In recent years, new and digital media has grown rapidly year after year. New technology and the internet has made us, as the audience more powerful in terms of consumption and production. New and digital media such as social media has allowed for us to be more connected but it does have its affects, it has deeply affected newspapers as we have now become reporters and journalists ourselves. This essay will discuss how production and consumption has been affected by new and digital media.
Firstly, Pluralists argue that we live in a classless society and that media organisations are responsive to an audience and are economically determined. They believe that there is a market in the media, and without the audience organisations wouldn't be able to run or survive. They believe that we make good media. Pluralists would believe that we are now more powerful in terms of consumption and production. We have many new platforms to express our opinions on and now have the ability to widen our views due to the vast amount of content online. The development of new and digital media has allowed us to engage with media texts and have also given us the ability to challenge and manipulate the media. Audiences can now conform, accommodate or reject media oppressed by the elite. This proves that we are more powerful than before when it comes down to how we consume and produce media, we can challenge and argue with the elite media and how they can manipulate the masses. Pluralists challenge the hypodermic needle theory. One example would be with the devastating terrorist attacks in Paris. The media have always linked the word terrorists with the religion of islam. If it wasn't for the negative ideologies that the media portray on muslims, there wouldn't be such a thing as Islamophobia. In the recent attacks, media outlets tried to convince mass audiences that muslims believe in killing the innocent, but they're wrong. Now, audiences challenge this view that media outlets inject into us. There was a social outburst online with protests that every religion doesn't believe in killing the innocent and that islams are not to blame. Audiences can now choose what to believe as reality can hit them much harder as new and digital media "has allowed for us to be connected together" Bill Thompson - Technology Expert Also, Rupert Murdoch has once said that "The internet has given readers much more power... The world is changing and newspapers have to adapt."
Secondly, a Marxist doesn't believe in a Pluralists view and that this "Information Revolution" hasn't given any audiences power at all. This is because they believe that the media are the elite and that the mass media are a tool used by ruling bodies to maintain hegemonic control over the masses and a divided class society. Marxist believe that the ruling class can control what we find "normal" and whats okay in society. Lin & Webster claim that "57% of 9 - 19 year olds never question the accuracy of online information." This shows how the youth will believe any information they may read online through media organisations. Google is now the end to a debate for the youth. Marxists also believe that "Web pages and blogs are like a million monkeys typing nonsense" - Andrew Keen This links to how the Jan Moir from Mail Online's tabloid print edition wrote a homophobic article on the death of Stephen Gately in 2009. This received a social protest online on Twitter and Facebook but the Mail Online didn't make any editorial decisions, they kept their views intact and didn't change the way gate keeping was taking place within the newspaper.
Also, the newspaper industry has had a big decline in the recent years, because of the rise of new and digital media. One of the biggest cases is that traditional, print news papers have been falling in terms of making its revenue as "by the end of next year mobile advertising will account for half of the £8.94bn that will be spent on digital marketing in the UK." This shows how companies and organisations are spending a lot more money on digital marketing compared to traditional print papers. This is because of new technology shifting audiences to reading news on line compared to paper. One of the reasons why news industries don't make as much revenue is because of the mistake they made during the prime time growing years of the internet. They believed that by posting their news online for free will make people buy the paper as well. This obviously didn't work out as everyone read news online but didn't even bother reading newspapers, why would they pay if it was free online?
As Pluralists believe that we can challenge the media and form our own views, new and digital media has allowed for us to become more powerful in terms or producing media. Now, we can become a reporter, journalist or even a news crew... all from one device. Citizen journalism has become so important and vital for how genuine a news story can be. Due to the rise of social media and technology almost everyone carries a fully functional video camera in their pocket due to smartphones. They can also instantly share these videos to millions of people with a click of a button. One key example of this would be with the amount of police shootings and brutality exposed in america. This has been a on going racial subject for years. But now, witnesses are able to expose corrupt police officers due to new and digital media. The death of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and many more have been recorded by witnesses, shared online and was able to create very large protests in the USA. It allowed audiences to conform and question the us government and also reject news institutions such as CNN as they tend to be with the police in this horrific cases. "Rebellion is encapsulated in the internet" - Keen.
Overall, the media has always been able to manipulate the mass audience for years, what ever the elite media groups produce for us, we will tend to believe and become brainwashed to what they say. The media is what will always keep us informed and entertained. Its the first tool we go to in order for us to find out whats going on in the world, but its the way in which these stories are written and who they're written by which can change the way we think and feel. Marxists have a solid view on the media and how the elite can control us, in a way i feel that they are correct and are able to brainwash the mass audience with what they believe. Although now, new and digital media is allowing us to become more and more against the elite. We can challenge these views like never before and we can even create our own news. Making us much more powerful. We also have a wider variety of news and can believe in what we want to see and consume. Now, organisations such as Vice produce realistic and hardcore news. Its almost like citizen journalism.They're news footage is simply cameras on the scene of an event showcasing whats going on. No commentaries, no interviews, no editing, just footage. Making us feel like we are there. New and digital media has allowed for this as we can upload what we wish. Before the outburst of new and digital media it would be unacceptable for institutions to publish simple camera footage of an event. Now, its necessary for us to believe in whats going on.
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