NDM: Weekly News Article - W/C 14th November (19)

Facebook buys tool that tracks how stories spread

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/11/11/facebook-acquires-social-analytics-site-crowdtangle/93640312/?hootPostID=5037faf5d574bca043ed8473106aa45f

Summary

Facebook have brought a tool 'crowdtangle' is a analytics tool used by publishers to measure how well stories perform on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Many publishers have turned to crowdtangle to surface stories that matter, measure social media performance and identify influencers. Acquiring crowdtangle comes as Facebook was criticized for failing to stop the spread of fake news stories on their social networking site and their supposed influence on the 2016 election in the USA between Trump and Clinton. However, CEO Mark Zuckerburg  says this is not the case.

Key Statistic

• Nearly half of Americans get their news from Facebook

My Opinion

Is Facebook acquiring crowdtangle a way for them to increase revenue and fight back against competitors such as Cambridge Analytica as they previously did not provide a analysis service of SM feeds. Or is it just another way for us to be brainwashed by what we are seeing on social media as crowdtangle aims to help surface the stories that matter and identify influencing stories which we are more likely to take in. I personally think that Facebook is trying to prove a point to its audience after being criticized for spread of fake stories on their site and their influence on the 2016 USA election by ensuring that they are ahead  of the game on all angles offering users a well rounded service. However, are we being brainwashed or is Facebook surfacing stories that matter and that are influencing a way to give us a better voice within society.  

NDM: News Values

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

• Conflict

Syria conflict: Coalition strike 'kills 20 civilians near Raqqa'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-37922167

• Progress

Donald Trump wins U.S. election in astonishing victory

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-victory-1.3842225

• Disaster

Italy earthquake: Why did no-one die in the latest disaster in Norcia?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37824821

• Consequence

Croydon tram: Seven dead and 50 injured after derailment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-37919658

• Prominence

Cheryl Fernandez-Versini 'split from husband Jean-Bernard on secret second anniversary... as it's claimed he doesn't want a penny of her £20m fortune'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3393589/Cheryl-Fernandez-Versini-split-husband-Jean-Bernard-secret-second-anniversary.html

• Novelty

Remembrance Day: Paying tribute to the fallen

http://newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/3XJ8WL2eTTEoUlARvPzD9URK63tTnupDHYoqBNHgyUjGz

2) 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 example is the Guardian article "British servicewoman dies after Afghan bomb blast". It is an appropriate news story likely to gain prominence (importance) because it has cultural proximity to British people we see the soldier as one of our own and are therefore more likely to pay attention and notice the story when it comes on the news.  This type of news story is also considered to be more newsworthy as it is something we would normally hear which would make us want to listen to find out the details of how it happened.  

3) What is gatekeeping?
Gatekeeping is the process of filtering information prior to dissemination. The process is usually carried out by the editor. The process can be more than editors just choosing one story over another gatekeeping can also be used in reference to journalists selecting a certain line of questioning. In simple, gatekeeping is a way for news institutions to control the flow of information passed on to the audiences. 

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

1. Bias through selection and omission  - Choose whether or not to use a specific story. Some details can be ignored others can be included to give readers or viewers a different opinion about the event reported. If news reports from a wide variety of sources are compared then this type of bias can be observed. 
2. Bias through placement - Where a story is place influences what we think of its importance.
3. Bias by headline - Must read part of the paper, can be misleading, conveying excitement when the story itself is not exciting and expressing approval or disapproval. 
4. Bias by photographs, captions and camera angles - Influence the public's perception of a person or event
5. Bias through use of names and titles - Often use labels and titles  to describe people,places and events.
6. Bias by choice of words - People can be influenced by use of positive and negative words and the newscasters tone when saying words. 

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

These types of sites have changed the way that news is selected and published because these sites challenge the way that news institutions gatekeep the news. These sites all claim to be raw news sources bringing out transparency and freedom of speech which change things for news institutions because they have less control over what reaches the audience and what does not because there is more than one place nowadays for people to get the news  from.  

6) 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.

