New and Digital Media News Post

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/dec/15/fact-and-fiction-trust-and-internet

I was sitting at a table last summer being patronised, lovingly. My friends were explaining, fact by splash of cold-water fact, how a recent TV special by a renowned celebrity hypnotist was performed by actors, and was not, in fact, magic at all. "But," I stuttered, as their mouths moued. "Then there's no point." Television itself is an illusion. To add yet more trickery – "real people" played by actors, things that say they're live but were filmed last March – defeats the purpose, wringing it of all entertainment. I went on a bit. If it's all showmanship, those men with their minds on, then it's nothing. It's air.

I was thinking about this again this week when a mean story that went viral – a man live-tweeting his interactions with a woman on the plane – was revealed to be fake. At the same time a Twitter conversation between a comedian and an American salsa brand – which appeared to result in employees being fired and had shot, sneeze-like across theinternet – was confirmed as a hoax.

I'd clicked on a Twitter link, read the BuzzFeed aggregations of screenshots, and I felt something twitch where outrage sometimes lives. A recognition that this could get annoying if repeated – a story written by a reality TV producer then reported as fact by an international media company (BuzzFeed's post got almost 1.5m views) and shared frantically by those who think it's real. Because if it hadn't been real – if, unlike the alleged non-magic of the alleged non-magician, it had advertised itself as fiction – nobody would have clicked even once. It would have fallen off the bottom of the internet within a day.

Which is not to say there's not a place in our lives for these tales. We love a good story. Endings that make you cry, twists. And the internet is where we gather to hear them today, cross-legged, with our milk. But the framing of the story is important. The point of the story is important. It's either told for the joy of telling a tale, or it's told to promote something for sale – listening to both can be a pleasure, as long as we know. As long as we know. When the truth is later revealed, it feels vaguely… evil.

It's harmless, of course – nobody was hurt, nobody will be hurt – but it does affect how we will engage online in the future. We will trust less, and enjoy less, and our lives will become fractionally worse. But the issue lies not with the storyteller – it lies with the sites that share it.

BuzzFeed is a lot of things. It's a gallery of grinning dogs. It's a thousand comedy lists about the 90s. It's a scrolling advert, a comic sports site, a politics blog, a moving newspaper, and its ad revenues this year are estimated to be $40m. As it stretches across our consciousness like clingfilm, its responsibilities are being called into question more and more. As a news organisation, profiting from the stories it shares, shouldn't it be verifying them before it publishes?

And if this continues to happen – if it repeatedly reports on fictions as if they're fact – then won't it start to lose us, its fast-clicking readers? We don't expect every story posted by a stranger on Twitter to be true, but we do expect every story reported on by a huge media organisation to be, because that's what they're for. The point of them is to filter through the daily mess of culture and to repackage it for us in witty, bite-sized, trustworthy chunks. The more they mess up, the less we'll return.

The thing is, I don't think magic is real. I don't. My dad was briefly a magician called the Great Malcomo, and I saw the safety blade on his guillotine. There are parameters to an illusion; you know where the sides are. When they fall away, it's not a magic show at all. It's just a man in a cape showing you his rabbit.

Summary:

This article from the Guardian talks about how the internet rumours spread easily. People reading a news post can instantly spread it to different social networking sites/apps and therefore spread even further.

People believe a lot of what they read on social networking without any doubt. They think if it's posted online it has to be true. An example of this is how people though celebrities such as the Rock, Jackie Chan and others were dead and this lead to trends on twitter. In addition to this, this article also includes journalists with the incident from the guardian - posting false information copied and pasted from else where.

Live tweeting incident with a man a woman on a plane was posted on twitter and got the user thousands of followers however it turned out to be a hoax and fooled many people. This affects internet users because they're in this state of mind where they think the internet is a safe and reliable source when it isn't always that case. 

Statistics:

BuzzFeed's post got almost 1.5m views

New and Digital Media Pareto's Law

1) What is Pareto's Law? Sum it up in a paragraph.
Pareto's Law (Lin Webster) suggests that 80/20 is rule that a minority of producers serve a majority of consumers, a large percentage is produced by a small percentage of producers. This Law is applied to ownership opposed to Content. For example 80% of media texts are produced by 20% of producers. This can be applied to large companies such as Google and Microsoft, accounting for most of the sites we use. 

