NDM essay: learner response
1) Copy and paste the email feedback (WWW/EBI/LR) into your blogpost.
Then, create a list of key revision topics from our
new/digital case study work this term based on your essay and feedback above.
Revise these topics over Christmas for your January MEST3 Section B assessment.
2) Identify your strongest section. Which part of the case study do you know best - Marxism and Hegemony? Pluralism? The decline in the newspaper industry?
I think that I covered both sides of the argument well as I mentioned examples for both pluralism and Marxism. I think that in terms of this particular question it was easy to state some of the common examples e.g citizen journalism and convergence,so I thought I could have included some other ones e.g the newspaper industry and hyper reality.
3) Identify your weakest section or any missing sections. Which part of the case study do you need to revise - News values? Baudrillard's hyper-reality? Alain de Botton's news as social control? Clay Shirky's news as social good?
I could have mentioned: David Simon and paywalls, de Botton and Gramsci's hegemony, Clay Shirky and Baudrillard's hyper-reality. There were also a few typos that I need to fix.
4) Complete the LR task specified in your feedback - usually to re-write a certain section and then create a revision list for the January assessment. Please complete these LR tasks within this blogpost - don't go back and edit your original essay at this point.
LR- Marxism revolves around the idea of an elite group of people controlling the rest of society. Alain de Botton argues that news is constructed by major news institutions (the elite) and forces audiences to accept or view the news in a particular way. He explains that the constant act of "bombarding" audiences with news, therefore leads us to become "passive consumers" of news and not the question the way in which is is shown to us. This therefore links to the idea that the elite controlling the media is normal. Similarly the way in which we react to the news, makes us seem like violent acts of terror or scenes of poverty are the norm as we are being subjected to these stories on a daily basis. This leads to a lack of sympathy and ultimately suggests that we allow ourselves to be controlled by the "elite". This therefore suggests that the audience is not empowered in terms of consumption as we are used to being fed the same hegemonic content, which we end up ignoring.
Question: 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.
WWW: This is a really impressive essay – there is really
sharp focus on the question and you’ve raised lots of relevant points, examples
and statistics. There’s no doubt you’re pushing towards that A grade territory
so now we need to replicate this in an exam situation.
EBI: Arguably the most positive aspect here is that
you’ve written a very strong essay and could still have added a lot more: David
Simon and paywalls, Alain de Botton and Gramsci’s Hegemony (the illusion of
power), Clay Shirky’s views on news, Baudrillard and hyper-reality. Indeed, I’d
say the major aspect here is this reads like a Marxism and Pluralism essay.
There’s nothing wrong with this – in fact it’s great that there’s the potential
to push this even further! I see you have some of this in your plan so it may
just be a case of executing your plan more effectively in the time available.
Keep an eye on your written English – it’s not a major
issue by any means but if you want to be in that A/A* bracket then you need to
make sure you make an excellent impression on the examiner.
One minor point: your examiner doesn’t know the
industries you have studied so make sure you introduce them in your first
paragraph.
LR: Write one additional paragraph on one of the missing
theories/aspects mentioned above.
2) Identify your strongest section. Which part of the case study do you know best - Marxism and Hegemony? Pluralism? The decline in the newspaper industry?
I think that I covered both sides of the argument well as I mentioned examples for both pluralism and Marxism. I think that in terms of this particular question it was easy to state some of the common examples e.g citizen journalism and convergence,so I thought I could have included some other ones e.g the newspaper industry and hyper reality.
3) Identify your weakest section or any missing sections. Which part of the case study do you need to revise - News values? Baudrillard's hyper-reality? Alain de Botton's news as social control? Clay Shirky's news as social good?
I could have mentioned: David Simon and paywalls, de Botton and Gramsci's hegemony, Clay Shirky and Baudrillard's hyper-reality. There were also a few typos that I need to fix.
4) Complete the LR task specified in your feedback - usually to re-write a certain section and then create a revision list for the January assessment. Please complete these LR tasks within this blogpost - don't go back and edit your original essay at this point.
LR- Marxism revolves around the idea of an elite group of people controlling the rest of society. Alain de Botton argues that news is constructed by major news institutions (the elite) and forces audiences to accept or view the news in a particular way. He explains that the constant act of "bombarding" audiences with news, therefore leads us to become "passive consumers" of news and not the question the way in which is is shown to us. This therefore links to the idea that the elite controlling the media is normal. Similarly the way in which we react to the news, makes us seem like violent acts of terror or scenes of poverty are the norm as we are being subjected to these stories on a daily basis. This leads to a lack of sympathy and ultimately suggests that we allow ourselves to be controlled by the "elite". This therefore suggests that the audience is not empowered in terms of consumption as we are used to being fed the same hegemonic content, which we end up ignoring.
Comments
Post a Comment