‘It’s going to be a long hot summer’: Race activist’s warning after Hyde Park riots as police have all their leave CANCELLED and the Met issues photographs of four suspected ringleaders

Rioters and Police face off

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3701002/It-s-going-long-hot-summer-Race-activist-s-warning-Hyde-Park-riots-police-leave-CANCELLED-Met-issues-photographs-four-suspected-ringleaders.html

The riots were first shared & reposted etc on Twitter which is how Met Police became aware of it and acted on it. The newspapers only found out about the riots after they were diffused and by monitoring social media sites. 

https://www.theguardian.com/media/pda/2009/mar/05/twitter-socialnetworking1 - Death of Britan in the alps; first reported through a phono source on Twitter

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

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

Sky news seems to view twitter as quite a trustworthy source of information as the death of the Briton in the Alps, the Buffalo plane crash, Lahore and the first photo of the Hudson River crash all came from Twitter and were trusted enough by Sky to be broadcast as part of their news bulletin

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

News is increasingly being produced by us the once passive receivers of news. We might be amateur journalists but we at a very fast rate producing and distributing the news via social media and similar means.  

• What role does the audience have in this process?

We are no longer just the receivers of news being produced by the major news conglomerates instead we are almost joining forces and together producing the news. Professional journalists filter through content from citizen journalists and are increasingly using it in their news bulletins.  

• Why might this be a problem for journalistic standards?

The role that journalists used to have in this world is no longer in terms of the production of news. The increased use of social media to spread news could be a problem for journalistic standards as the content wouldn't have passed through a gatekeeper and is not as censored. What we see on social media is the raw hard hitting news without a 'sugar coating'. The increased use of social media could also prove a problem to journalistic standards as news conglomerates aim to remain impartial but with the use of social media there is more of a open stance for people to share their views and values. Stories could become biased among other things. 

Final tasks

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

I do not think NDM has completely changed Galtung and Ruge's news values but instead updated their values in line with the developments that NDM has brought. The news value of continuity looks at whether a story has already been defined as news. The value was previously adhered to by broadcasting houses attempting to be the first to break a piece of news. Though, with NDM this value has been updated because there is now more than one way to break the news; citizen journalists, news institutions etc.  For example, the closure of Parliment Square due to a mysterious white van wondering was first defined as news being broken by a citizen journalist on Twitter. 

9) 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 institutions are no longer always the first ones to break a piece of news due to news breaking on Twitter and similar sites. 

Continuity - Update it by asking: Has the story already been defined as news in print, e - media or broadcast means?. News sources come from all different directions more than before and are shared, re posted etc you never know who you should really believe. 

Balance: Most news organizations have to remain impartial etc whereas with the growth of NDM and news breaking on Twitter and other social media there is more transparency  more room to share views and values. Update for 2016 by asking: Is the story(s) balanced by containing equal amount about death and survival but also does the story show both sides of the argument?

.Predictability: One broken news story updates are a given but there is more ways to do it. If a newspaper breaks it first they might have to wait till the following day issue to break an update but we expected something to come of the event so we can check it via social media etc.

Familiarity: Does it involve Britain physically?

Unambiguity: Are both sides of the story fairly being heard throughout the article. 

Negativity: Is it bad news or replaceable news? Is it harsh death punishments on one person and not the other? 

W/C 7th November - Weekly News Article (18)

Opinion

Why do we still accept that governments collect and snoop on our data ?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/30/government-data-collection-citizens-acceptance-global-rights-privacy-free-speech

Summary

Talks of the Hollywood film about Edward Snowden and the movement to pardon the NSA whistleblower, which have renewed worldwide attention on the scope and substance of government surveillance programs. Though, the debate in the USA vs the debates in say the UK vary. The USA debate has been a very narrow one focusing on the rights of Americans under domestic law but blindsided to the privacy rights of millions of others affected by this surveillance. Whereas, the British debate solely focuses on those affected by the privacy rights. A British court held last week that British Intelligence agencies acted unlawfully by concealing bulk spying programs from the public for over a decade. In simple, this bulk surveillance by the Government is a violation of rights to privacy and freedom of expression. 

Key Statistics

• European Convention on Human Rights, treaty ratified by 47 nations
• International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the US ratified in 1992.

My Opinion

My opinion is simple; do we really know how much information the Government have and are collecting on us... NO! certainly not if we go on what this article says. The snooping that the Government does we did not even know about half of it... our privacy was being violated.  Why should they be allowed to do this? The Government snooping on our data has not got them very far but it just is not right. Their snooping has gone as far  as recording every single cell phone call into, out of and within at least two countries!!! and interception of data from Google and Yahoo user accounts. I do not know what else to say except this is not on!!!! We need to do something about it get some laws passed or something that stops them doing such things and sharing them with third parties. 

