Media Ownership Homework: Week 6

Overall, there are many issues in which media ownership upholds. Firstly, major companies like the BBC are threats to smaller, independent news providers. It could easily be viewed as a monopoly, in which it gets most of the TV audience. Organisations like the BBC, funded by the licence fee, as well as Channel 4 and Ofcom, make it harder for other broadcasters to survive due to their income that will continue to rise, whilst others may fall.

The license fee in general is also a big issue in media ownership. In my opinion, the television licence fee is unfair and should be replaced with a voluntary subscription service for certain programming so that you pay for what you want to watch and are not paying for unnecessary, unwatched channels. It can also be costly for some people, who may not always be able to afford the £12.13 per month.

Finally, the last major issue is that most people get their knowledge on politics from the media, especially from TV meaning that they trust and believe whatever is on the front page of a newspaper, truthful or not. This can affect how people view their Government, due to negative press being published by journalists leading people to have certain views on politics. As well as that, when the public and media join together, it can be a powerful force that puts pressure on politicians when under the public eye. 

Media Ownership Homework: Week 5

Main issues the video presents:

• Most people get their knowledge on politics from the media, especially from TV.
• Critical journalists have caused a huge impact on Scottish people, and how they view Scottish politics due to their negative press.
• Relationships between the media and politicians are ambiguous, they need each other but are suspicious of each other.
• If you took the media out of politics, all the public would be clueless to whats going on, and the people who are in power would probably abuse it, taking advantage of the fact that no one is watching them.
• Owners of media have their own motifs for writing or saying something, and it could be conveying their own political opinions.
• Sometimes the newspapers and journalists become the campaigners, Peterhead prison avoided closure due to Scotland's most politically influential newspaper. On occasions like this, the media made the difference.
• When the newspapers and public get together, it is a powerful combination that politicians cant ignore.

Media Ownership Homework: Week 4

TV channel : itv 
Launched: 22nd September 1955, United Kingdom
How are they funded?: Funded by advertising and sponsorship such as their £425m television deal with The Football Assocation to show their content.
Who owns it: CEO - Adam Crozier, however it is split between 3 owners, them being: ITV plc, STV Group and UTV Media.
What they show: News, sport, weather, children's programming and much more
Headquaters: London

Media Ownership Homework: Week 3

Media terminology:
Monopoly: A situation in which a single company or group owns all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service.
Conglomerate: A conglomerate is a corporation that is made up of a number of different, seemingly unrelated businesses.
Multi-national: Including or involving several countries or individuals of several nationalities.
Media tycoon: The means of communication that reach large numbers of people, such as television, newspapers, and radio  
Plurality: A usually large number of things
Public service broadcaster: TV programmes that are broadcast for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial purposes.

Media Ownership Homework: Week 2

Rupert Murdoch PowerPoint

Media Ownership Homework: Week 1

Rupert Murdoch mind-map: text2mindmap.com/LnvzhLB

Extension: 
a. Some of the points Murdoch makes include:

• State-sponsored journalism like the BBC are becoming a threat to smaller, independent news providers
• The scope of the BBC's activities and ambitions was "chilling" and threatened to wipe out smaller businesses
• Organisations like the BBC, funded by the licence fee, as well as Channel 4 and Ofcom, made it harder for other broadcasters to survive
• He also added that as other news provisions may fall, the BBC's income will continue to be guaranteed and growing

b. In my opinion, I think that the BBC's power is a huge contrast to smaller news businesses within some reason. I do feel as though they have a little too much power due to the fact of them slowly wiping out other news provisions. In terms of the licence fee in which funds the BBC, it primarily benefits the BBC itself as it is what makes up their profit. A lot of people would argue that we should have to pay for our viewing through the monthly licence fee. However in my opinion, the television licence fee is unfair and should be replaced with a voluntary subscription service for certain programming so that you pay for what you want to watch and are not paying for unnecessary, unwatched channels.

Week 6 Homework: "Add your opinion to the debate about social media"

'Social Networks don't bring us closer together as we now talk through computers rather than to each other.'

I partially agree and disagree with the statement; for one social media has become a great, well known way of communication over the web and is used by many to contact people not there in the flesh. We use sites such as Facebook, kik and msn to talk with friends and family for many reasons. From planning an event to discussing the latest gossip, social networking sites can easily be seen as great ways to organise future plans when we cannot talk face-to-face.

On the other hand, we could view talking with someone from behind a computer screen to be ignorant and disrespectful. As time goes on, we rely more and more on the internet to move society onto the next big thing and forget about how we once used to communicate. It may seem easier to sit behind a phone or laptop screen, however we are forgetting the importance of social interaction face-to-face.

Week 5 Homework: "You have just been given a job by an independent record company to promote the label and its artists on social media. Write down 5 things you would do and why."

The 5 things I would do would be:

• 1. You're automatically entered into a draw to win a prize associated with the company if you like their Facebook page: A simple way of giving back to people for supporting the company and promoting it further
• 2. If you share any music from the company you get a free song of your choice: Great way to find what audience the company has, and giving people who actually like their music more variety to listen to.
• 3. "Fan of the week" meaning that whoever shows the most support for the company over that week gets a mention on the company's Facebook page: People who support the company have the chance to get a "shoutout" on the page.
• 4. Keep things on social media exciting and active: If you're social media is pretty dull and you only post once a month, it can reflect the company and people will loose interest.
• 5. Post about upcoming events and note-worthy dates on social media: People are more active on social media these days and are more likely to find out about your company on the internet so putting up these dates will get more people to buy tickets and attend.

Week 4 Homework: "Analyse your own Facebook or Twitter page."

How many times have you or your friends shared any of the following?:

- A news article or campaign (such as the Joseph Kony video from a few years ago) = 6
- A music video or song = 5
- A funny video = 15
- An advert or a commercial product (e.g A picture of some new trainers you want) = 5

Q. Why do you and other people share these types of media? Who benefits?
I feel as though we share things like funny pictures or videos a lot because they make us laugh and we may want to share it with our friends for them to also see. We may share news articles because we find them shocking or upsetting and want other people to be made aware of them. As far as music videos or adverts, they are down to personal preference as you may share the music video or your current favourite song or you could share a pair of trainers that you would like to buy in the future.

On social networking sites such as Facebook you have the option to share the post to a number of different audiences e.g public, friends, only me or selected friends. As a result, you are choosing who can view what you have shared and they will then benefit from it. However, a lot of the time when we're scrolling down our news feeds we don't really pay attention to most posts so a lot of time,no one benefits from what you are sharing.

Week 3 Homework: "Write a blog post about what you have noticed about your internet use. Think about the amount of times you visit certain websites, how long you spend on the sites and what you use."

From my table of results, i can see that the majority of my time on the internet is spent on social media sites such as Facebook, instagram and youtube. I have also gathered that i will often go on all my social media sites at once when i pick up my phone or open my laptop and will only spend a few minutes on each just to check up where i left off.

Furthermore, i have noticed that i go on my phone and use the internet mostly when i wake up and just before i go to bed which is a bad habit because of how it can easily lead me to going to bed too late and not getting up on time in a morning. As well as that, i have spotted that i use the internet a lot in social spaces such as at the dinner table or when i'm out with friends. This is a bad thing due to me blocking out family and friends at times when i should be acknowledging them and talking to them across the table and not behind my phone screen.

As a whole, i do think i waste a lot of my time on the internet; mostly i am just refreshing my feed or seeing what other people have posted rather than using it for valid reasons. I also feel as if the fact of how easy it is to get sucked into your phone or laptop and go online is a bad factor that can lead to me spending more time talking to people over the internet instead of socializing in the real world.