Contemporary Media in the 21st Century

Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818

Philip Anthony Jones

13203818

AMST40390

Contemporary Media in the 21st Century

Word Count

3,591

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Introduction

From the Guttenberg revolution to the electronic

revolution, the media has evolved and grown in line with

technology and a fast moving population that craves bite size

news on the go. Printed news is now rapidly being replaced by

digital online publications, which are easy to access and for

the most part free. While traditionalists will jealously

guard their right to ink on paper, the era of the hot press

and the paperboy is rapidly declining.

The 21st century has seen a rapid growth in the use of the

internet as a forum to disseminate information, increase

virtual social interaction and to access all manner of

interests. The way in which people consume news has changed

and as such the practices of the news producers must also

mirror those of the reader. Why people chose to consume

certain news over other has been widely theorised.

The traditional view on news consumption is that peopleseek accurate and unbiased information. Historians,sociologists, and economists traditionally view theconsumption of news as satisfying a basic human impulse(Xiang 2007:613).

It is important for people to be aware of what is going on

outside their direct experience to foster feelings of safety

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and comfort while also acknowledging the issues of the world

surrounding them.

The century has seen a rapid increase in the use of

social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and

Instagram, worldwide phenomena. Many terms have been coined

or adapted to be specifically related to these sites, these

include “selfie”, “poke”, “like” and “tweet”. Not

surprisingly these new words have found their way into the

English dictionary as updates and new entries.

Whether or not it can be said they add to the Zeitgeist

is open to intense polemic and heated debate. They

undoubtedly have had a fundamental impact on the way in which

society interacts with each other. They have pushed

boundaries and created new ones which are often divisive and

humiliating to some people. Social networking has become an

indispensible facet of life and a function of social

interaction.

Online News Papers and Their Impact

The more successful newspapers had all launched online

versions by the late 1990s. Though the venture creates little

revenue most online additions are either entirely or partly3


free. This is due to accessibility and competition leading

newspapers to source revenue from advertising on their

websites. Only specific papers such as The Wall Street Journal and

other specialised publications successfully charge an online

fee.

The benefit of online news is that it is almost

instantaneous and on demand. Consumers no longer have to wait

for the following day’s paper; with one click they can read

the latest story online. Be it on a laptop, tablet or smart

phone the media is constantly at a consumers finger tips.

They now have the ability to choose without having to purchase

or to read differing perspectives on the same news story.

The most important factor for any credible news producer

is quality. The impact of digital media on the quality of

journalism has been felt not least by the consumer but by the

publications and journalists. The instantaneous nature of

news production and consumption has left journalists with

little time to produce the story. Research is now often done

at the desk as is the gathering of many sources of primary

information. Misinformed news has been polluting newsrooms to

the determent of the publication and the consumer.

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Reporters, particularly when they are working against theclock, are susceptible to Internet misinformation. Onlinereporting practices are unlikely to displace traditionalreporting techniques, as some of the most concerned criticsworry. But media organizations are learning that the samedigital systems that improve journalists' ability to doresearch in the office can also have perverse effects.(Klinenberg 2005:56)

The journalist is not entirely to blame; the pressure

applied on him to produce is immense. The publication must

have the content to attract as many readers as possible.

Digital news production has meant that news corporations must

rely on online advertising for income rather than paper sales,

ergo more news equals more money.

The responsibility to produce content that can be used acrossplatforms also places a different kind of pressure on editorsand business managers. For them, directing a multimediacompany requires ensuring that a sufficient level of contentmeets the needs of each medium, and this means that reportersassigned to key beats or stories have to produce even if theywant more time to explore. (Klinenberg 2005:56)

Profits dictate the production of news and its content.

Sensationalism has been a tool of many newspaper editors in

order to sell papers. Today’s online news requires easy

reading with sensationalism and a large side order of adverts

which allow the reader to digress in the right direction. Even

the online crossword and Sudoku sections are merely

advertising platforms. The type of advert will usually be

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determined by the newspapers readership therefore marketing

plays a huge role in the production of online news.

Market segmentation in online newspapers has allowed

media organisations to develop the ways in which they target.

Not only can newspapers target a broad range of people, it can

also narrowly target specific audiences with a range of

appealing information and products. These are generally

attractive to this type of audience, for example, readers of

the lifestyle section of a broadsheet newspaper maybe

interested in an upcoming opera or art exhibition. Therefore

the advertisements will usually mirror the social expectations

of the target audience.

There is an important factor that can be attributed to

the rise of market segmentation and targeting, that is the

newspapers are able to avoid marketing to people outside their

social stratum.

