Christian Dior mascara ad banned for airbrushing Natalie Portman eyelashes

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/oct/24/dior-mascara-natalie-portman-ad-ban

What is it about?

Watchdog found out that the mascara that Natalie Portman was modelling was airbrush and therefore was banned. 

My Thoughts:

Im happy it got banned because nowadays its all about making money even if it means lying to get it. They were selling women dreams and I dont think it's fair on them

NEWSPAPERS: The effect of online technology

NEWSPAPERS: IN DECLINE

• Newspaper institutions are in competition with one another to ensure they have enough people consuming their products
• It is becoming increasingly difficult for paper-based news forms to compete with the rise in e-media news services.
• They make advertising their main source of money
• Falling circulations mean less money through the till and newspapers’ other main source of income, advertising, is also drying up. 
• In the struggle to stay profitable, newspaper companies are cutting staff, closing offices and, in the case of local papers, getting rid of titles

WHY IS THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY IN CRISIS?

• Internet has changed newspapers
• As the internet increases its dominance on the media landscape
• Readers’ attention and loyalties have become divided as papers compete with round the clock reporting and unmediated content
• According to Sull, there are five reasons why the newspaper industry is in a deeper crisis than it should be:
• Ignoring Signs of Change: Since the early 1980’s, institutions have been able to access real time news through networks.
• Dismissing unconventional competitors: Newspapers ignored a steady stream of innovations that they might have imitated to enhance their own business model
• Experimenting too narrowly: Some newspapers did spot the rise of digital technology early and experiment with alternatives.
• Giving up on promising experiments too quickly: Promising business models take time to become successful in many cases and the process entails many setbacks.
• Embarking on a ‘crash course’: Many institutions felt they were not embracing technology quickly enough and pushed for mergers which did not work.
• With so many free news sites to choose from, audiences are not prepared to pay money to read newspapers online.

Should News be Free?

• James Murdoch of NewsCorp has been critical of free news provision online,
• its “expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision,” 
• that news on the web provided by the BBC made it “incredibly difficult” for private news organisations to ask people to pay for their news.
• News Corporation has said it will start changing online customers for news content across all its websites in a bid to recoup and generate money from subscription, but this does not automatically mean that people will pay.

News Online – The Democratisation of News?

• News providers are finding themselves in a complex position in relationship to online technology but it is the changing lifestyles of audiences that pose the biggest problem for papers.

Audience Power

• In some ways audiences are more active in the way they consume news.
• The audience here uncovered links and applied steady pressure by writing about the company and soon the information was made available. 

World Star Hip-hop: making a bankable brand out of brutality

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/18/worldstarhiphop-bankable-brand-brutality

What is it about:
A bus driver uppercut a woman and it reached a famous site called "World Star Hip Hop". It continues to say how powerful "world star hip hop" is and how far it viral the internet. People weren't trying to stop the fight yet, they were videoing so they could get there video on World Star Hip Hop.

My views:
The video is hilarious!!!! I actually started crying. But this is a prime example of "citizen journalism" where people take videos and upload them. But they gave it to WSHH because it's the one place where the video will definitely be showed to everyone. WSHH has been described as "The CNN of the Ghetto". Even though the man didnt need to go to such extremes, I still found it funny.

The video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M6iAxFyAOQ&safe=active
  

Homework: Essay

WWW: An excellent command of examples, Mica, and impressive application of quotes/theories to back up your points

EBI: Lacks reference to the case study study we've started (news): Write a paragraph covering citizen journalism/ pluralism with precise examples

The internet has created a user generated content (UGC) which means that the audience can become producers and they can become anything on the internet. People can become "citizen journalists" which means a normal person to society who has captured footage that is newsworthy. So this can be an easy way to share anything exciting on social sites especially on YouTube where it is solely videos. An example of a citizen journalist is "My Tram Experience", where a woman was being racist on a tram and someone captured it on their mobile phone. This eventually made the news and the woman had got arrested for her immoral behaviour on public transport. However, this gave a chance for people to start uploading videos addressing this issue, which is known as vlogs which expresses their feelings.

Rise of UGC Q&A

What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
A normal person to society who has captured footage that is newsworthy.

What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
Rodney King

List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
Blogs, Comment box, polls, Q&A, chat rooms and social media such as twitter

What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
Professional shot footage is usually edited afterwards not showing the audience the reality of what was shot. UCG footage is what is taken at first hand with no editing meaning it is not heavily mediated, it brings realness to a story.