W/C 7th November - Weekly News Article (17)

Telegraph paywall initiative is an interesting strategic shift

Chris Evans: seeking deeper engagement

https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/nov/03/telegraph-paywall-initiative-is-an-interesting-strategic-shift

Summary

 The Telegraph Media Group came to a decision to introduce a paywall for 'premium content' and this decision has been labelled as being an interesting strategic and philosophical shift. They believe that journalism is worth paying for despite the paywall only covering a small amount of the output that the Daily and Sunday Telegraph produce. This model is metered it allowed eight free items to be read a week which is relatively easy to circumvent (by clearing cookies). Though the hard paywall will prevent any free reading and therefore mean that TMG's audience will have to pay for subscription if they wish to receive stories from any of the group's content. The editor Chris Evans pictured above believes that the paywall will allow them to know more about their audience. Evans hopes that he can build a community with the restoration of the below the line comments as well kicking off the paywall to learn more about audience members and engage better with them. Evans says in time should subscription increase more and more content will slowly be moved into the premium section behind the paywall. 

  

Key Statistics

• Paywall will involve only 15% of the output from Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph initially.
• 85% of the online content will now be free to access
• Ambition to treble TMG's digital audience by the end of 2017
• 82% of its digital readers access content through mobile devices, huge increase on last year when it wasn't much more than 50%

My Opinion

Introducing the paywall is a way for TMG to better their profits which they will get through audience subscriptions, in a nut shell. However, I do not think that a paywall is going to work as a long-term solution for the problems that newspaper conglomerates are facing. The TMG group are saying that they are introducing a paywall because they want to get to know their audience better but I do not understand how that can happen through a paywall to the extend that they want. Yeah, sure a paywall will allow them to figure out if they have a majority AB audience or C1/2 audience but not much past that. However, some people are extremely loyal to the paper so therefore are more likely to pay the subscription in comparison to the occasional readers. I feel like TMG group need to find another way in which to get to know their audience better.     

Hyper - reality and the digital renaissance

1) Create a new blogpost called 'Hyper-reality and the digital renaissance' and make notes from the article under the following headings: 

• examples
• theories 
• positive aspects of new technology (or 'digital renaissance')
• negative aspects of new technology on audiences and society  
• wider issues and debates 

2) 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'.

3) 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?

4) 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?

1)  Examples

• Graham Bell launched telephone in 1876 - Revolution in communication systems and sewed the seeds of a more wide ranging transformation about the way in which society thought about itself and culture.
• Substitution of face to face interaction interaction with a hyper real experience mediated by technology
• Skype dinner parties 
• Eadweard Muybridge's experiments with stereoscopic images in the 1870's - developed into a staple venue for romantic courtships in the 20th century
• Cinema,television, music videos and computer games all invite the audiences to suspend disbelief and inhabit of a paperless fantasy world.
• BAUER's Kerrang! - Successful brand that exists in a post digital age across multiple platforms (website, TV and radio station)   
• Bebo, Facebook and MySpace embody postmodern culture
• September 11th - Terrorist attacks on America in 2001  

Theories

• Jean Baudrillard - Simulacrum and Simulacra
• Frankfurt School theorists like Theodore Adorno: Viewed the gramophone record and cinema as a means of distracting the working class from their disadvantaged social positions.  
• Mark Zuckerburg  - Bullying
• Albert Bandura - The Bobo Doll Experiment 

Positive Aspects of new technology (or 'digital renaissance')

• The way in which technologies are embedded into our lives reinforces traditional structures of society and culture
• Interactivity
• Prejudice no longer matters
• Re birth in the way that we think about society and culture in the developed world from the proliferation of creative digital hardware to social networking
• More innovation and social interaction

Negative Aspects of new technology on audiences and society

• Impossible to take a moral stance on media technologies
• Body image issues
• The use of telephones/television and the internet are all symptomatic of societies decay

Wide issues and debates

• Is the advancements in the digital world a positive impact on today's society or a negative impact?
• Have the advancements in technology come to fast? Are we struggling to keep up with the developments?  
• What do these advancements that keep coming in technology mean for society in terms of work? (Print media industry - Journalists lost/loosing jobs with the takeover of User Generated Content) 

2) Instagram - Providing live videos and the ability to create stories in a matter of minutes that can be shared with thousands of people at the click of a button. 

