Post-colonialism: final blog tasks

Post-colonialism: final blog tasks

1)

• Alvarado stated that representations of black people are often of them being exotic, dangerous, humorous or pitied.

• Frantz Fanon stated that black stereotypes more often that infantilizes, primitivizes, decivilizes or essentializes the community.

• Said stated that the west constructed a meaning of the east and people in it that suggest it was different, dangerous and uncivilised.

2)

Yasmin can be said to offer to some extent, a somewhat more positive view of British Muslims. Showing them as being of an assisting nature in the community, particularly through character of Yasmin herself helping the disabled children onto the bus, it's presented that members of the British Muslim community are of aid to society. However, it does still succeed in reinforcing Edward Said's Orientalism theory as Muslims are still portrayed as being quite different to those from the west. This can be seen for example, through the call to prayer and even way of dressing that they have. An aspect of superiority over them is also evident through the 'anti-Muslim' graffiti that we see in the earlier parts of the clip, showing that Muslims are almost unwelcome there.

3) 

Alvarado

Alvarado's theory is without a doubt applicable to this 'Boyz n the Hood' scene, particularly from the dangerous front. With the amount of people actually holding guns whether visible or concealed, the gunfire that ensues from them and more importantly the race of the people behind the triggers, the representation of black people here is one of sheer danger. Not only this but the location that it takes place in, Watts, being known for its adversity in terms of poverty may lead to the black community being pitied by non-white audiences watching.  

The 'Ride Along' trailer can also be viewed with Alvarado's theory in mind. Just like the clip above, the dangerous theme is something that's definitely present with black people again shown wielding guns, engaging in firefights and also physical altercations. What we also see here though in conjunction with this is the humorous theme. The idea of 'brown clowns' is something that can undoubtedly be seen here with the sheer fact that the film is a comedy.

To a lot more of a greater extent than was the case in Boyz n the Hood, this 'Pursuit of Happyness' clip presents black people in a lot more of a vulnerable state. In an obvious struggle for essentials like shelter, we see a father and son have to sleep in a bathroom against their own will. This of  course gets this pitied outlook of black people across, in that they are often subject to living below what should be basic essentials for people.

Fanon

The music video for 'Kendrick Lamar - Poetic Justice,' is one where multiple aspects of Fanon's theory can be applied. In the video we see a murder by shooting take place. This contributes to the decivilisation of the black community as they are portrayed as nothing but gun-toting gangsters. The shot of the start of the video showing a division between people at the function by colour (red and blue), provides connotations of gang culture which further decivilises the community. It could also be said though that regardless of these colours, people are viewed as still being the same, giving off this idea of essentialisation.

Just like the video above, 'Vince Staples - Norf Norf' has the same aspects of Fanon's theory applicable to it. We see members of the black community being both decivilised and to some extent, essentialised in it. With the video taking place around a police car and then in what appears to be a county jail, we see almost all of the cells being full of young black people. Some of them throw up gang signs and are are tattooed with gang membership designs and this works to decivilise as black people are mostly shown to fit in to this gangster persona. Essentialising comes in the sense that nearly without exception, all the the suspects in the video are young black males. This could lead to audiences bunching up all young black men and perceiving them as criminals regardless of their actual character.

'YG - Still Brazy' is another video that Frantz Fanon's theory is applicable to. In it, not only are black people essentialised and decivilised as all being people potentially having gang affiliations, but they are also primitvised. The dancing that YG and others in the video partake in add to this notion that black people having sporting prowess and a 'natural sense of rhythm' attached to all of them.

Said

The trailer for 'United 93' supports Said's theory to quite a great level. As is clear in the video, those from the east are being presented as different, primarily in their ideologies, and this level of difference reaches new heights when they hijack the plane. With this, they are also portrayed as being of a highly dangerous nature, actually threatening the very of those from the west.

This trailer for 'Badman 7,' also plays into Said's theory. In conjunction with black people, those from the east are represented as being quite dangerous. Engaging in a number of fights and confrontations, the vibe is got across that those from the east possess quite criminal-like behaviour, therefore decivilising them.

