Audiences are no longer passive receivers of news 
• UGC - allows users to voice own opinions, divide between institution and audience being eroded
• The power to make and break news has moved beyond the traditional news institutions
• Citizen journalism benefits audience as it is raw and emotive 

Wider Issues and Debates 

• News Values are effected by citizen journalism as the news agenda is shaped around quality and validated news stories, therefore the value of news needs to be of a quality to inform people as the news offers a public service to be informative 
• Blumler + Katz uses and gratifications theory - the idea of surveillance and the news providing quality information for audiences 
• Stanley Cohen - Moral Panics, the idea that UGC could offer moral panics within a society as audiences are able to post anything 
• Regulation and censorship - the idea of gatekeepers to mediate what is online - the validity of what is posted online needs to be questioned and mediated in order for it to be quality news

SHEP 
Social: -
UGC allows audiences to voice their own opinions without the intrusion of gatekeepers, through the blogosphere
Social issues of the quality of the content being trusted - is it actually valid, can ordinary people provide quality news when they are unaware of professional journalism?
Historical: - 
Rodney King, Michael Brown and other police brutality issues have been showcased through the power of camera phones and footage
Economical: - 
Raises economical issues for journalists and institutions as they would become effected by citizen journalism and UGC as they will not be required to provide news stories
Political: - 
Political issues of racial discrimination and terrorist attacks, bombings - political events can be filmed and shared online quicker than a news broadcast can publish it

What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?

A citizen journalist is an ordinary person who generates news content for example recording a video of a news event on their phones.

What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?

One of the first examples of this was in 1991, where an onlooker recorded Rodney King being abused by officers - this provided evidence against the 4 officers and therefore allowed for justice to be served. 

List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.

• message boards 
• chat rooms 
• Q & A's 
• Polls 
• Have your says 
• Blogs with comments enabled 

What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?

The first hand view allows the footage to be more emotive, raw and hard-hitting. The audience benefit from this as it is unmediated, therefore the professionally shot footage doesn't have the same effect through the process of editing. 

What is a gatekeeper?

A gatekeeper is someone who mediates the news that they receive and choose whether or not they are valid for publishing or not. 

How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?

The idea of social media and the blogosphere has changed the role of the gatekeeper as UGC removes the gatekeeper from publishing. 

What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?

There will be fewer and fewer trained journalists, leaving a smaller team of journalists within an organisation - this process of 'crowd-sourcing' will take place and the concern is mediators and moderators may essentially disappear. 

Offer your own opinion (critical autonomy) on the following:
What impact is new/digital media having on:

• news stories
• the news agenda (the choice of stories that make up the news)
• the role of professionals in news

New and digital media allows citizen journalists to emerge and therefore empowers audiences to therefore share their views and provide essential evidence to help serve justice. However, I think that the issue with these news stories are the validity of them and the fact that these citizen journalists are not professionally trained so how can we trust what they are reporting and it all may be a hoax too. The news agenda compiles professional and quality news stories, if there are no journalists to professionally compile the news agenda then the quality of this will become standardised, therefore be of less value. It would also be a huge concern for journalism jobs as ordinary people are able to take over the careers of professionals.

Hyper-reality and the Digital Renaissance 

Examples: 

• last thirty years has seen films, televisions and pop music that play with audience expectations 
• history of television and cinema - audiences have traditionally been very accepting of the way in which media texts invite the viewer to confront their own perception of reality. The silent movie era change brought about the acceptance of audience as the concept was natural and unaffected
• most successful brands are those that are seen across multiple platforms such as Kerrang! which is on website, tv and radio station 
• social networking websites embody postmodern culture: the virtual reality allows audiences to be free within their construction of their identity from a bricolage of pop culture reference
• Skype - combines landline calls with the video conference calls 

Theories:

• Theodore Adorno - viewed the gramophone record and cinema as a means of distracting the working class from their disadvantaged social positions
• "Jean Baudrillard’s work is pivotal in understanding terms like hyper- reality and simulacrum, he expresses anxiety about a society alienated from itself."
• Stuart Hall - dominant readings of the cinema change, audiences accepted this change as it became more 'normal' and reflected our own lives
• Blumler and Katz 'uses and gratifications' theory, focusing on the idea that personal identity can be seen online, on social networking sites and therefore personal relationships can also be built through this hyper reality
• audiences except conformed ideas - they will not question the social norms as they consider them as conventional 

Positive aspects of new technology: 

• television has helped to shape and reflect society's ideas about contemporary social issues 
• Convergence enables efficiency 
• social networking websites embody postmodern culture: the virtual reality allows audiences to be free within their construction of their identity from a bricolage of pop culture reference - encourages us to develop idealised personas 
• can embrace our aspirational codes of consumer culture and reinvent ourselves in order to reflect our idealised persona 
• offer the change to enter a hyper-realistic utopia
• Skype
• September 11th - the messages left on answer machines 
• rebirth of the way audiences think about society and culture 

Negative aspects of new technology on audiences and society:

• There has been a substitution of real life face to face interaction, which has been overlooked by the hyper reality online 
• cyberbullying 
• the issues with becoming stuck in an idealised virtual reality - you are not who you are - this lack of physical communication 

Wider issues and debates: 

• News values - citizen journalism may be seen as more accurate and raw, therefore more convincing for audiences 
• The idea of reality TV and the idealistic persona that audiences want to portray online, audiences are able to submerge in a virtual hyper-real utopia where they can be whoever they want to be
• Moral panics - Stanley Cohen - if everything is seen as hyper-realistic how can we distinguish reality from hyper-reality, therefore would make us question everything we see online within the digital renaissance
• The digital revolution - the changing of apps and the way we communicate offers new possibilities and innovative opportunities for audiences and therefore could effect institutions as they are no longer the ones in power  

The article was written in 2009. Offer three examples of more recent social networking sites or uses of technology that support the idea of a 'digital renaissance'.
Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat support this idea of the digital renaissance. Twitter helps us to voice our opinion through not only tweets but videos and pictures, whilst simultaneously being able to follow others and shape our ideals around other people's morals. Instagram and Snapchat are not as allows audiences to share what they want and therefore be affected by the content of others so become shaped by them, through the lifestyles of the higher ruling powers for example.

