Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
Philip Anthony Jones
13203818
AMST40390
Contemporary Media in the 21st Century
Word Count
3,591
1
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
2
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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.
4
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
5
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
6
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
7
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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,
8
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
9
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
“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),
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 (#).
10
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
11
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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)
12
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
13
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
14
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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)
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.
15
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
16
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
17
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
18
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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
19
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
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.
Bibliography
Boyle, Dan. " As Regards to Minister O'Dea I Don't Have Confidence in Him. Probably a Few Chapters in This Story Yet." www.twitter.com (2010). Web 17/12/2013.
Ben-Ari, Elia. "Twitter: What's All the Chirping About." BioScience 59.7 (2009): 632-32. Print.
Carlebach, Michael. The Origins of Photojournalism in America. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, (1992). Print.
Cotriss, David. "Where Are the Now: Theglobe.Com." The Industry Standard. 2008. Web. 11/12 2013.
Devlin, Patricia "Glasgow Pub Tragedy 'Catholics' Tweet Woman May Face Charges." Belfast Telegraph 16/12 2013. Print.
de Bakker, Frank G. A., and Iina Hellsten. "Capturing Online Presence: Hyperlinks and Semantic Networks in Activist
20
Philip Anthony Jones AMST40390 13203818
Group Websites on Corporate Social Responsibility." Journalof Business Ethics 118.4 (2013): 807-23. Print.
Drezner, Daniel W., and Henry Farrell. "Blogs, Politics and Power: A Special Issue of Public Choice: Introduction." Public Choice 134.1-2 (2008): 1-13. Print.
eMarketer. "By 2014, the Ranking of Regions by Social Network Users Will Reflect Regional Shares of the Global Population." 2013. Web. 11/12 2013.
Facebook. "Company Information - Statistics " Facebook 2013. Web. 11/12 2013.
Griffiths, Mark D. "Facebook Addiction: Concerns, Criticism, and Recommendations--a Response to Andreassen and Colleagues." Psychological Reports 110.2 (2012): 518-20. Print.
Klinenberg, Eric. "Convergence: News Production in a Digital Age." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 597 (2005): 48-64. Print.
Laverne, Lauren. "Twitter Feeds You Need: Top Tweeters Reveal Their Three Favourite Follows." The Observer Magazine 06/05/2012 2012. Print.
Lee, Kiljae, Won-Yong Oh, and Namhyeok Kim. "Social Media for Socially Responsible Firms: Analysis of Fortune 500’s Twitter Profiles and Their Csr/Csir Ratings." Journal of Business Ethics 118.4 (2013): 791-806. Print.
Leibold, James. "Blogging Alone: China, the Internet, and the Democratic Illusion?" The Journal of Asian Studies 70.4 (2011): 1023-41. Print.
Murthy, Dhiraj. "Twitter: Microphone for the Masses?" Media, Culture and Society 33.5 (2011): 779-89. Print.
NEWS, RTE. "Boyle Believes O'Dea Is 'Compromised'." RTE NEWS 2010. Web. 14/12 2013.
21
Top Related