'Citizen Khan' exacerbates to quite a large extent, the difference there is between both western and eastern communities. Elements such as the use of a foreign language and also cultural attire work to do this to a large degree. This is without mention of the difference between how weddings are organised in western and eastern culture, as can be heard from the conversation Mr Khan and his family are having.

30/01/17 - Lies can thrive in the social media world (42)

30/01/17 - Lies can thrive in the social media world (42)

The current era that we live in now is one of several media sources, spreading news not only rapidly but also to a large number of people. News about politics, instead of being entirely of a quite in-depth nature, is now more of more 'bitesized' format. This carries two particularly huge implications, especially when democracy is concerned. One of them is the huge amounts of inaccurate social media material that come with it. While it is now a lot easier to check what's a lie and what's not, the sheer amount of it makes it more difficult to correct at least the majority of it. Political charlatans use this as well as the 'alt-right,' often using the 'streaming tidal surges of lies and garbage' amongst the accurate information. The strategy has been used in a number of political campaigns too now, including the Brexiteers, Ukippers and also the dismantling of the Obama legacy. The second issue is that the 'historical record of truth is trampled over to provide "alternative facts".' This rewriting of history is something that has already been seen online with articles relating to the Holocaust never taking place among others. With this it's clear that a method of some sort is required to correct these inaccuracies that are now abound online.

With this article, I'm questioning how likely it is for a corrective mechanism that sorts out all fake information on social media to actually be implemented. Sites like wikis and social networks are full of fake news that has disseminated over quite a considerable amount of the population, influencing their views on a number of things. Correcting all of that over a space as wide as the web seems extremely unlikely.

30/01/17 - The reinvention of publishing: media firms diversify to survive (41)

30/01/17 - The reinvention of publishing: media firms diversify to survive (41)

There was once a time where the traditional model of media in which there were a team of journalists creating content and a commercial one selling it to the audience that consumes it, was the norm. However in more recent times this has been proving to be increasingly more ineffective as migration has moved to the digital platform. Advertising is being invested more into digital advertising, but this is in the face of it being more widely distributed and any growth attached with up being siphoned off by Google and Facebook And while methods like programmatic advertising have come through, the model tends to favour websites operating at a large scale which can arise a whole new set of issues for publishers like increasing costs while reducing quality. This has led to Google and Facebook being referred to as a 'duopoly in digital advertising' by heads of media businesses, making it extremely difficult for publishers to rely solely on advertising. For this, publishers like Dennis Publishing have taken it upon themselves to diversify into completely different arenas. For example, in 2014 they acquired BuyaCar through which they sell nearly 200 cars a month which helped to generate a reasonable amount of the company's total revenue that year. The challenges that publishers face in digital advertising can also be used to their advantage though, and this can be seen with Economist. Due to the power of giants like Google and Facebook, the company has been able to push down costs to recruit subscribers. So even though advertising revenue may be on a steep decrease, circulation revenue remains to go up. Factors contributing to a situation like this are the price increases of the magazine and also the company's investment into growing its global circulation. With the latter, it's said that social media has helped halve the cost of investment needed to recruit a subscriber. With this it's apparent that diversification should be a consideration amongst publishers.

• The Economist saw an advertising revenue drop from £83m to £76m last year, but its circulation revenues grew 8% to £176m
• Dennis Publishing is one example of a media company that has invested in product diversification, growing its revenue from £59m in 2009 to £93m in 2016.
• In November 2014, Dennis acquired online car dealer BuyaCar and integrated the e-commerce business with its portfolio of automotive websites. Dennis now sells nearly 200 cars a month and BuyaCar generates 16% of the company’s total revenue
• More than a third of last year’s revenue was derived from digital, but only half of it was advertising

This article represents something that we could be seeing a lot of news publishers undergoing in the next couple of years: product diversification. Relying solely on news to keep companies afloat is looking increasingly less prudent, so ranging into completely different areas may be the more sensible thing to do. What's particularly interesting here though is this idea that 'the same forces [social networks] that are causing these long-established models to crumble are enabling new opportunities for brands to evolve' and perhaps continue to thrive.

