MEST3 Exam

9/9/17 -  Binge-watching your favourite TV shows makes them less enjoyable, scientists have found 9/9/17-  Gifs: 30 Years of reactions, dancing babies and popcorn  25/9/17-  Uber apologises after London ban and admits ''we got things wrong''  25/9/17-  NFL protests: Pharrell, Stevie Wonder and John Legend 'take a knee' in solidarity against "President" Trump 3/10/17- Social media companies must respond to the sinister reality behind fake news  3/10/17  US Department of Justice demands Facebook account details of Anti- Trump activists 10/10/17-  Mark Zuckerburg ''tours'' flooded Puerto Rico in bizarre virtual reality promo 10/10/17-  Facebook and Google promote politicized fake news about Las Vegas shooter 17/10/17-  US journalist behind Harvey Weinstein story to get Channel 4 show 17/10/17-  Fake news: improved critical literacy skills are key to telling fact from fiction 24/10/17-  Investigative reporting more ...

1) Institution: the impact of Google on the newspaper industry 2)  Ofcom report: how news consumption has changed 3)  Baseline assessment: learner response 4) The future of newspapers: Build The Wall analysis 5) The decline of newspapers: the effect of online technology 6) The decline of newspapers: Media Magazine case studies 7) The future of journalism: John Oliver and Clay Shirky 8)  Citizen journalism and hyper-reality 9)  Galtung & Ruge: News Values 10)  Marxism & Pluralism: MM article ('Web 2.0: Participation or Hegemony') 11)  Marxism & Pluralism: Alain de Botton on the News 12)  NDM News: full Section B essay on blog ('consumption and production') 13)  Globalisation: MM article and Factsheet questions 14) Globalisation and fake news: articles and questions 15) News on the Tweet: Newsworks report 16) A case study in news and social media - Factsheet questions 17)  Blog essay fe...

1 ) Do you agree with James Murdoch that the BBC should not be allowed to provide free news online? Why? No I definitely think that the BBC should remain the way it is and be a free news provider. There are many other newspapers such as "The Times" that people who value news can read. The BBC should remain free as it it the go-to news source that most people in the UK read as it is known for its unbiased content.  2) Read  this blog on the Times paywall three years on  (note this is the UK Times - not the New York Times!) 3) Was Rupert Murdoch right to put his news content (The Times, The Sunday Times) behind a paywall? I think it was reasonable because its better to have a "stable revenue from loyal audience" than to rely on advertising. Also the point made about "freebies" is also significant as people who are interested in this offer are encouraged to read newspapers that provide good quality news stories. 4) Choose two comments from below the Times ...

1) Go to the  Nieman Lab webpage (part of Harvard university) and watch the video of Clay Shirky presenting to Harvard students . ' 2) Play the clip AND read along with the transcript below to ensure you are following the argument. You need to watch from the beginning to 29.35 (the end of Shirky's presentation). 3) Why does Clay Shirky argue that 'accountability journalism' is so important and what example does he give of this? Shirky quotes "Losing the News" and says that accountability journalism " the  iron core  of journalism and in particular the investigative journalism category, where three reporters are dispatched for a long period on a story that may or may not pan out." 4) What does Shirky say about the relationship between newspapers and advertisers? Which websites does he mention as having replaced major revenue-generators for newspapers (e.g. jobs, personal ads etc.)? Advertisers were forced to overpay for the services they receiv...

BBC Radio 1 breakfast show slumps to its smallest audience on record https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/oct/26/radio-1-breakfast-show-slumps-smallest-audience-record Key Data/ Statistical Info The audience for BBC  Radio  1’s breakfast show – one of the corporation’s flagship radio programmes – has slumped to the lowest level on record. The show, which has been presented by  Nick Grimshaw  for the last five years, attracted 5.3 million listeners per week over the age of 10 in the three months to the end of September. The BBC said that Radio 1’s YouTube and Vevo channels now receive an average of 1.6m views a day while its iPlayer channel receives 1.1m views a month. Radio 1’s overall audience has dipped too. It attracted 10.5 million listeners a week during the three months to the end of September, down from 10.9 million last year, with its share of the audience falling from 6% to 5.9% This links to NDM as less young people are listen...

Investigative reporting more vital than ever: NYT managing editor  https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/oct/28/investigative-reporting-more-vital-than-ever-nyt-managing-editor Key Data/ Statistical Info The Trump presidency and the proliferation of fake news is an assault on good journalism, and this should be resisted by funding even more investigative reporting- Joseph Kahn (NYT Managing editor) Kahn said reporting that was even “harder, deeper and faster” was more important than ever in 2017, and the Times was investing in more reporters following a bump in subscriptions since  Donald Trump  became US president. "...it is rewarding, both for readers and for the news media that develop a strong reputation for delivering it." “Investigative still means teams of reporters taking weeks or months to uncover something big. Teams like those that exposed a raft of sexual harassment cases and secret settlements that led to the downfall of two of the bigg...

Issue 57 of Media Magazine featured two very useful  case studies  on British newspaper brands and their recent decline. The New Day The New Day was a brand new newspaper launched by institution Trinity Mirror in 2016 - but it folded after just two months.   1) What was the New Day trying to achieve? It was trying to reestablish itself on the print market in hopes of becoming a popular newspaper that met the needs of middle aged people and their "modern lifestyles". 2) List the key statistics on the first page: how many people buy newspapers in the UK? How has this declined in the last year? According to Allison Phillips, the paper's editor, ''about six million people buy a newspaper in Britain everyday. However in the past year ''over a million people have stopped buying a newspaper''.  3) What audience were the New Day trying to attract? Men and women aged 35 to 55- "who want a more modern approach to news" which they could rea...