What is a gatekeeper?
Someone who has the ability to choose what is being broadcasted in the media

How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
No, gatekeepers still have to decide whether what is being provided by a citizen journalist is acceptable to be shown in the media

What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
That their jobs will be at risk, with the constant rise of UGC it shows a world without it being unmediated, which by far a lot more people prefer.

Rodney King

Asian Tsunami

Mumbai Bombings

Virginia Tech Shooting

Hudson Plane crash

Angry Birds games have 200m monthly active players

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2012/oct/10/angry-birds-200m-monthly-users

What is is about?
Angry Birds has been downloaded 1bn times and Andrew Stalbo, owner of Rovio says "'In any given day, we have 20-30m people playing our games connected". Angry Birds will be having a Angry Birds Star Wars to appeal to the Star Wars fans and because they are star wars fans themselves. Also, having a short series Angry Birds Toons. They have released Bad Piggies which reached the top of the downloads in hours of it being released.

My thoughts?
I think that it's a good thing that they want to expand and create more franchise for their popular game "angry birds". However making a series is a little extra, but it's a good way to make money. I've played this game a handful amount of times, I found it kind of addictive but I got over it. Having 20-30million people download it on any given day is pretty impressive also.

Twitter and Facebook to be used for benefit applications

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/oct/04/twitter-facebook-benefits

What is it about?
Basically, the government want to use social networking sites to prove their identity online and tpo access public services. However, this is not compulsory.

My thoughts.
This was to be expected as everything is done on line nowadays. However, I think the government are taking it too far... social media doesnt have to be involved in everything it's already been used to help with the news, but now it especially does not have to be involved with something like this. On the other hand, it could be a quicker way to get info but soon enough the government is going to start penalising people that are not apart of a networking site.  

No point really.

The Virtual Revolution

Tim Berners-Lee is the creator of the Internet, Englishman.

"2 billion of us are online" 

The internet is blamed for creating web addicts

Internet is a current way for the human kind to communicate

The internet was described as a massive brain

The people who have internet are described as "digital haves" and the people that don’t have internet are described as "digital have not". There is a divide between the two which is called: Digital divide. 

Al Gore refers to the internet as "an empowering tool"

A quarter of the world uses the web.

5 million using the web, to go on relationship sites a month.

40% British men watch porn

West London use blogging the most = 18 million 

The internet is a comparison to the industrial revolution which shows the importance to the internet.

35 million are online every day in the UK

£1 billion is spent every day spent on ecommerce

“The internet is a great leveller”

Jimmy Wales created Wiki

More than 65 million people use wiki

Wiki uncut (challenges) authority and its free which equals “people power”

Author/edit content even for ordinary people

The Well is the foundation of every social website

It was made in San Francisco

Founded by Steven Well

John Barlow believes in self-expression and it shouldn’t have any limits. He refers to the internet or The Well to not having any limits.

Emailing was born in 1965 but wasn’t in use until 6^th August 1991

Internet is grounded in Libertarianism or counter-culturalism.

Self-expression is now blogging, so self-expression still exists.

Al Gore also described the internet as “exciting and revolutionary” as its the power of the crowd.

He calls the internet “the paradigm shift” like the printing press which could refer to a new democracy?

The internet was given away for free by Tim Berners-Lee

1975 – Bill Gates worked for a company in Mexico called Mits. They were rocket enthusiastics

Bill Gates saw this as an opportunity for business

Microsoft ended with 90% of the computer

Fanning created Napster in 1999

This is when people realised the darkside of the internet with downloads etc

2002 Napster was shut down

Internet is to share with everyone

Hurley – CEO and Founder of YouTube: 2005 was the first video.

YouTube is user generated 1 billion a day

There is a lot of competition:

Google - 38 million times a day

1 in 3 people use Facebook

eBay - 21 million visits

Amazon – 16 million

“Is the internet unequal because it mirrors the hierarchy in our world?”

Positive about the internet:

Democratization = gives people a voice

Empowerment = gives everyone power creative freedom

Creative, freedom, innovation, UGC, open access

VS

The negatives about the internet:

Control: by the new elites and hierarchies eg: Wiki

New gate keepers: controls what goes out on the internet

Colonization: been taken over by big businesses, piracy and legislation

X factor is an event tv. However its no longer an event or a water cooler tv

TV has stopped being so immersive