New and digital media has a positive impact by offering
audiences a more diverse range of values and ideologies. Wherein traditional
media leans to have a more limited range of values and ideologies which have
arguably used to retain the status quo within society.
New and digital media fulfils a pluralist ideology. Where
traditional media such as newspapers fulfil a more Marxist ideology. Murdoch
controlled almost a fifth of UK news consumption in 2010 and in 2013 News Corp
Australia titles accounted for 59% (17million) newspaper sales. Here it is
obvious that Murdoch in particular is a perfect example of how a minority of
producers serve a majority of consumers (Pareto’s law). It is particularly easy
for him to ‘inject his views’ into the audience because of how much control he
has globally. His papers tend to follow his suggested political affiliation.
During Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime minister the papers tended to support
her. He then switched to support Tony Blair where they were both criticized for
their closeness and secret meetings. A Marxist would definitely see the
relationship and support for the PMs as something that benefits the most
powerful and keeps them at the top (hegemony) as the influence could easily
retain the status quo. The passive audience would not even consider how the
closeness between Murdoch and Blair can be reflected in the newspapers and the
ideologies that may have been potentially struggling to get across to
politicians could be pushed by the news. This is still reflecting today as most
recently, the online consensus for Brexit was against, the echo chambers
created really impacted consumers as it was a shock to find that more people
voted for Brexit. Reports are now stating that even though new and digital media
were against Brexit. The newspapers were overwhelmingly pro. The digital divide
in the UK particularly between the elderly and the youth shows how influential
newspapers still are as the audience who still read newspapers, voted for the
side which was covered by the content they were consuming. This draws emphasis
to the influence traditional media has to a suggested passive audience.
Contrastingly, Social media, in particular, highlights how
an audience can be more active. During the Brexit vote audiences actively engaged
with the content that was being shown to them. The content being shown,
although dependant on whether people are stuck in a filter bubble, could have
come from a variety of sources and from people with various views. The alternative
ideologies and readings would not be possible in newspapers due to the
strenuous amount of gatekeeping and if Murdoch had a similar relationship with any
party similar to the relationship with Blair, the alternative readings would
not have seen out of fear of potentially offending advertisers. The fact that advertisements
have rapidly fallen means that to offend one and have the pull ads could be
detrimental to the company so the news institution would have to make sure they
appeal to them. This would not be ignored by the active audience, the ‘call-out’
nature, particularly on social media could mean that the backlash could be even
more damaging. This then shows a more positive impact and a more diverse range
of views that an audience is able to challenge and debate suggesting that we
are in fact a more democratic society who not is able to debate important
issues without being harshly regulated.
Social media offers the news value (Galtung and Ruge) of
immediacy a lot better than traditional media. The instant something happens,
for example a shooting at an LA university or the Westminster attacks, people
film and become citizen journalists when telling people online about it. One it
trends and enough content has been shared confirming the events reliability and
accuracy there is then an influx of comments, ideas and opinions. With the
availability of 24hour news reals it could be suggested that immediacy isn’t
that big of an issue because Institutions can just regurgitate what is being
said online and also use the user generated content to construct a narrative
for the audience. However, News institutions have to follow a set of rules and
regulations. They have to make sure the information that they receive is 100%
accurate and any video or photographic content has to be checked for and
graphic images and then also censored for use on television. This automatically
shows how the user generated content is unmediated and how there are fewer
gatekeepers checking the content to make sure it adheres to any rules. In
saying this the lack of regulation has been said to desensitize the youth,
graphic images are being shared and watched on a daily basis. This has also
been abused by the likes of ISIS where their content has been radicalising the
youth and encouraging them to go over and side with them. There is also a valid
argument that the graphic content is completely disrespectful to victims and
their families, it is. So it also provides the argument as to whether users of social
media have ‘lost their humanity’. However, with regards to footage from the
Westminster attack and the murders on Facebook live, after the initial shock
and reaction, social media users were encouraging people to stop sharing the videos
out of respect for the victims. Although they are desensitised the content is
not something so normal that people don’t mind constantly seeing it on their
page or timeline. Although there isn’t the same reaction to graphic images that
latter response is still the same disgust.
Conversely, all types of media have fallen victim to
Americanisation therefore they are not receiving a range of views. They are receiving
the US ideologies. Americanisation is a by-product of globalisation and we are
seeing eastern values being diminished and replaced by western ones. Rather
than American news just being something documented within the country itself we
are seeing an abundance of US centric news stories. From shootings to riots, typically
these would not be reported anywhere apart from the appropriate areas however
it could be said that the news value (Galtung and Ruge) of the Elite has been
exacerbated to such an extent where events in the elite countries are what
dominate news across the globe. This shows a much narrower range of values.
To conclude, new and digital media has definitely resulted
in the ability for audiences to be exposed to a larger range of values and
ideologies. However it has also increased the growth of Globalisation and more
importantly Americanisation where traditional media in particular is dominated
by US views and ideologies showing that a larger range of ideals is mainly only
available on platforms that enable audience to interact and engage with the
content.
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