2) What other industries or examples can you apply the 80/20 rule to?
The music industry can be used as an example as 80% of the songs in the chart hits are produced by 20% of producers.

Furthermore business management consultant Joseph M. Juran suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; Pareto developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in this garden contained 80% of the peas. 

80% of population is served b y 20% of businesses
80% of the market share is owned by 20% of the companies
80% of complaints are from 20% of the customers
80% of value is achieved by 20% of the effort 
80% of work is completed by 20% of the team 
80% of software problems by 20% of bugs 
80% customers only use 20% of software features
80% wealth is owned by 20% of people

3) List three arguments in FAVOUR of Pareto's Law applying to the internet:
- Top 5% of all websites account for 75% of user volume

- Google own 127 sites.
Google own Google Earth, Google Map, GMail, Youtube, Blogger, Picasa, Nexus, Andriod OS and much more.

- 80% of searches are searched on the internet on 20% of the search engines.


4) List three arguments AGAINST Pareto's Law applying to the internet:
- Large companies don't own user generated content, it applies to the ownership.

- Content in YouTube videos are produced by users not by the company, Google.

- Similarly, texts and images on blogger or tumblr aren't produced by google or Yahoo but the suers themselves.
5) Even if Pareto's Law applies to internet ownership, does it still apply to the content we read online?

Ownership and Content are two different things, although the products of users is the form of text such as video or posts, etc, it isn't produced by the company but the users themselves, user generated content.

The three points for the Pareto's Law are reinforcing the ownership and the three against the Law are explaining how the companies don't own the content.  This law doesn't apply to whole internet as in media institutions. The company doesn't control what is posted or said by users.

Weekly New and Digital Media Story

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/12/02/meadow-walkers-social-network-accounts-are-fake

Paul Walker's representatives have confirmed reports suggesting a posting on Facebook from the late star's daughter is a fake.

A message attributed to 15-year-old Meadow, in which the writer recalled growing up with her late father, appeared on the social media website on Sunday, a day after Walker perished following a car crash in Valencia, California.

The post included a picture of Walker and his daughter and read, "When I was little he taught me to walk, taught me to smile, and taught me to never give up. I loved him even before I knew what love was. He was my hero. The REAL life hero! He will always be in my heart! It brings tears in my eyes as I write this. You're gone, but not forgotten! R.I.P Dad!"

However, the actor's representatives have revealed Meadow is not currently on any social media sites and they insist the heartfelt message was not written by the teen.

Representatives for Walker are working to get the imposter sites removed.

Meadow had moved to California last year to spend more time with her father.

Summary 

Fatal accident involving Paul Walker shocked millions, it was top news over the weekend with users from all different types of social networking sites posted pictures, posts about the star and to praise him for what he had accomplished in his life. 

But through this tragic event, a user had decided to use the actors daughter to attract followers and to rise to fame. This story shows how easy it is to create fake accounts that impersonate famous people, this can even happen to teenagers or anyone in the social networking world. After a tragic death of a famous actor, a fake account was created of his daughter which quickly attracted attention as users thought she was real and therefore re-tweeted or shared the messaged 'Meadow' posted publicly. 

My view

This is an example of the dangers that people could encounter if they believe a fake account is someone they know. There have been incidents with children and teenagers meeting people online and developing relationships which is a easy way of meeting new people however this could be putting them in danger due to the possibility of getting harmed or meeting a pedophile if cyber friends agree to meet up. 

Furthermore the account could say anything and cause followers to react to the posts either agree or disagreeing

there is a possibility of ruining the reputation of the famous person in this case, Meadow Walker. 

This social networking world has allowed users to post their views, opinions and allowed them to follow and keep track of other accounts, this is a great way for users to produce their own material or use the network to keep a track of their favorite famous people. As time progresses, more information is available on the internet due to the ease of finding and getting news from a range of accounts however it may not always be true but can seem to be if it is said enough times. 

This relates to the idea of 'Normal' that we discussed in class, if we see something happen in a certain way again and again and again, it become the 'Norm' and people will assume it will happen all the time, such as the common conventions of Hip-Hop and even horror movies, etc it will be expected. This can be used when we think of how news is spread, similarly to rumors or secrets in high school, it being passed on and attracting enough attention will make it seem like it is a fact when it isn't. 