Media Magazine conference notes

Media Magazine conference notes

How to be Creative

• Volunteer - don't wait around for opportunities to spring up themselves
• No one comes from nowhere
• Put everything into everything - but life isn't a meritocracy
• Don't wait to be invited to the dance - beware the Doppler effect
• The day after you finish what do you do? - really planning for the future

Sports Journalism

• Kick It Out
• Usain Bolt feature - 'Fastest Man Who Ever Lived'
• Seek new info
• Be prepared
• Believe in yourself
• Be yourself
• Diversity - Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS)

Young People, Media and Democracy

• Disaffection of the young
• Technological determinism/pessimism/optimism
• Digital generation?
• Increasing control of all media by a few corporations e.g. Warner Bros, Fox News...
• Right-wing racist rhetoric
• Social fragmentation
• Political socialisation
• Young people engage in political things like jobs, gender rights, violence...
• Exclusion/inclusion happens in the 'youth voice' process
• Social media provides info, but not how to act on it in the long run
• Traditional media still has a big role in young people's lives despite elements like its stereotypes abound

An Audience with Tony Garnett

• 'Humans live through stories' - narratives and meta-narratives
• Both sides of the referendum had no evidence - generation will have to be aware of the prejudices fake news can have
• 'If the editor of the news isn't omniscient, neither are you'
• BBC has been 'marketised' - its films are its commodities

Identities: Post-colonial theory & blog tasks

Identities: Post-colonial theory & blog tasks

1) 

Films:

• Slumdog Millionaire 
• Kidulthood
• Adulthood
• Attack The Block
• Shank

TV programmes:

• Top Boy
• Citizen Khan
• Casualty
• Luther
• Line of Duty

Online-only productions:

• Brothers With No Game
• Venus vs Mars
• The Ryan Sisters
• All About The McKenzies
• Meet the Adebanjos

2)

Looking firstly at Gone Too Far, and we see that a number of different aspects of the theories can be applied to the film that predominantly reinforce typical black stereotypes. In terms of Alvarado’s theory, the very Nigerian roots of the film is something that can undoubtedly be viewed as exotic  and foreign to (white) British audiences. This is displayed through things such as the traditional West African attire worn by Yemi’s mum and not least through the use of the Yoruba language by her and Ikudayisi. This goes hand in hand with Fanon’s primitivizing element of black stereotypes, simply because the characters in the film are something that the audience is not. Danger is also something present here, with Razer’s showing this particularly. The connotations he gives off whether it’s in terms of behaviour or (more arguably) clothing are ones that can be likened to that of a gangster. This would also link in to the decivilizing that the black community is often victim to through portrayals in the media. To some extent, pity can be said to be a theme within the film. Although not an issue directly explored by any means in it, the environment it mostly takes place in, a council estate, has most of its associations being with poverty and just general adversity. Tight Jeans doesn’t work to subvert any of these stereotypes either and actually, it could be said that it does more than Gone Too Far to reinforce them. For example, the theme of humour is something shown with all 3 of the boys in it with the quite comical discussions they’re having. As well as this, the clothing that they’re wearing which is hoodies and jeans across the board, could be said to work to essentialize them to audiences which robs them of any elements of uniqueness whatsoever. Just like in Gone Too Far, clothing of this nature also has links to gangs and social dysfunction, so even without the boys actually doing anything wrong at all, they’re viewed as dangerous by audiences viewing them. Again similarly to the other film, the setting also assists in doing this. Primitivizing too has to be mentioned here in relation to the discussion that they’re having, in saying that black people have something that others simply don’t.

23/01/17 - Popular newspapers suffer greater circulation falls than qualities (40)

23/01/17 -  Popular newspapers suffer greater circulation falls than qualities (40)

Based on ABC figures, national sales for newspapers have continued to fall whether they're in the popular or mid-market. Sunday editions such as the The Sunday Times and the Mail On Sunday have exemplified this, with these falling by particularly significant numbers. Barely any success can be seen, with the Times being one of the only papers bucking this trend. It also has to be noted though, that these drops in circulation have generally been offset by increases in online readership.