Skype - The ability to have a live video stream going and share one moment or experience with millions of family and friends - Skype dinner parties

Facebook - Live streaming service

3) Live streaming services like Periscope and Facebook fit into the idea of the digital renaissance as these services are an advancement in technology. Users of the services can easily record their surroundings or something they are doing in the moment and share it with millions of people within a matter of minutes with a few simple clicks. These types of live streaming services are a force for good because they encourage better audience interaction and discussion of views and values etc. However, these services are a further blurring from reality because some people begin to hide behind the camera and deceive others from what is the truth (Reality); they live every second of their lives behind the lens of a camera. 

4) I think that the digital renaissance can be linked to our case study on news because it allows us to see how the advancements in technology over the years has changed the way in which we consume and distribute news and how our views of the media and other things have changed because of the way in which technology has changed. I feel like citizen journalism is both a further example of hyper reality and also making news more accurate and closer to real life. Citizen journalism provides us with first hand accounts of uncensored news which is real life and it could be more accurate because it is shared in the moment with thousands of people. However, citizen journalism could also be an example of hyper reality because is what we are fed through citizen journalism an imitation of real world processes or is it an actual representation of someone or something. 

NDM News: Citizen journalism and hyper-reality - THE RISE AND RISE OF UGC

1) Create a blogpost where you make notes from the article under the following headings: 

• examples
• theory (audience reception etc.) 
• benefits to institutions 
• benefits to audience 
• wider issues and debates 
• SHEP

2) What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?

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

4) List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organizations.

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

6) What is a gatekeeper?

7) How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?

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

9) 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

1)  Examples

• High-speed chase by police to catch Rodney King, an African-American who was eventually surrounded, tasered and beat with clubs all filmed by onlooker from apartment window. Made prime time news internationally, it was a focus for complaints about police racism towards African Americans. RESULT : 4 COPS WERE CHARGED WITH ASSAULT AND USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE BUT WERE LATER ACQUITTED OF CHARGES SPARKING HUGE CIVIL UNREST . 
• London Bombings - July 2005
•  Asian Tsunami - 26th December 2004
• Mumbai, India: Bombings - late November 2008
• Hudson River Plane Crash - 15th January 2009
• Seung-Hui Cho - Undergraduate 23-year-old who regularly sent photos, written pieces and videos to NBC news

As a result, of these first-hand accounts the reaction they got had everyone springing into action and looking into what had just broken. 

Theory (audience reception etc.)

• Crowd Sourcing - Eventually leaving the media unmediated

Benefits to institutions

• They are buying into the world of UGC - Buying up social networking sites.  e.g) News Corp brought Myspace. 

Benefits to audience

• First-hand accounts
• Less censored
• No longer passive receivers of news
• Can access the news from wherever they are

Wider issues and debates

• The riots that followed the acquittal, killed and injured many was it really necessary to prove a point?
• Would the four police officers even have been charged in the first place, if it wasn't for onlooker George Holliday grabbing his video camera? - " King's beating would be just another hidden incident with no consequences" - Sara Mills (Article writer)

SHEP 

1. Social: Greater accessibility - Shareable through the internet on sites such as Twitter, Myspace, YouTube and Facebook
2. Historical: Audience were passive receivers of news in the past, with news being only produced by big news conglomerates. Now... we are creators and receivers
3. Economical: Big organisations are suffering with the rise of UGC, Less profit for large organisations. e.g. Nobody is buying printed newspapers anymore. News companies have needed to become more inventive with the way in which they make their profit. e.g. advertising.
4. Political: What is going to happen to the media if eventually it is a unmediated world? How are we going to know what to believe and what not to believe?

2) What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?

The term citizen journalist refers to regular people like you and me who over the years have had greater access to filming capabilities through our phones and other devices which has allowed us to play an active role in the creation of news. We can rapidly collect and distribute footage we collect via the internet for all to see which then gets shared and can end up becoming a viral news story, just the story of Rodney King. 

