27/11/15 News Stories

Hackers can hijack Wi-Fi Hello Barbie to spy on your children

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/26/hackers-can-hijack-wi-fi-hello-barbie-to-spy-on-your-children



Mattel’s latest Wi-Fi enabled Barbie doll can easily be hacked to turn it into a surveillance device for spying on children and listening into conversations without the owner’s knowledge. The Hello Barbie doll is billed as the world’s first “interactive doll” capable of listening to a child and responding via voice, in a similar way to Apple’s Siri, Google’s Now and Microsoft’s Cortana. But US security researcher Matt Jakubowski discovered that when connected to Wi-Fi the doll was vulnerable to hacking, allowing him easy access to the doll’s system information, account information, stored audio files and direct access to the microphone.

Mail Online misses £80m revenue target

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/25/mail-online-misses-80m-revenue-target

Mail Online has missed its target of making £80m in revenue this year as annual digital advertising growth slowed by more than half and profits at the Mail’s combined print and digital operation rose by 12%. Mail Online reported £73m in revenues for the year to the end of September, reporting an annual underlying growth rate of 16%, down on the 41% reported in parent company Daily Mail & General Trust’s full year results last year. The performance of Mail Online helped reduce the overall decline across the Mail businesses to 4% or £572m in revenue. Annual profits across the Mail businesses grew by 12% year on year to £79m.

Marxism & Pluralism: essay

Developments in new/digital media mean that audiences can now have access to a greater variety of views and values. To what extent are audiences empowered by these developments?

Audiences are empowered by new and digital media due to the recent advancements of the internet and how it's had a massive impact to people’s daily lifes. With the internet it helps people with their views on society this links with pluralism which links with the ideology of the majority who are not the elite have all of the power to do what they want and are free to do as they please and people live in a classes society and that people society is created by the people who are in it. This empowers people because of the factor of the majority all believing in a brighter future fighting the presence of "The Man" being the big elitist group that is the big cooperation’s like the BBC, BSKYB and NewsCorp. This empowers people because "The internet is an empowering tool ... an exciting and revolutionary prospect". 

With Hegemony it's all about the idea of the elite having control over the general public with presenting their views and ideas and the general public accepting them as common sense with the big media cooperation’s brain washing the general public to make them believe whatever the news cooperation's personal agenda is. This is the ideology of hegemony with the elite brain washing and manipulating what they are thinking without the need of violence or over-powering pressure but with persuasive and manipulative techniques to make the reader or listen believe that they have free will but in reality they have none. And Marxist is very similar with its beliefs, their ideology is all about the idea of the middle class becoming the biggest group in all of the social classes which leads to the idea of "Rebellion is encapsulated in the internet" it's all about control from the elite and convincing the masses that they have free will with stops the ideology of empowerment because their belief in empowered is all a calculated risk from the elite playing with the middle class like puppets. With the internet it does pose an immediate threat but not a dominant one it still have time to be control by the industry with "Top 5% of all websites accounted for 75% of user volume","57% of 9-19 year old have come into contact with pornographic material online" and "38% of UK Pupils aged 9-19 never question the accuracy of online information". So even when the public have an escape from the over controlling media with the internet who really controlling it, it's just another set of Media Cooperation's.

I going to start this question with an example that showcases both sides of the theory. "HackGate" was a key example of how both media theories work at the same time. Firstly this situation happened when News of the World started hacking celebrities phones to get any information they can from their answering machines and as a result the general public didn't care how they got this information just that they got it in the first place. However this all changed when they hacked into a murder victims phone in 2010 and this completely changed the public opinion of News of the World (even if they have been doing this for years) and has lead to the News of the World being closed down. The reason why I say that this is includes both theories is that with Marxist the general public was accepting whatever the big news cooperation's have to say and send to them and as a result this leads to the general public not challenging the news companies and how they are getting this information. With pluralism people started to challenge News of the World the moment when they found out where they were getting that information from and this means that the people rallied against News of the World so both theories are at work during this news story. This shows how people are empowered and unempowered as well because they were controlled by the big media companies and enjoyed the status quo and until they found out how they got that info it led to people revolting against to the big media companies.