• The Daily Express, for example, sold an average of 391,626 copies a day in December 2016, down by 2.3% on the same month the year before
• Daily Star was down by 2.5% to 440,471
• Daily Mirror was the largest year-on-year faller, down by 11.7% to an average daily sale of just 716,923 copies
• The Sun was down by 10.5% to 1,611,464
• Daily Mail will hardly celebrate the fact that its own year-on-year decrease, at 6.7%, is running ahead of the Express’s decline. Its headline total, 1,491,264, relied on 66,000 bulks
• The Times, had a 9.2% rise over the year to record a total sale of 446,164 (including bulks)
• Guardian fell by 3% on the year (to 161,191)
• Daily Telegraph was down by 3.4% (to 460,054)
• National newspapers jointly enjoyed a 16% year-on-year uplift across digital platforms, giving them a total of 31.5m unique browsers daily across the month of December 2016
• An extra 70m unique browsers accessed online content on the titles, compared with December 2015

Articles this show that soon, we're likely to see a lot more desperate measures being taken by newspaper institutions to offset falls in print readers. They could seek to do this through a variety of different methods, with one of them being offering content alien to both the e-media platform and other newspaper rivals. Either this or what would seem to be a more sensible move is to take an online-only approach just like the Independent.

23/01/17- Winning back advertisers is key to saving the newspaper industry (39)

23/01/17- Winning back advertisers is key to saving the newspaper industry (39)

In recent years, national newspapers have continuously been involved in somewhat of a 'near death experience', with advertising revenue being a key contributor to this. The internet has been the main disruptor here, with it essentially nullifying what were some of the uses of newspapers initially. An example of this is the use of databases which let advertisers target their main audiences, contacting them directly about offers. This of course, proves to be a lot more effective than the newspaper counterpart of just place ads in the paper. It doesn't seem to be all bad though when 'national titles, combining print sales with online numbers, are actually reaching a higher proportion of the UK market than ever before.' What's particularly interesting here is how 18-34 year olds are the group with highest monthly reach, albeit through mobile devices. However it can be understood that this isn't as beneficial as it seems, particularly when all of the national paper's digital audiences can be found through the 'retargeting' cookie-based technology. This means that unique access as well as control of pricing, is completely out of the hands of the paper. Something that has to be noted while this is being discussed, is the way in which advertising revenue is earned. Media intermediaries, the so-called 'guardians of their client's marketing/media budget,' are the people who guide money into relatively small proportions of Internet-provided opportunities. What ends up happening with these intermediaries though, is that over half of the money in the 'marketing pot' doesn't reach the publisher from an advertiser using 'programmatic' advertising on the internet. Where the money ends up going is in the actual hands of media buyers, through the client company's marketing department. Issues of transparency creep up here with both clients and media owners. All this is said though, without the mention of the fact that papers have to compete with other institutions like Facebook and Google, with them accounting for a huge share of the increase in mobile revenue.

• Total readership across print and digital news brands is 35% of the total UK population daily, 63% weekly and 90% monthly, with the highest monthly reach among the youngest groups (18-34) who tend to access via mobile devices
• 75% of the money in the marketing pot does not actually reach the publisher from an advertiser 
• In the first quarter of 2016, Facebook’s net income increased 300% and its margins jumped from 26% to 37%
• 90% of the increase in mobile revenue is going to Facebook and Google

This article represents the pure complexity involved in what exactly is contributing to the loss of advertising revenue for newspapers. They not only have to worry about digital giants like Facebook and Google coming through and taking what should be their revenue, but also a lack of transparency in terms of media intermediaries. The role of these 'guardians' is something which I'll need to observe in future to really view the impact that they have.

January assessment: Learner response

January assessment: Learner response

1)

WWW:

Sharp focus on the question and detailed understanding

EBI:

Lacks much specific discussion of the case study - the press/newspaper industry. Write an additional paragraph on this. Also, a paragraph linking it to Marxism/hegemony.