"By reducing circulation efforts among low-income, minorityreaders, newspapers actually improve the overall demographicprofile of their audiences, which they then use to justifyraising advertising rates" (Klinenberg 2005:57)

This type of marketing strategy has allowed advertisers to

select an online news source as an advertising platform based

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on the demographics of its target consumers. The consumer

unwittingly becomes a target of the latest form of

advertising.

Blogging

What is a blog? The term ‘blog’ is a truncated version of

‘weblog’. We de ne blog here as a web page with minimal to nofi

external editing, providing on-line commentary, periodically

updated and presented in reverse chronological order, with

hyperlinks to other online sources (Drezner 2008:2).

The internet offers the most choice within news

production, dissemination and new forms of journalism. As a

medium it has been responsible for the creation of a number of

online journalistic outlets, not least blogging. Blogs appear

to be a staple of political commentary, legal analysis,

celebrity gossip, and high school angst (Drezner 2008:1).

Blogging became popular in 1999 with the arrival of

online public access forums. These included ‘Open Diary’,

‘Live Journal’ and ‘Blogger.com’ amongst many others. The

forums provided and outlet for ordinary people to express

opinions, discuss a particular topic or as a means of global

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interaction. They would soon evolve into something much more

potent than merely a tool to communicate. The rise in

popularity of blogs was followed by the power they would wield

over the political establishment.

Blogs have been used as a means of political discourse

since 2002. This year is said to be the turning point in

their popularity and their importance juxtaposed to other more

established forms of media. It was bloggers who broke the

story of US Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. The controversy

centred on a speech he gave honouring Senator Strom Thurmond.

He suggested that had Thurmond been elected President in 1948

the US would be better off. This was interpreted by Lott’s

opponents as paying credence to the policy of racial

segregation on which Thurmond had run his 1948 Presidential

campaign.

Though the media did pick up the story it was not given

any significant coverage until it was broken in the

blogosphere. The ensuing scandal and public outrage forced

Senator Lott to resign. In its post scandal analysis The

Economist wrote in 2002,

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The mainstream media was initially blind to his [Lott’s]remarks perhaps because it isused to such comments. But the “blogosphere”—websites ofopinion and news, firstknown as weblogs—denounced the remarks vigorously, and wouldnot let up, finallyforcing others to take notice. (The Economist 2002 in Drezner

2008:3)

The power of the blog as a political weapon had been

firmly established. Though the power of the blog is evident,

Hindman (2008) believes that blogging remains a narrow, elite

pursuit, which does little to increase the representative

basis of American politics (Hindman (2008) Leibold 2011:1025).

Dan Rather became a victim of omnipresent blogosphere when in

2004 he produced documents that brought into question

President George W Bush’s National Guard service. The ensuing

blogging debate about the authenticity of the documents caused

the show 60 Minutes to retract its claims.

Both supporters and critics of blogging accepted that

bloggers played an instrumental role in highlighting the issue

and bringing it to the attention of the national media. They

also concede that the ensuing scandal was primarily caused by

the actions of the bloggers. The executive producer of CBS

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“acknowledged that the bloggers and other matters. . . had shaken

his confidence” (Drezner 2008:3).

As blogging evolved it became more widely used by

journalists, activists and politicians. Recognising its

impact, the established media needed to carve out a niche for

itself within the blogosphere. They did so directly and

indirectly to insure their presence and influence in the

online forum.

As of 2007, almost every political magazine or opinion journalfrom The Nation to the Economist to The American Spectator—eithersponsor individual bloggers or have developed their own houseblogs. Most newspapers have blogs as well—including the New YorkTimes, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor and Financial Times(Drezner 2008:2),

Twitter

Though blogging is still prevalent and in significant usage,

some critics contend that it has reached its peak. A new form

of blogging emerged in 2006 that would revolutionise the forum

and make it even more accessible to users. Twitter was launched

in March 2006 and provided a platform for users to make a

comment of 140 characters or less. It also provided a method

of categorizing comments by using the hash tag prefix (#).