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

The case of Rodney King, that was captured and shared by an ordinary person in a matter of minutes and before long went viral with all the major news conglomerates in a wide variety of countries broadcasting the news about Rodney King and the police brutality towards him.

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

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Snapchat
• Instagram

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

First hand UGC, is different from professionally shot footage because it is unedited in the moment witness accounts; the video quality is likely to be quite low in comparison to that of professionally shot footage as first hand UGC is typically shot off of people's camera phones whereas professional shots are done with high quality cameras and a complete camera crew. 

6) What is a gatekeeper?

The people who decide what is and what isn't the news. They decide what should and should not be broadcast. We can send in as much UGC as we want but it is the gatekeepers decision as to what gets onto the daily news bulletins. 

7) How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?

With the rise of UGC, the role of a gatekeeper has changed from being the people who filter what is and what is not news. To the people who just manage the UGC content that they get sent day to day and deciding what parts of it if any at all can be used in their news bulletins. 

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

Journalists primary concern is losing their jobs, with the rise of UGC it is a concern that there will be fewer and fewer permanent trained staff at news organisations; leaving less and less people to deal with the rise of UGC and managing all the content.that people send in. 

Another concern would be that without moderation sites could be overrun by bigots and fools. By those who shout the loudest and have little else to do but make posts. The fear of being dominated by defamatory, racist and other hate fuelled content raises questions about unmoderated content.

9) Offer your own opinion (critical autonomy) on the following:

What impact is new/digital media having on:

• news stories

NDM will mean that news stories are probably going to have a lot more UGC content within in them. As a opposed to the company using content that their own journalists have collected and editied.  However, the increased use of UGC does leave the question will these first-hand accounts still be run through gatekeepers and censored. Because if not it could lead to more hard-hitting news being shown to what is already a desensitised audience as a result of what they are shown in the news. 

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

UGC, will impact the news agenda I think quite a lot, this is because rather than journalists sending through urgent emails that should be broken straight away it will be citizen journalists replacing this. If journalists send it in it still has to run by the gatekeepers which sometimes can result in certain news conglomerates being last to break the news that they were originally the first to obtain. However, with citizen journalism it likely to be broadcast straight away. However, as I mentioned it could lead to more hard hitting and unmediated potentially low-brow news.

• the role of professionals in news

The role of professionals has already changed dramatically and stands to change further in my opinion. Professional journalists in permanant roles will be reducing in numbers but of who is left they will no longer be in the position of sitting by a computer and writing the articles for the print issue or surfing the net and keeping and eye on a number of sources for the news to break. Instead they will simply be there to manage the UGC that gets sent into news conglomerates by citizen journalists. They will be deciding what is what and what is good to broadcast. But soon I think even that will be no longer eventually I think the media will end up unmediated, but if and when this happens what are we supposed to believe?

W/C - 31st October: Weekly Article (16)

Senior News of the World staff 'misled' Parliament over phone-hacking, committee finds

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/news-of-the-world-phone-hacking-staff-misled-parliament-a7298251.html

Summary

As we all know the demise of News of the World was in the news heavily a year or two ago due to the phone hacking scandal and its links to the disappearance of Milly Dowler. Now this article has come to light that executives at News Of The World misled parliment in their investigations on purpose when giving evidence as witnesses in 2011. Two men Mr Myler and Mr Crone were found to be in contempt of the house and later were jailed for giving false evidence.After news of the world closed in 2011 after it emerged the newspaper had intercepted voicemail of the missing teenager Milly Dowler. 

Key Statistics

• Around 5,500 people were likely or potential victims of News Of The World phone hacking scandal.

My Opinion

I do not see why executives at News Of The World lied, the demise of the newspaper had already begun when they were accused of phone hacking and further investigated for it. It would have been very hard to hide and salvage the newspaper after that so I think that the executives should have just told the truth. It is a slim possibility but telling the truth may have meant that Mr Crone and Mr Myler could have avoided jail time. However, I personally still have questions as to what we were told and what we were not told about the scandal because we know that some celebrities such as Shane Richie and Shobna Gulati were hacked and won payouts for damages as a result but people that are likely to have been involved in some way such as Rebecca Brooks editor at News UK were found not guilty. Was certain information still kept out of the public eye?

Website Reference

http://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2014/06/25/phone-hacking-trial-why-was-rebekah-brooks-found-not-guilty-0

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32825751