2)

• Level 4 - a sophisticated and comprehensive essay, showing very good critical autonomy 
• Level 3 - proficient understanding of new and digital media. Need to make mention of the impact that this has had on elements of the newspaper industry - decline in the print platform 
• Level 4 - a sharp focus on the question.
• Level 3 - good application of range of media debates, issues and theories and wider contexts. Need to discuss the impact that current things like fake news can have on this democratic space e.g. reference to Facebook's issues  
• Level 3 - a comprehensive individual case study, with a range of examples. Have to implement the examples of the weekly new and digital media stories on my blog
• Level 4 - well structured, articulate and engaged

3)

I included quite a good number of the higher level points in my essay, such as the digital divide and also Pareto's Law in relation to the control media organisations still have. However I could've added:

• Marxism and Pluralism
• Decline of newspaper industry
• Proper examples from a case study

4)

• Quotes from media theorists/experts
• Statistical evidence
• Discussion about ideology (Marxism and Pluralism/dominant and alternative)

5)

The impact of new and digital media can be said to have been democratic, although this has come at the expense of too much information being 'pushed' to the public. The internet has brought about what Castells referred to as 'The Information Age,' with an estimated 672 billion gigabytes of information circulating around it currently. While this has been good in acting as another source that people can choose to use for information, it has also meant that a proportion of people in society have felt overwhelmed by its gargantuan nature. The Pew Research Center's report into the issue this year showed that some 20% of American adults feel the burden of information overload. This issue seems to be particularly worse in households that are less economically well off, with 47% of those whose household income is less than $30,000 sometimes feeling stressed by the information they have to keep track of compared with 39% of those earning more than $75,000. However, something that can also be looked at is how the truckload of information that comes through the internet, isn't always reflective of the truth. Fake news and just generally inaccurate information, is something that has posed a threat to the very foundations of democracy. In a world where 66% of 9-19 year olds who went online regularly had not been given any guidance about how to judge the accuracy of online information (S. Livingstone), fake news has been able to have influence in significant elements of democracy such as voting. The recent 2016 US election is representative of this, where stories containing misinformation about the presidential candidates were said to have had an impact on people's votes. So when this is factored in, it's bad enough that people get too much information that they have to take in regularly, but they also have to sift through what's fake and what's not. These are some of the more negative impacts that new and digital media has had on the 'democratic space.'

It could also be said that new and digital media is having a negative impact on the democratic space as it's helping contribute to the death of newspaper institutions which actually help underpin democracy. One thing newspapers, particularly local ones, have been notable for is their investigative journalism. This involves newspaper journalists carrying out investigations to help keep the concept of accountability within society. Examples of it go from the 2002 Catholic Church crisis discovered by the Boston Globe, to the Panama Papers by The Guardian among others, to even the 2016 English football scandal by the Daily Telegraph. Journalism like this has ensured that corruption has been kept to as low of a level as possible, with it being exposed when found. However with the 'siphoning off' of ad revenue that digital giants like Google and Facebook have been responsible for, it's been increasingly more difficult for newspaper institutions to continue funding journalism of this nature. This can be seen with The Sun for example, a leader in the UK newspaper market, who in 2016 saw a £10m fall in revenue, with this being able to be attributed to things like the increased usage of new and digital media platforms like social networks e.g. Facebook and Twitter. With this, it could be argued that actually what new and digital media is doing is 'reducing' the level of democracy we get in this democratic space, as it's helping contribute to the death of one of if not the iron core of journalism itself [investigative].

16/01/17 - Regional publishers: how do those that remain survive? (38)

16/01/17 - Regional publishers: how do those that remain survive? (38)

While it has been the case in recent years that local weekly newspapers have seen a reduction in print sales, it appears at least in the case of a reasonable number of regional dailies that their online audiences have been increasing. With this, (regional) publishers have been working to reinvent their business models to adapt to this change in platform.