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In the seven years since its inception, Twitter has

attracted over 190 million users who tweet random sentences of

140 characters or less with the hope that they will catch

someone’s attention. This limit allows real time posts to be

made using SMS (short message service) technology, which is

the basis for the text messaging on cell phones and other

mobile devices. Tweets can also be posted online at

twitter.com (Ben-Ari 2009:632)

As a form of micro-blogging Twitter has seen ordinary plebeians

to world leaders tweeting, but not least celebrities who act

out their daily routines in spoonfuls of information or

“lifecasting”. Lauren Laverne of the Observer described Twitter

and its followers from her point of view,

One thing everyone agrees on is that nobody agrees on thepoint of Twitter. It is derided as trivial (the name "Twitter"was chosen because it meant "a short burst of inconsequentialinformation") as frequently as it is hailed as the engine thatdrove the Arab Spring. It's both a voyeuristic window into thegilded idiocy of celebrity and a spotlight on suffering thatwould otherwise go unrecorded. Twitter's fuel is extremeemotion - jealousy, rage, mawkish sentimentality and LOLZ. Assuch, it's a digital Molotov cocktail, constantly waiting fora spark. Just ask Samantha Brick, Ricky Gervais and Cat BinLady (Lavern 2012)

Her description, though harsh describes Twitter as a tool of

the sycophant and the self indulgent. She does however fail

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to recognise that twitter is also used by scientists who

regularly tweet and share information on ideas in what has

become known as “mindcasting”. The micro-blogging site has

been the chosen forum of information dissemination for some of

the century’s most dramatic moments, not least the Arab

Spring. Avid followers of the period of turmoil followed it

as it unfolded by up to the minute commentary, albeit it 140

character sentences. It has assumed the role of ‘lynch pin’

in terms of citizen journalism, giving the soap box orator a

platform that allows him to reach unimaginable amounts of

people with the click of a button.

Depending on the user, tweets can be intelligible to all

or to a few. Ergo, what shapes the way twitter is used is its

natural brevity. Brevity is intrinsically linked to citizen

journalism and the way in which information is disseminated,

……….in the case of citizen journalism, brevity has allowedtweets to effectively communicate timely information duringdisasters (e.g. the bomb blasts in Mumbai in November 2008 andthe May 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan Province) andsocial movements (e.g. the demonstrations against Iranianpresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the country’s 2009elections or the student-led protests against the victory ofthe Communist Party in Moldova’s April 2009 elections).(Murthy 2011:781)

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Tweeting is instantaneous news as it is actually

happening. Though many tweets are mundane and pointless

others are factually based and linked to more substantial

sources such as major news journalists. Even in cases where a

‘citizen journalist’ has first broadcast an important piece of

news such as an in progress robbery, it is for the most part a

snippet by an amateur that will later be covered in detail by

a professional.

A prime example of this was the emergency landing of US

Airways flight 1549. When Janis Krums, photographed the

aircraft in the Hudson and uploaded it to twitter, the media

had not yet picked up the story. He continued to tweet whilst

helping with the rescue efforts. In an instant, he was

transformed from Florida-based businessman to both citizen

journalist and emergency aid worker (Murthy 2011:783).

Another case of first on the scene reportage by tweet includes

the Mumbai bombings, where seconds after the first blast, it

was reported on Twitter.

Twitter was brought into Irish domestic politics by

Senator Dan Boyle of the Green Party. Senator Boyle used

Twitter to vent his anger over the survival of the Minister of

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Defence Willie O’Dea, in a no confidence vote. Senator Boyle

tweeted “As regards to Minister O'Dea I don't have confidence

in him. Probably a few chapters in this story yet” (Boyle

2010). In his opinion Minister had been “compromised” and

that “O'Dea's action in swearing a false affidavit was

ethically, if not legally, wrong and the Minister should

resign” (RTE News 2010/17/02).

The comments ignited speculation over future developments

prompting national broadcaster RTÉ to state “Mr Boyle's

intervention is deliberate and its significance could grow

were there to be further revelations about the affidavit

affair” (2010/17/02). The ensuing time say the resignation of

the Minister of Defence Willie O’Dea and a spate of quid pro

quo attacks between the coalition partners before the collapse

of the government.

In a recent conversation I had with Dan Boyle I asked him

about his opinion of twitter. “I am a big fan of Twitter. I

like the immediacy and the ability to engage directly with

people”. Dan Boyle is known for his belief in freedom of

speech and regularly posts on both Twitter and Facebook

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encouraging debate. The only criticism he had of Twitter is

“the anonymous abuse”.

This anonymity is being tempered by a string of judicial

action against people who actively use twitter as a means of

disseminating hateful speech or promoting criminal activity.

Recent examples of this include the arrest of a 16 year old

Glaswegian boy for hateful and sectarian comments and the

possible prosecution of Loyalist Liz Bingham who made a

hateful tweet about the possibility of Catholics killed in the

Glasgow helicopter crash.