Another story comes from the Coronal Gaddafi and the story of his death and how pluralism has empowered the audiences too much and has an negative effect on the news. When Colonel Gaddafi died his dead body was preserved in a freezer room so that anyone can take a picture of a dead man. This led to the media taking a picture of the dead body and posting it into the news as well. No moral panic was sparked and that is a problem, pluralism has led to people having too much power and has corrupted news as the way we see it. It's become the case that audiences are too overpowered when Rupert Murdoch said that "Newspapers need to adapt to survive" the adaptation may lead to a new version of news that is unrecognisable. If there is no moral panic to a story that is graphic and might include someone who is universally hated but it's still a human being that doesn't deserve to be hang out in public like a puppet.

Another example of Pluralist views empowering people is Ferguson. This has lead to a global scandal with everyone now aware of police brutality from racist cops but this all started from social media and people recording the police treating black people as inferiors and not giving the same rights when arresting someone this became a worldwide story when Michael Brown was shot dead by a police officer which was a tragedy however the truly bad thing was when people who thought that the police officer did the right thing started a crowd funder which got up to $500,000 for that  officer and then he got another $500,000 for an exclusive interview as well so that man became a millionaire for murdering an innocent man and the police tried to cover this up by showcasing him shoplifting to cover up the mess up. This started a uprising on social media with more and more people recording people who are getting arrested so that we can see if the police are following the rules set themselves and the hastag #BlackLivesMatter has started and has trended around the world on twitter so that highlight how people have been empowered by this new tech age through Pluralist views as well.

However I believe that Marxist and the ideology of the people having less power than they think they do. A key example of this is the 2015 election for Pride Minister in the UK. People on social media dominantly twitter were all talking about the election and who you voted for and on one hand you can say that younger people had a greater influence in the election than ever before and more and more young people were actually interested in politics which was unheard of before this election and what was the end result. Rupert Murdoch corruption holding a firm grip on the election with no party ever winning an election without Rupert Murdoch's support which is such a bad thing because it cancels out all the good that social media is having it's basically a group of people shouting about who they want but it all leading to the rich elite telling the poor what to do which links back to my previous point of Marxist and the ideology of the people having less power than they think they do because of the fact that the true influential people are still using more traditional media like newspapers and TV and as a result sure you can go on social media and talk about how Labour is amazing about who is really listening to your point but when the newspaper is talking about who you should vote for you automatically listen because they are experts and we are just the general public.

In conclusion I don't believe that there is a clear winner in this argument. Both sides show two sides and there is even a story that has both theories working together as well as both theories working at the same time so it's impossible to talk about how people are empowered because it depends on the story if the people are empowered or not.

  

20/11/15 News Stories

BBC sport and online news to be cut as Red Button services face axe

Spending on athletics and minority sports is to be cut by the BBC, with its Red Button services also facing the axe, as the corporation aims to save £150m a year before its final round of budget negotiations with the government. A “significant chunk” of the savings to be announced on Wednesday morning, amounting to £35m, is expected to come out of sports rights, according to sources. BBC insiders said the corporation still hoped to bid to show the Olympics in the UK. More than 90% of the UK’s population watched at least some of the BBC’s coverage of the 2012 London Olympics.

Like a good Marxist, Corbyn is securing his revolution from within

That is not in itself a bad thing. You can learn as much about successful leadership from those characters as you can from reading Robert Caro, LBJ’s biographer. But it explains why – for all the indifference that Corbyn and co appear to be showing to the need to persuade the public to vote for them in five years’ time – they are operating with relentless and at times brutal efficiency in their efforts to seize control of the Labour party’s internal machinery. Why? Because, as any good Marxist knows, you must secure your revolution against the enemies within – including the temptation to dilute the purity of your principles and policies – before there is any chance of taking on your enemies without.