The changing face of content

More 'serious journalism'/'hard news' isn't necessarily what the general public are more receptive to and actually 'softer' stories are usally what they take to more. This idea of evergreen content seems to be something that's now becoming increasingly prevalent too whether it be about stories to do with places to eat or even walk.

Capitalising on new channels

Journalists that once used to work solely on newspapers now see themselves having to become content providers across a number of platforms whether it be Twitter or TV. Social networks like Facebook have meant that publishers also have to receive training on what it takes to develop 'high-quality posts with local relevance and a high propensity for sharing.' Through the use of machine learning, technology is also being used which allows journalists to know optimum time and place to actually post stories at as oppose to just doing it anyhow. Something notable that was said by Henry Faure-Walker, the chief executive of a publisher of a number of titles, was that although Facebook acts: 'a competitor for ad dollars, it is better to work with them and reap the benefits of community engagement in our cities and towns than treat them as the enemy.'

Tapping into data

Small teams of 'data units' now work to crunch data that they publishers receive. This same data is what gets interpreted locally to be the driving force behind a story. In the case of Trinity Mirror, their data unit has managed to get funding from Google which has meant that they've been able to create an app called Perspecs which as well as working as a news aggregation service, also lets readers see other perspectives of certain stories.

Finding new ways to survive

Although online is an area that regional papers have decided to go into, with its ad revenue increase, they still see diversification into other areas as being imperative. This can range all the way from mobile apps and general e-commerce to even leisure offerings like ice rinks.

• Local weekly newspapers losing an average 9.2% of sales in the second half of 2015 compared to the same period the year before
• Facebook saw its digital unique users rise by 7% year-on-year in November 2016, reaching 22.4m
• 30% of Newsquest’s ad revenues now come from digital

This article is particularly interesting in seeing what exactly regional newspapers are going to do ascertain their survival over at least the next decade. Abandoning print seems like the main thing that's going to be done while simultaneously diversifying into other, often unrelated industries. What was particularly noteworthy was the statement by Henry Faure-Walker. In saying establishing that Facebook is a definite competitor to them as a regional news publisher, he also makes it clear that actually working with them, could be what really needs to be done. With the way the general public are taking to social networks like Facebook, this seems like a pretty informed take on things, and maybe doing this is what'll boost the 'community engagement' that regional papers are supposed to achieve.

16/01/17 - UK media chiefs called in by minister for talks on fake news (37)

16/01/17 - UK media chiefs called in by minister for talks on fake news (37)

'Accuracy' within the media/journalism, is something that has been become increasingly questionable in recent times. This has been further evidenced by UK ministers like Matt Hancock calling in media newspaper representatives to discuss the issue. Amidst the 'fake news' craze taking place in the USA post-election, it's clear that other nations are concerned about the impact the dissemination of fake news on the internet could have. The 'value chain' of online news is something in particular that is set to be analysed in the hope of eventually finding a solution that can ensure content creators are fairly rewarded for their production of news. The threat that fake news can have on journalism is highlighted particularly through the fear that it could undermine the element of democracy that there is, the Labour party having particular concerns about this. They say that the 'dominance of tech giants like Google and Facebook' with the fact that we tend to use them to access most of the news gives them a great amount of power which governments will have to come to terms with. This is intensified by the fact that these giants are posing a greater threat to (high-quality) journalism with how advertising revenues increasingly go to them as oppose to the actual content provider/newspaper.

The fact that even the UK government is expressing their concerns over the influence of fake news, shows that it's something that is without a doubt going to be perceived as a high-level threat to modern society. This is not just in terms of the fact that it threatens the 'democratic foundation' had by countries like the UK, but also as this issue of advertising revenues being siphoned off by the digital/e-media platform gets even worse with the influx of fake news. 

Identities and the Media: Reading the riots

Identities and the Media: Reading the riots

1.

Some of the language used in description of young people in the riots ranged from the very word 'riot' itself, to an 'orgy of brutality' to even 'young thugs with fire in their eyes and nothing but destruction on their mind.' Images also contributed to this anarchic, negative representation of young people with them commonly pertaining to the stereotypes that there were of them during that event. Hooded, young and black males was what covered a number of newspapers, working to reinforce the dominant stereotype that there is of young black people, with this almost definitely linking into Medhurst's shorthand value judgments.