Yamin (2004)

Does it offer a positive or Negative representation of British Muslims?

To what extent does it reinforce or challenge Said's theory of Oriental-ism- that the west is superior to the exotic or dangerous east?

The part of 'Yamin' we watched in class offered positive and negative representations, it was a 10 minute clip of one day showing different characters and events which we had to work out ourselves. 

For negtive representation the clip followed Fanon's theory of putting on a white mask as the Muslim girl changes her clothes outside from her traditional clothes into common English clothing such as jeans. She is a married woman but is unfaithful, possibly escaping Muslim lifestyle, a double life which includes hiding the change, her 'other life' and taking off her hijab to fit it which acts as a 'white mask'. She is seen in a car listening to English music while people from her religion are praying, she is with a white man for her western part of her day then goes to the pub with him, a place where she gets looked at in a disgusted or angry way by other people present, although she is getting a non-alcoholic drink the point of being there goes against what her family believe as she is unfaithful to her religion. White British culture puts British Muslims through a bad portrayal using medium close up reinforcing the shot of how they judge Muslims making the audience feel uneasy for her. 

The negative representation shows the east as uncivilized through how the character of a Muslim man is presented as poor by eating out of a jar and using his hands which isn't something people are use to seeing as they have cutlery and proper balanced meals in comparison to scraping a finger inside the jar and licking it off. The uncivilized idea is supported through the man who is portrayed in this manner through several indications. He uses an outside cooker showing he doesn't have a working one, speaking in a different language when getting angry at a kid in a different language telling him to go away, he also seems to have no skills as he is working as a mechanic, it is a labor job which shows he is not educated  as he doesn't have a skilled job.

Positive representations is also shown through the clip as we see a father and his son praying in the morning showing their religion and showing it is important. They are seen as calm and peaceful people as they were vandalized yet responded to the incident of the work 'Paki' on their shop shutters by acting calm and cleaning it off as if it didn't affect them emotionally. 

The woman who was seen as negative for a portion dong things that seemed odd and shifty, bumped into the police on her way back and out right told the officer all her details, proving her innocence proving she is not a person who would do anything bad and appears to be friendly. She gave her details including her address, she came across as tolerant and didn't challenge the police officer as the stereotype of Muslims being terrorist causes suspicion and bad views by people from other religions

Said's theory focuses on the difference between west and eat, the way this 10 minute clip of one day supports it is by showing one person the woman, from one culture to another. The portrayal of two lifestyles of two cultures which reinforces the fact that there is a barrier where she switched between the two from being in the Muslim culture, western then back to Muslim again. 

Top Boy Opening

The opening of Top Boy presented many negative and positive points, focusing on the representation of the youth in this opening I identified a range of both through the clip we watched in class. An example of negative representation was the swearing, the image they had shown with their uniform being untidy even if they were at home. Some people see the untidy way they wore their uniform as being relaxed at home, however they walked into the home looking like that therefore indicating they walked home like they, we do not know if they looked untidy in or outside school. Furthermore they swore in the opening clip indicating they say rude things regularly as it seemed like they were speaking normally to each other, they may swore often at school or with more of their friends which is unknown to us but overall swearing gives an impression that a youth may be aggressive or rude and could speak directly at anyone using that language.

Some positive representation included how the young boy cared and worried for his mother as it was the first thing he thought of when he walked in, searching and checking in each room for her or signs of her. Once the boy told his friend he wanted to wait for his mother, he offered to accompany him like a good caring friend which shows how strong and friendly their relationship is. Showing these positive characteristics through the way he stayed with his friend as he waited for her to come home indicates there is good behind a sterotype that has been shown and assumed about the youth.

Top Boy the program itself involves swearing, reference to drugs and therefore create a bad image to the audience. The audience would assume the TV program is a normal TV show about the youth and to each individual normal is different. Normal is when they see the same thing again and again that it becomes expected and 'normal' and when something out of the blue occurs it throws people off. The audience for Top Boy would automatically assume characters they normally see through stereotypes. Medhurst would use stereotypes for a identification, to get a character type across quickly the audience however Alvarado's four stereo types of people from the black community being either Pity, Humorous, Dangerous or Exotic. Being in and urban area in England the audience would see them as dangerous which is giving them a false view upon people and could affect their attitude towards people they see everyday or in situations where they encounter an innocent black person but assume they are one of the four stereotypes in the theory. Perkins theory of how there is some truth behind a stereotype in many situation prove to be true however not every time which is negative as it may influence their view and opinions the entire black community to only fit into one or more of those four stereotype placing them into a box like figment of their mind and become 'normal' to viewers opposed to bringing equality and the idea of everyone being different.