Marxism & Pluralism: To what extent...?

Developments in new/digital media mean that audiences can now have access to a greater variety of views and values. To what extent are audiences empowered by these developments?

Audiences are empowered by new and digital media due to the recent advancements of the internet and how it's had a massive impact to people’s daily lifes. With the internet it helps people with their views on society this links with pluralism which links with the ideology of the majority who are not the elite have all of the power to do what they want and are free to do as they please and people live in a classes society and that people society is created by the people who are in it. This empowers people because of the factor of the majority all believing in a brighter future fighting the presence of "The Man" being the big elitist group that is the big cooperation’s like the BBC, BSKYB and NewsCorp. This empowers people because "The internet is an empowering tool ... an exciting and revolutionary prospect". 

With Hegemony it's all about the idea of the elite having control over the general public with presenting their views and ideas and the general public accepting them as common sense with the big media cooperation’s brain washing the general public to make them believe whatever the news cooperation's personal agenda is. This is the ideology of hegemony with the elite brain washing and manipulating what they are thinking without the need of violence or over-powering pressure but with persuasive and manipulative techniques to make the reader or listen believe that they have free will but in reality they have none. And Marxist is very similar with its beliefs, their ideology is all about the idea of the middle class becoming the biggest group in all of the social classes which leads to the idea of "Rebellion is encapsulated in the internet" it's all about control from the elite and convincing the masses that they have free will with stops the ideology of empowerment because their belief in empowered is all a calculated risk from the elite playing with the middle class like puppets. With the internet it does pose an immediate threat but not a dominant one it still have time to be control by the industry with "Top 5% of all websites accounted for 75% of user volume","57% of 9-19 year old have come into contact with pornographic material online" and "38% of UK Pupils aged 9-19 never question the accuracy of online information". So even when the public have an escape from the over controlling media with the internet who really controlling it, it's just another set of Media Cooperation's 

13/11/15 News Stories

Rise in UK web users blocking ads, research finds

Ad blocking is on the rise in the UK, with 18% web users saying they use the software, up from 15% just five months ago. The increase, captured in research by the Internet Advertising Bureau, is equivalent to more than 1.3 million people adopting the technology since June. Though the rise is modest, it suggests dissatisfaction with ads is growing, especially among the young, with 35% of 18- to 24-year-olds saying they blocked ads, compared to just 15% of over 55s.

This highlights the future problems that newspaper companies are going to have when it comes to income for their websites. More and more people are adopting ad blocker as a key essential to Google Chrome which is the most popular browser in the world and ad blocker has over 40 million users that use it right now so it's almost impossible for newspaper companies to make money.

           Shocking' inequality levels in Britain must be addressed, says John Major

Former Conservative prime minister Sir John Major has criticised the “shocking” impact of inequality in Britain and said more needed to be done to urgently tackle the gap between the rich and the poor. “Everyone in receipt of benefits is not a scrounger. Of course idlers and scroungers exist – and governments are entirely right to root out the cheats who rip off the taxpayer. But the focus must not be only on those who abuse the system; we need equal concentration on those who are failed by the system.”

The problem that politics have is perpendicular to what the BBC are going through right now. With the majority of people that work for the BBC are from private school and are white. BBC are now being called out for not showing balance when it comes to other racial groups and hiring people that are not private schooled.

11/09/15 News Stories

BBC Three to go online



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26447089

BBC trust approved plans to scrap the BBC3 TV channel and make it online-only. The move will save £30m. the trust rejected another proposal to launch a new BBC1+1 channel in place of BBC 3 because of its likely impact on commercial rivals including ITV and Channel 5. On average, 11.2 million people watch BBC3 every week, with fewer than 1 million of that total not watching any other TV service. Ofcom’s market impact assessment concluded that a BBC1+1 channel would have a negative impact on commercial rivals. Some of the £30m BBC3 budget will be redirected towards drama on BBC1, which currently has a budget of about £1bn. Under its original plans, BBC3 TV would have been switched off this autumn; this has been extended until January 2016, the last year of the current BBC charter.