2.

David Owens mentions this piece in reference to this concept of  'class demonisation.' Media coverage of the riots saw members of the working class being antagonised and scrutinised to a level where they were almost displayed as a threat to society, particularly the middle-upper class, itself.

3.

The typical representation of young boys is usually of them being menaces and rebels as oppose to an actual aid to society. coverage. The 2005 IPSOS/MORI survey found that '40% of newspaper articles featuring young people focused on violence, crime or anti-social behaviour; and that 71% could be described as having a negative tone.'

4.

Stanley Cohen's moral panic can be linked into the coverage of the riots as the reporting of it presented its participants as threat to the values of society. Whether it was through language or the images used of young people as 'young thugs,' they made people question the stability of the establishment that there currently is in society.

5.

Some of the elements of media and popular culture that were blamed for the riots were rap music, reality TV and also (violent) video games.

6.

Social media was blamed for the riots as it was the main platform used in actually organising some of the demonstrations that took place in it whether it was Facebook, Twitter or Blackberry Messenger. This is something that was also found in the Arab Spring of 2011, although the Western media have cited its use there as positive, maybe because it didn't pose a threat to their domestic societies.

7.

The two-step flow theory can be linked into the riots with the way that 'commentarists' gave their own opinion on the events that rolled out. Consisting predominantly of politicians, journalists and others, these groups used their platform to disseminate their own opinions (and agendas) to the masses. Even with a lack of evidence that came with these opinions, they were still published with the main intention of spreading the ideology possessed by the 'commentarist' behind it.

8.

Media scholars like Henry Jenkins would view the 'tsunami' as being a sign that the media has become a lot more participatory then just having the public be passive readers to the publications released by news institutions. While it can be said that this represents an increase in the democratisation of the media, it still has to be remembered that the top corporations still dominate the industry in an unmatched fashion regardless (Pareto's Law).

9.

The right-wing responses of the causes of the riots mainly lied funnily enough, in left-wing values. Things such as the welfare state that there is in the U.K has: 'bred a generation of young people with no respect for their elders and betters, and no 'moral compass.''

10.

Left-wing responses for the causes entail things like the inequality within our society making it almost inevitable that something like this would take place. Areas in which there was already poverty and deprivation is where things started popping off, and this is without the mention of the amount of cuts made to youth services.

11.

Personally, I'd find myself more aligned with the left-wing response to the cause of the riots. Cuts to facilities predominantly used by young people have meant they often find themselves 'lost' for things to actually engage themselves with. As well as this it has to be understood that they in part, sparked from what's already been growing tension between young people and the police force in the UK, the death of Mark Duggan being the last straw that broke the camel's back in this case.

12.

Capitalism can be blamed for the riot as both bankers and politicians now have reached a level in society where 'it has become acceptable [...] to lie and cheat.' With this it's not that remarkable to find that the young have followed in suit of this (copycat).

13.

It appears that the 'rioters' weren't really given the opportunity to explain the reasons for their participation. Rather what we got were the views of historians and professors like David Starkey, someone completely uninformed about the issue at hand, on why things played out in the way that they did.

14.

Causes outlined here are:

• Opportunism - 'chance to obtain "free stuff" or sought to justify the theft'
• Lack of money/jobs
• Feeling of unfair treatment of comparison with other groups
• Scrapping of the education maintenance allowance

15.

In my opinion, I think the riots are representative of a lot more of a deeper problem that there is within society. The hostility that the 'rioters' have towards establishment forces like the police and the government isn't 'just because,' and actually it's just part of what's been a growing schism between opposing sides. Strong prison sentences aren't the solution to take and rather what should be done is actually healing the scars that are there within communities that have been as a result of things like cuts. More punishment is only going to widen the division that there already is.