The post — which has now been removed by the 40-year-old — read: “were any taigs hurt in that helicopter crash?” She added: “PMSL (p***ing myself laughing) fs only askin.” (Devlin 2013)

Facebook

Social media has completely revolutionised the way in

which people interact. From humble beginnings in online

communities such as TheGlobe (Cotriss 2008) social networking

has exploded with the arrivals of MySpace, Bebo and Facebook.

The burgeoning social network market has seen almost every

person with web access using an online social networking

programme.

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According to a new eMarketer report, “Worldwide Social NetworkUsers: 2013 Forecast and Comparative Estimates,” nearly one infour people worldwide will use social networks in 2013. Thenumber of social network users around the world will rise from1.47 billion in 2012 to 1.73 billion this year, an 18%increase. By 2017, the global social network audience willtotal 2.55 billion. (eMarketer.com 2013)

Facebook has emerged as the dominant market leader in the

social networking arena with an incredible 1.19 billion

monthly active users as of September 30, 2013 (fb.com 2013).

With assets of $14,933 million recorder for the final quarter

of 2013 the social networking giant is undoubtedly in a

position of hegemony in the global public sphere.

Admittedly, Facebook is the biggest site for social networkingactivity but there are a number of others including some whichare sizeable but cater to a different demographic (Griffiths2012:519).

Facebook undoubtedly differs from other forms of social

media in that it has greater scope in terms of what the user

can actually do. Facebook essentially encapsulates the

functions of Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Blogging all in

one simple easy to use website. It can be used by businesses

and individuals to interest groups and celebrities with

various classifications for pages.

As a form of media, Facebook has been used by some in the

same way Twitter has. Facebook pages have an optional follow

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button, which allows non-friends to view the public posts of

the page moderator. Other pages such as those operated by

newspapers have a ‘like’ and “follow” only functions. By

liking the application the page updates are visible in a

user’s newsfeed. This provides the user with instant access

to news reports etc while also allowing the application access

to the user’s personal information which in turn can be

converted into revenue.

Revenue is made by segmenting its users into target

markets. This is achieved by analysing the information

provided by the user such as age, gender, marital status,

sexual orientation as well as political and religious beliefs.

Other forms of data mining are carried out via “likes” and

through applications and games such as Farmville and Candy

Crush Saga that can access a user’s basic information.

Addiction to Facebook has been hotly debated with people

such as Griffiths suggesting that the term “Facebook

Addiction” is obsolete. This he equates to the

multifunctional nature of Facebook as a catchall platform.

Facebook addiction as a term may already be obsoletebecause there are many activities that a person can

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engage in on the medium. Therefore, Facebook addiction isnot synonymous with social networking addiction—they aretwo fundamentally different things as Facebook has becomea specific website where many different online activitiescan take place (Griffiths 2012:519)

His opinion draws on the possibilities Facebook offers

its users in terms of function rather than websites that have

only one function. Griffiths goes on to suggest that users

are not addicted to Facebook but are however addicted to

rewards gained from social interaction with people in their

friendship network (Griffiths 2012:520).

The power Facebook wields over its users is astronomical,

not only as a form of social interaction but as a marketing

platform. Like most forms of social media it has a cult

following, the largest seen by any social network. Although

the minimum age threshold to become a member is 13, there are

no physical restrictions stopping anybody from establishing an

account making predatory activity easier and more potent.

Conclusion

Media is in a constant state of flux. When we consider the

advance made in the last 100 years and in particular the last

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10 years the possibilities for the future are vividly

imaginable. The internet has become one of the most dominant

conduits for news dissemination eclipsing TV and the printed

word. In the past magazines such as Life gave way to the power

of television, it now seems as though television is losing the

battle to the internet which such a wide variety of visual

stimuli to choose from online.

Online media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogging and

online newspapers all offer their own unique advantages and

disadvantages to their users. Unsurprisingly the

disadvantages are seriously eroded by the advantages as new

accounts are opened each day. These online blogging and

micro-blogging forums have given a voice to the ordinary

citizen, intensified revolutions, brought us closer to the

front lines in battles and disasters. Their sheer importance

in terms of informing the public is incalculable.

The next 5 years will undoubtedly witness the explosion

in growth of the social media site as well as the evolution of

the existing ones. As social media plays a more omnipotent

role in daily routines it is plausible to suggest that it is

going to become a fixed facet of public administration as well

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as private life. Though more stringent rules will undoubtedly

follow this expansion it is certain that the evolving nature

of its usage will always be a number of steps ahead of and

legislation designed to restrict its use.

It is difficult to imagine the shut down or restriction

of social media without causing the public to revolt at the

prospect of their liberty being eroded.

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Contemporary Media in the 21st Century

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