BBC cutting jobs

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-329819/All-change-BBC-2-900-jobs-cut.html

Hundreds of jobs are expected to be axed by the BBC. A drop in the number of people paying the licence fee has hit BBC funding harder than previously expected and that the broadcaster must take radical action. The BBC need to find another £150m which ultimately makes decisions harder. They are trying to reduce everything to a bare minimum. The deficit has emerged because increasing numbers of people have become aware of a loophole that allows people not to pay the licence fee if they only watch catch-up television.

06/11/15 News Stories

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/04/facebook-one-billion-users



Facebook now averages 1.1 billion users a day, according quarterly results announced on Wednesday, which also revealed the company made more money on mobile advertising alone than the whole business took in during the same period last year.

The mobile ad world is growing by leaps and bounds – so quickly, in fact, that analytics firm eMarketer predicts that Facebook’s global market share will actually shrink from 38.4% to 33.7% even as its revenues increase dramatically.

This highlights the dominance that NDM is having on the world right now, it's now become normal to having a facebook page in today's society and how Facebook will always be the most popular social media site in the world with it appealing to multiple demogprahics and social media being a key part in peoples lifes.


http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/06/video-games-give-you-unique-experience

Playing video games doesn’t make you a better person. But that’s not the point http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/06/video-games-give-you-unique-experience  

Video Games have been in debate since it's mainstream existance with the Atari 2600 and mainly the older generation consistnetly say how it's a waste of time and Video Games should be banned but I disagree partly, Video Gaming is an expensive habit and as a result I don't believe in people paying for video games that they can't afford however video games is a brilliant way for people to express themselves without doing it in real life I believe it's the opposite effect that the older generation have when it comes to games when they say people replicate what they see in video games, the point of playing video games is to do things that you couldn't possibly do in real life.

NDM: News values

Immediacy: NDM has made it quicker and easier to send the latest news stories via social media. By having NDM allows news to be more seamless and offers a wider variety of news stories and can also provide a new perspective to ongoing stories as well.

Familiarity: NDM hasn't had a serious effect on familiarity due to it relating to how the story relates to a country and the only thing that I can suggest is that it may have effected the amount of local stories out there in the UK due to the rise of citizen journalism.

Amplitude: NDM has allowed different news stories to get main stream attention and it's also assisted in making certain news stories more popular due to twitter which is biggest news site in the world.

Frequency: With NDM they can collect data on what stories they believe is popular and run with him leading to news companies posting news stories on what sells instead of what is most relevant.

Unambiguity: NDM has help a lot when it comes to unambiguity because NDM has allowed citizen journalism to rise in the news industry and citizen journalism has provided recently the latest footage when it comes to anything news worthy. The best example of this is the London Riots when a majority of footage was film first hand by citizens.

Predictability: This has had a serious effect on audiences. This is because of the effect of NDM with the amount of news that has become available for audiences to read. With Twitter their has been an increase in the horror stories I believe that audiences don't care about as much for horror stories anymore due to the amount of it they are reading. Which links with surprise because certain stories lose their strength due to amount of times it's reported for example plane crashes used to be headline news but now it's the run in the normal maybe a place on page 6.

Continuity: NDM has had a great effect on continuity because with ongoing stories because of citizen journalism it will have a positive effect on stories because they will provide evidence that can help stories as well as provide a unique perfective to a story as well.

Elite nations and people: NDM has had a massive effect on the elite people because with websites like Twitter, TMZ and Paris Hilton their are more and more websites that are trying to take the elite down a peg.

Negativity: Bad news hasn't changed Bad news is bad news it will always be news worthy even if with NDM their is an increase in the amount of it but it's still valuable depending on the country.