Theories

Fanon

Non-whites have to put on a "white mask", adopting the western culture and lifestyle to be accepted within society. e.g. President Obama, a black male president according to Fanon had to adopt the western white culture and adapt himself to live in America and eventually become president. He'd have to dress smart and have similar mannerism to that of a White American.

Alvarado

 Black people are stereotypically placed in four categories:

- Pitied e.g. Slavery- Humorous e.g. Black comedy- Dangerous e.g. Ghetto areas within America- Exotic e.g. Caribbean

Edward Said

Orientalism, West = superior and civilised while East = dangerous and uncivilised  e.g. Rules in the West to follow; East has wars and terrorism.

Olympic ceremony

The opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympic Games held in London, portrayed the country as a diverse place where people of all races live in harmony together. They showed living in London is a place where it is normal for families to be built with people from different races; they showed the multi-cultural side to the UK to the world in the opening. Multi-cultural side to the UK is represented through black and white mixed family as they rush around the suburban-house living a day to day lifestyle.

Alvarado says that there are four key themes in racial representation which are how the black raced people are seen by other races. They are seen either exotic in terms of food or models, dangerous as they are strongly linked to the stereotype of being linked to crimes and gangs, humorous due to black comedians on shows or in films or pitied for poverty in countries in Africa whom are placed on charity promotions. These stereotypes are printed in peoples mind depending on what they have seen or heard in their life, a quick judgement made in their minds on what they seen the black community like.

Frantz Fanon is a theorist who similarly to Alvarado have stereotypes and he believes typically the black stereotype can Infantilize, Primitivize, Decivilize, Essentislize. He also says the only way black community is accepted by white people are by “Putting on a white mask” which is portrayed in the Olympic opening.

Shortly after the opening a journalist for the daily mail called Rick Dewsbury produced an article that was an unpleasant mix of contempt, misanthropy and thinly disguised racism as an article from the guardian says. 

Feminism: The End Of Men?

1) To what extent do you agree with Rosin's hypothesis that women are taking over modern society? Give examples in your response.

Women aren’t taking over, just rightfully on their way to becoming equal against men brining a balance. Women decades ago were seen as the ones, who would stay home, clean, cook and take care of the family while men would be the breadwinners and would work to support the family. However women are stepping up in the world with rising statics to show it for example 40,000 more women than men applied to university and women currently outnumber men. This shows a step forward in this world as they gain some power in the eyes of education as they will be seen as the ones doing better in comparison. On the other hand, most of the politicians, bankers and lawyers that are interviewed are men along with the person conducting the interview is most likely a man so therefore women aren’t taking over but working up to become equal to males.

2) Can we find examples in modern media that support Rosin's suggestion that women are taking charge? You may wish to argue the opposite - that men still dominate the media scene.

In terms on politics, the government are on the news regularly by the media, and most parliaments have a majority of men and fewer women. Women challenge their stereotype from good housewife to an independent woman who smokes and drinks in tomboy clothing which is how they show they aren’t apart of the simple stereotype people tend to see. They are seen as housewife or for the purpose to be looked at if they are attractive and in touch with their sexuality and portray themselves as targets by males for example in magazines.

3) Research Judith Butler's approach to feminism. How might Butler respond to Rosin's writing in The End of Men?

Gender isn’t biologically fixed, by placing a line between two genders they reinforce the differences they have and push them further away from each other. Believing it’s socially constructed opposed to it being biological.

Feminism

1. Was the Twitter boycott an appropriate response to the online threats  prominent women were receiving?

I think that it wasn’t an appropriate response to online treats prominent women were receiving, many people were unaware of this boycott and not many celebrities participated. Myself and my media class weren’t aware of this boycott ourselves. It would have been more effective if bigger celebrities such as those in the acting or music industry. Furthermore, as tweets continued the next day, one day of not tweeting wouldn’t make a difference.  One day of not tweeting wouldn’t affect the main reason for doing this, the little celebrity encouragement or the way awareness was being raised was very weak which is why I think it wasn’t appropriate.