Fake news: improved critical literacy skills are key to telling fact from fiction https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2017/oct/17/fake-news-improved-critical-literacy-skills-teaching-young-people Key Data/ Statistical Info  Fake news can  threaten our democracy , our  confidence in governance , or our  trust in journalism , but it has also been reported to  distort children’s view of the world . Some 20% of children aged between eight and 15  believe everything they read online is true , and 35% of UK teachers  say pupils have cited fake news or false information found online as fact  in their work. This issue is at the heart of a new commission launched by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Literacy and the National Literacy Trust. The  Commission into Fake News and the Teaching of Critical Literacy Skills  will look at the impact fake news has on children and young people, and how the skills needed to iden...

US journalist behind Harvey Weinstein story to get Channel 4 show https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/oct/12/us-journalist-who-broke-harvey-weinstein-story-to-get-channel-4-show Key Data/ Statistical Info  The US journalist who revealed that Harvey Weinstein faced allegations of sexual abuse stretching over decades is to present a new late-night show on  Channel 4 . Ronan Farrow  published an 8,000-word article in the New Yorker  earlier this week in which 13 women made detailed allegations against the film executive. Channel 4 said the programme intended to offer a “satirical take on the UK as seen through the eyes of America” The article is about the American journalist, Ronan Farrow, who initially revealed the ''detailed allegations'' against Harvey Weinstein, and how he intends to present a new late-night show on Channel 4. The show is meant to provide a ''satirical take on the UK'' from an American perspective and hopes to be th...

The future of newspapers On your blog,  write a paragraph  summarising the argument the article makes. Then answer the following questions: The article talks about how print journalism used to ''set the news agenda for the rest of the media'', however now since newspapers are dying out they have become a less prominent platform. The article also explores how newspapers are cutting their funds, as more and more newspapers are available online for free. 1)  Do you agree with its view that it is ‘a cause for concern, but not for panic’? Some newspapers are still providing good quality content, since they invest in ''the kind of investigative stories which often benefit society.  Also news- aggregation sites such as Google, gather sources from various   newspapers  all over the world.  an estimated 48% of adults use the internet nowadays.  2) The article is 10 years old - an eternity in digital media terms. Have the writer's predictions come to ...

Facebook and Google promote politicized fake news about Las Vegas shooter https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/02/las-vegas-shooting-facebook-google-fake-news-shooter Key Data/ Statistical Info  Facebook and Google promoted false news stories claiming that the shooter who  killed more than 50 people  in Las Vegas was a Democrat who opposed Donald Trump. The flow of misinformation on Monday illustrated a particularly grim trend that has increasingly dominated viral online propaganda during US mass shootings – hyper-partisan trolls battling to blame the tragedy on opposing political ideologies. Brooke Binkowski, managing editor of fact-checking website Snopes.com, said in an interview. “A lot of this is pushed by trolls deliberately to muddy the conversation.”  False content can quickly move from social media to legitimate news sources, she added: “People are putting out crap information on purpose … It’s really easy to get shit into the new...

Mark Zuckerburg ''tours'' flooded Puerto Rico in bizarre virtual reality promo https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/09/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-puerto-rico-virtual-reality Key Data/ Statistical Info  A cartoon version of Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, visited hurricane-damaged Puerto Rico on Monday, in a  tone-deaf livestream  that was part disaster tourism, part product promotion. appeared as avatars within the broadcast from his profile as they “teleported” to different locations using Facebook’s  “social VR” tool Spaces . In reality, the two were speaking from the comfort of their offices in the company’s campus in Menlo Park, California, wearing  virtual reality  headsets. Zuckerberg took the opportunity to talk about some of the ways  Facebook  was helping with disaster relief, including donating $1.5m and working with the Red Cross to build “population maps” so that relief organizations know where the most h...

1) Look over your essay, read it back in full and examine any feedback given. Read the A  grade  exemplar essay  from a past A* student. What does the A* essay do well that you need to improve on? It includes both sides of the argument- it argues that audiences are empowered to an extent. Also, they included theories and examples from recent years, throughout her argument. She also used key media terminology, which was relevant to the topic. 2) Read the Examiners' Report for this exam as outlined above and write three bullet points that summarise the key comments that apply to your essay. Pro : Very wide ranging case study tended to just include descriptive lists of developments in new and digital media, rather than focusing on the question. Con : Higher level answers evaluated the extent ofempowerment and also discussed some of the downsides for audiences and the ways in whichaudiences had not been empowered. Con : Also debates about a digital underclass of peo...

US Department of Justice demands Facebook account details of Anti- Trump activists http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-department-of-justice-anti-donald-trump-activists-facebook-account-details-warrants-demands-a7973181.html Key Data/ Statistical Info The US Department of Justice has obtained search warrants that would allow government lawyers to access the  Facebook  accounts of anti-Donald Trump protesters. The data requested includes the passwords, private messages, photos, and deleted posts of two individual activists, as well as information on 6,000 people who "liked" an anti-Trump Facebook page. The  American Civil Liberties Union  (ACLU), which is fighting the warrants in court, described the requests as "a gross invasion of privacy". The articles talks about the search warrants that were issued by the US Department of ''Justice'', that allowed them to access the Facebook accounts of Anti- ...