09/01/17 - The Sun losses exceed £60m as ad slump and hacking charges take toll (36)

09/01/17 - The Sun losses exceed £60m as ad slump and hacking charges take toll (36)

Recently, it has seemed like Rupert Murdoch's The Sun just hasn't been able to catch a break. In 2016, they saw losses of more than £60 million. Although in 2015 they were at £79m, amounts like this are still huge. Contributors to it are declines in print advertising, redundancy costs and also phone-hacking charges which almost seem like they'll never leave the paper alone. How huge these losses are can be displayed particularly effective when you pit the paper against The Times. They reported a (pretax) loss of £5m in 2015 to the 3rd of July, mainly due to redundancy restructuring costs. Revenue for The Sun has also a drop of £10m, with a decline in print advertising not being able to be offset by other areas e.g. the paywall on its website (now no longer in place).

• The Sun made a loss of more than £60m last year as steep declines in print advertising, redundancy costs and phone-hacking charges battered the tabloid
• Times reported a pretax loss of £5m in the year to 3 July, down from a profit of £8.8m in 2015
• The Sun fared significantly worse, notching up a pretax loss of £62.8m for the same period last year
• The Sun narrowed its losses (£79m in 2015), mainly due to a significant reduction in charges relating to legal claims and costs relating to phone hacking
• The Sun also spent £14.8m on one-off restructuring costs and significantly boosted sales and marketing spend, from £55m to £75.9m
• Total revenues fell from £456m to £446m as a steep decline in print advertising failed to be offset by income from other areas
• The Sun said it had made £16m in profit last year, almost half the £29m in 2015
• Total revenues barely budged year-on-year, dropping from £342.5m to £341.6m
• Times Newspapers Limited, said there was a “solid” performance in print sales income, which grew to 182,000
• The Times spent almost £33m on sales and marketing last year

It'll be interesting how exactly The Sun deal with these losses this year. The introduction of a paywall definitely didn't work to be able to offset this, so what exactly will is unknown at the time. Perhaps the paper will eventually decide to take the approach of The Independent, being online only and perhaps prioritising digital media over the print counterpart and embrace more interactivity between the consumers and the paper.

09/01/16 - Local papers are vital to our democracy. Now section 40 threatens their future (35)

09/01/16 - Local papers are vital to our democracy. Now section 40 threatens their future (35)

The role of local newspapers continues to be undervalued while they help maintain an aspect of democracy in that they allow those that are corrupt, to be held to account whether they be politicians or even property developers. An example of this can be seen with Leeds City Council actually making an apology to the Yorkshire Post for refusing to name 4 councillors not paying their council tax. Things like this and the Liverpool Echo's efforts to push for a reopening of the inquest into the Hillsborough disaster represent the importance that the publications have. Stories like this are said to stem from the strong connection that the papers have between them and their community. Without a local paper, things like the scrutiny of the council as a result of spending cuts wouldn't be able to occur as well as just being able to keep up-to-date with news or information in general. 

Section 40, a drafted piece of legislation intended to be part of the Crime and Courts Act, could threaten this all though. It entails that 'any newspaper that fails to sign up to a regulator backed by a royal charter could be forced to pay its opponents’ legal costs in libel cases, even if it wins.' What this means is that those criticised by the papers could sue these same papers for that criticism. With the trouble local newspapers are already in with their financial issues, the introduction of this legislation could have a real 'crippling effect' on them. The majority of UK newspapers have signed up to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), which is capable of fining newspapers up to £1 million. The organisation themselves have made it clear that they will not be signing up to this charter. Local journalists have already expressed their fear for the legal costs that could come to them with this, with it potentially harming their very existence.

What will be very interesting to see is whether or not this drafted legislation will actually be implemented. With those criticised or 'defamed' by the paper actually being able to sue because of this, investigative journalism itself will be threatened. While some might say that the bigger newspapers can just continue it, it has to be understood that it's the local papers who really handle the most cases of it. Things like the reopening of the Hillsborough inquest is representative of this, since without the persistence of the Liverpool Echo, not much progress at all would have been made with the case. So it'll be something to keep an eye on, whether the drafted legislation becomes actual legislation or not.