2. Should Twitter have done more in response to those threats?

Twitter has millions of users, a very large social networking site that is used by celebrities, businesses, television shows or brands. Due to it being such a large site with so many users tweeting every second around the world, monitoring tweets is impossible. This is why they have the report button which can be sent to twitter by anyone. The company itself cannot do more than they are doing as it can be argued that tweets are freedom of speech and can be composed however the writer wants as it’s their opinions even though it can spark up arguments between tweeters. Reporting tweets that are serious can be result in a ban for a period of time or a complete ban of the twitter account which is a good way to warn and punish tweeters for hurtful things they tweet.

3. Should young women in 2013 take an interest in feminism? Do young women need to 'reclaim' feminism?

I don’t think we are in the post-feminist stage in this world yet, therefore young women of 2013 will need to show interest and be aware of how the world views and judges some women along with the counter argument for each woman to judge for themselves about where women stand in this world.

Even though it has come so far with how the world views women, there is still a little more to go through, there is still equality for example the pay between the genders where males get more. There are also some jobs where males are preferred over females for traditional work for example truck drivers.

4. Why has the internet been effective in feminist campaigns?

Internet gives people the opportunity to contact and make millions of people aware of anything. In this case females can spread the word about situations, news, problems, campaigns for feminists which enables them to keep everyone updated and aware of what is happening in a fast effective way. Easy access is an advantage of the internet making it very effective for feminists. Internet can enable people to share opinions, experiences, views, facts, news, and also advice for anyone and everyone that may want to see it or may come across it.

5. What is your opinion on page 3 of the Sun still featuring a half-naked young woman in 2013?

It isn’t needed, especially in a well read newspaper that thousands of people read every day. It can result in women feeling self-conscious and embarrassed about their own body if it isn’t like the ones on that page. Page 3 is seen as a source of entertainment and pleasure for males which can lead them to see all women in that way and for only one purpose which is the opposite of what feminists seek and women around the world.

There are many ways to see half naked women for men, however taking it out of the sun will help prevent children from seeing it after their parents or guardians have read it. Getting rid of the page won’t prevent everyone from seeing it but does help the situation as it can be less public and more private.

The Internet Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNTbpUB9GXo&safe=active

Fact Sheet: Time Warner

Time Warner is an America multinational media corporation with headquarters situated in New York City.           

History

In 1923, Time magazine debuted as the first weekly news magazine in the United States. In 1927, Warner Bros. released the world’s first feature-length talking picture, The Jazz Singer. In 1963, recommendations from Time Inc. based on how it delivered magazines led to the introduction of zip codes by the United States Post Office.

In 1976, Nolan Bushnell sold his Atari company to Warner Communications for an estimated $2–12 million. Warner made considerable profits (and later losses) with Atari, which it owned from 1976 to 1984. While part of Warner, Atari achieved its greatest success, selling millions of Atari 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in the history of the United States at the time.

In 1996, Warner Bros. spearheaded the introduction of the DVD, which rapidly replaced VHS tapes as the standard for home video.

In 1999, HBO became the first national cable TV network to broadcast a high–definition version of its channel.

In 2000, AOL purchased Time Warner for US$164 billion.

In 2010 Warner Bros. Entertainment became first Hollywood studio to offer Movies directly on Facebook

In 2011, Warner Bros. announced an agreement to acquire Flixster, a highly popular movie discovery application company with over 25 million worldwide users per month.

In June 2012, Time Inc. launched digital subscriptions on iPad.

Warner Bros: Home Entertainment, Motion Pictures, Television.
HBO: On Demand, Go, 2, Cinemax, Signature, Family, Comedy, Zone, Latino.
Time Inc: PEOPLE, Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, FORTUNE, CNNMoney.com, GOLF.

Media Products

Turner: Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Adult Swim, TNT, CNN Worldwide, TCM, TunerSports, TheSmokingGun.com.

Financial

On February 2, 2011, Time Warner reported a 2010 revenue of $26.9 billion, highest growth rate since 2004 and a 6% rise since 2009.On February 8 2012 Time Warner reported revenue of $29.0 billion, highest growth rate since 2003. On February 6, 2013, Time Warner reported revenue for 2012 of $28.7B and an adjusted operating income of $6.1B.