How do live streaming services such as Periscope or Facebook Live fit into the idea of a 'digital renaissance'? Are these a force for good or simply a further blurring of reality?

Periscope and Facebook Live offer examples of sharing ones lifestyles with a wider audience, it enables audiences to showcase what they feel like and therefore reflect their own views through the apps. I think that these apps essentially help audiences to share content, however it may also be seen as a negative thing due to the fact that you can blur the judgement of the real you and therefore reveal an idealised version through the screen. The idea of piracy is also an issue here as audiences are able to record live events such as paid for hyped boxing matches or music concerts; this could therefore be a problem for institutions too.

How can we link the 'digital renaissance' to our case study on news? Is citizen journalism a further example of hyper-reality or is it actually making news more accurate and closer to real life?

Citizen journalism offers this more accurate viewpoint through the idea of it being more closer to real life due to the first hand perspective and the unedited footage, making it more raw and convincing as being more accurate. However, the idea of manipulation can still be seen through citizen journalism as not all viewpoints of the incident may be seen, therefore may effect audiences through this. 

Week 8 - 'Crime-reporting app Vigilante kicked off App Store over Apple's content concerns'

'Crime-reporting app Vigilante kicked off App Store over Apple's content concerns'
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/01/vigilante-app-removed-apple-store

Vigilante is a crime-reporting app which reports crimes within the area for citizens to be aware of - Apple refused to have this app in it's app store as they believed this was a way to empower citizens rather than help prevent crimes

• This app was launched in New York and created by Sp0n. It is designed to alert nearby users whenever a crime is reported to 911 
• The attempt is that users are therefore able to help avoid the crime or film it on their smartphone for evidence 
• Apple kicked the app of their app store - "The developers believe that opening up crime reporting in this way empowers people. 'The closed system excludes the community while the open system informs and empowers citizens,' it says."
• Sam Gregory believes that it raises many ethical issues around consent and sharing - “Vigilantism is a very different idea to being an ethical witness to what’s happening,” he said.
"Apple doesn’t comment on individual decisions, but the App Store has strict rules about user-generated content apps to prevent abuse or bullying. The company also rejects apps if they risk physical harm, which could be possible if a load of vigilantes took their pitchforks to a crime scene"

There are a countless number of problems with this Vigilante App and the fact that Apple has decided to not include this in their app store is a positive thing, in my opinion. This app clearly has the intentions of creating citizen journalism as something for everyone and something easily accessible for all audiences, however the ethical issues that these raise are countless. The fact that users would be aware of criminal activity within their area may cause them to act upon the situation as this 'vigilante' and therefore get hurt in the process. I think the police and the law enforcement are supposed to be within our society in order to serve and protect us from criminal activity, what this app is essentially doing is making us all part of the law enforcement. This idea of taking the law into our own hands is something that should not be tampered with as it could lead to drastic consequences as we are not trained professionals. There's also the issue of a bystander adding fuel to the fire instead of actually diffusing the situation, officers are trained to diffuse and handle situations in a particular way so this is another issue. There are positives to this also, as people are made aware of surrounding events and could potentially help someone if they are nearby, however these positives do not outweigh the negatives of this app as it something that could potentially cause disruption within a neighbourhood as users may want to act like a vigilante and get hurt in the process rather than leaving it to the professionals. There's a huge difference between being at the scene of the crime at that moment and trying to help and actually sitting at home waiting to help someone.

Week 8 - 'Facebook isn't looking out for your privacy. It wants your data for itself'

'Facebook isn't looking out for your privacy. It wants your data for itself'
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/02/facebook-privacy-data-admiral

The car insurance website Admiral posted content online to help Facebook users with their car insurance quotes by simple clicking on the link and seeing if they were eligible - Facebook responded by asking Admiral to take this post down as it was a breech to their privacy settings

• The terms and conditions state that "You own all the content and information that you put on Facebook" and "you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings" 
• When the post got taken down Facebook announced “Protecting the privacy of the people on Facebook is of utmost importance to us. We have clear guidelines that prevent information being obtained from Facebook from being used to make decisions about eligibility.”
• The Admiral post was opt-in so they could not see anything that customers did not directly share with them - all users had to do was scan their profiles 
• To access games on Facebook you are required to share personal information 
• The concept is that Facebook use their data to discriminate and want only them to be able to do that, disallowing other sites to do so

What is most interesting about this news report is the fact that the content that is posted on Facebook is what the person themselves freely chooses to post, the privacy terms and conditions are made aware to all users which therefore brings about this idea of the user and what they are willing to publish on the internet nowadays. It is common that you would type your name or email address without hesitation on a well known site due to the loyalty you have which lies with it. This idea of privacy is something that plays a bit part in journalism also as journalists have certain rights to not breech the privacy of celebrities or certain people, however the real unanswered question is how far are you possibly able to take the privacy rights and what draws the line at being unethical? I think the fact that users are willing to freely and openly express so much about themselves on the internet today is an issue, especially with the younger demographic as they are not aware of the dangers of this and the potential effect of revealing too much.