Does your case study suggest that new and digital media have had a positive impact by offering audiences a more diverse range of values and ideologies? (48 marks)
The case studies I have studied are news and the sport industry which I believe has had both a positive and negative impact on audiences by diversifying their values and ideologies. Audiences have been able to explore a variety of perspectives on particular news through the development of the internet which has allowed them to challenge their ideologies and the essay will look to depict how the impact has been positive and negative.
New and digital media has created citizen journalism which has its positives and negatives on audiences being able to expand their values and ideologies. Citizen journalism is when ordinary people capture an event, usually on electronic device - phone, and share it with others. This has been occurring frequently and is on the up-rise in today's society as more people are recording particular events which they then post onto social media for the world to see. This can be seen as a positive as the footage can be used as evidence or act as a source for audiences to challenge their dominant ideologies which large news corporations have constructed through the news they 'water down' to suit their values. For example, a positive example would be the black lives matter campaign which has given black people a voice through the combination of mobile phones and social media as people record an act of police brutality and post it on the internet for anyone to see. The footage can be utilised by audiences who's views and values are in support of the police as a whole and news institutions to challenge their views and question the objectives of news institutions. This is because the raw footage captured by a citizen acts a evidence for audiences to form new perspectives of the police and they would be more likely to understand the Black Live Matter campaign a little more. Therefore, the rise of NDM has allowed audiences to be less subjective when forming their opinions about police brutality and other soci-political issues because of the answers citizen journalism provides.
The development of new and digital media has increased the methods of distribution and consumption of news which can be seen as both a positive and a negative. A positive of the distribution channel increasing is that news institutions can meet the demand of their consumers as their news can be immediately published which meets Galtung and Ruge's theory of immediacy as news is being produced and published as its happening. This is because of the internet which has connected the world together for news institutions to communicate with audiences universally. An example of immediate news is in the sport industry where audiences can either watch a game live through a legal television channel or an illegal website and they can check minute updates of a live game allowing them to form new values about another league in another country which could be different to the dominant ideology in their country about that foreign league. Specifically, BT Sport has allowed audiences to watch a variety of leagues and sports which would allow them to expand their knowledge about the sports they enjoy to watch. Also, their presence on social media has allowed audiences to watch highlights of the game for free which means that audiences don't actually have to view the game on television which could have its long term disadvantages as revenues could fall. However, a negative of these institutions of putting these features online is that its free which would certainly affect them financially. For example, audiences are consuming news from these news institutions for free which means that journalists would be getting lower pay and the quality of journalism would decrease. This is why the news being produced now is less important because these institutions are more worried about producing news immediacy which reinforces Galtung and Ruge's theory of news values as the news being produced now is only to ensure they have many stories to tell. Therefore, there would be a significant loss in highly skilled journalists as they realise their news stories about the elections are less important than people in Newcastle being fined for feeding swans.
A Marxist would argue that the rise of new and digital media has not had a positive effect offering audiences a more diverse range of views as news institutions are still dominant and have ultimate control. For example, the General Election is constantly being reported by news corporations by journalists who are educated in the election and audiences still and mainly use them to gather truthful information about the votes. As a result it seems that large news corporations have control of its audiences only portraying one or a very little amount of perspectives of the groups in the election ;the Daily Mail would be more likely to producing content convincing their audience to vote right wing. However, a pluralist would argue that audiences have been give an opportunity to diversify their ideologies through the development of new and digital media. This is because social media has provided a variety of perspectives of the General Election where audiences can challenge their views in different ways. It could also educate audiences who don't have much knowledge on the election which could prompt them to do more research on other sources for different opinions eventually allowing them to conclude a more objective opinion. This links with globalisation as audiences can research more about political issues around the world because of the interconnectedness of the internet allowing them to form new opinions.
The development of new and digital media has increased the methods of distribution and consumption of news which can be seen as both a positive and a negative. A positive of the distribution channel increasing is that news institutions can meet the demand of their consumers as their news can be immediately published which meets Galtung and Ruge's theory of immediacy as news is being produced and published as its happening. This is because of the internet which has connected the world together for news institutions to communicate with audiences universally. An example of immediate news is in the sport industry where audiences can either watch a game live through a legal television channel or an illegal website and they can check minute updates of a live game allowing them to form new values about another league in another country which could be different to the dominant ideology in their country about that foreign league. Specifically, BT Sport has allowed audiences to watch a variety of leagues and sports which would allow them to expand their knowledge about the sports they enjoy to watch. Also, their presence on social media has allowed audiences to watch highlights of the game for free which means that audiences don't actually have to view the game on television which could have its long term disadvantages as revenues could fall. However, a negative of these institutions of putting these features online is that its free which would certainly affect them financially. For example, audiences are consuming news from these news institutions for free which means that journalists would be getting lower pay and the quality of journalism would decrease. This is why the news being produced now is less important because these institutions are more worried about producing news immediacy which reinforces Galtung and Ruge's theory of news values as the news being produced now is only to ensure they have many stories to tell. Therefore, there would be a significant loss in highly skilled journalists as they realise their news stories about the elections are less important than people in Newcastle being fined for feeding swans.
A Marxist would argue that the rise of new and digital media has not had a positive effect offering audiences a more diverse range of views as news institutions are still dominant and have ultimate control. For example, the General Election is constantly being reported by news corporations by journalists who are educated in the election and audiences still and mainly use them to gather truthful information about the votes. As a result it seems that large news corporations have control of its audiences only portraying one or a very little amount of perspectives of the groups in the election ;the Daily Mail would be more likely to producing content convincing their audience to vote right wing. However, a pluralist would argue that audiences have been give an opportunity to diversify their ideologies through the development of new and digital media. This is because social media has provided a variety of perspectives of the General Election where audiences can challenge their views in different ways. It could also educate audiences who don't have much knowledge on the election which could prompt them to do more research on other sources for different opinions eventually allowing them to conclude a more objective opinion. This links with globalisation as audiences can research more about political issues around the world because of the interconnectedness of the internet allowing them to form new opinions.
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