Weekly Stories

Apple accuses FBI of violating constitutional rights in iPhone battle

=

• FBI’s ‘unprecedented’ request violates free speech law, Apple argues in first legal response to order that it must provide access to San Bernardino shooter’s phone
• Apple’s lawyers believe forcing America’s largest company to help the government crack open one of its iPhones would violate the US constitution and be a misinterpretation of a 227-year-old law.
• The tech firm’s attorneys argue the government seeks “a dangerous power that Congress and the American people have withheld: the ability to force companies like Apple to undermine the basic security and privacy interests of hundreds of millions of individuals around the globe.”

This story covers how Apple accused the FBI of violating constitutional rights. The FBI asked apple if they would allow them to hack into people phones to get more evidence on people they may be looking for. Personally I think that large organisations being able to hack into people phones without them knowing is quite scary.

Smart care: how Google DeepMind is working with NHS hospitals

• A smartphone app piloted by the NHS could improve communication between hospital staff and help patients get vital care faster
• Google DeepMind, the tech giant’s London-based company most famous for itsgroundbreaking use of artificial intelligence, is developing a software in partnership with NHS hospitals to alert staff to patients at risk of deterioration and death through kidney failure.
• The technology, which is run through a smartphone app, has the support of Lord Darzi, the surgeon and former health minister in the Blair government who is director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London.

This story covers how the NHS are considering the development of an app which would make communications within a hospital much more easy. In addition, this will be done through a smart phone app. Personally, i think this is interesting because it shows us how much smartphones have been able to take over our lives and how much we have become dependant on it 

Weekly Story

Sun website traffic up by more than 25%

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/18/sun-website-traffic-news-uk-abcs#img-1

• News UK site soars in January after December dip, as most other national newspaper websites make double-digit gains

• The Sun saw its web traffic soar by more than 25% in January, a welcome recovery after it lost audience in the previous month.

• The Sun’s decline was the smallest in the market in December.
• Following a seasonally low December, there were strong performances across the board.
• Mail Online grew by almost 12%, theguardian.com rose 11.70%, Telegraph.co.uk surged by 14.19%, the Mirror jumped by 20.74% and theindependent.co.uk saw browser numbers rise by 19.14%.
• Mail Online 14,759,451 (+11.96%)
• theguardian.com 8,764,814 (+11.69%)
• Telegraph 4,611,564 (+14.19%)
• Mirror Group Nationals 4,822,666 (+20.74%)
• The Independent 3,331,403 (+19.14%)
• The Sun 1,909,955 (+25.19%)
• Metro 1,418,152 (+26.93%)
• Express.co.uk 1,399,663 (+31.38%)
• Dailystar.co.uk 901,334 (+51.68)

This story covers what the major news company "The sun" has achieved in the last couple of months. The suns website traffic has increased by 25% in the last couple of months. This shows us how there has been changes in new and digital media and The Sun have managed to keep up to date 

The Independent: a newspaper killed by the internet

• After almost 30 years of losing money, it was the cost of publishing a newspaper for so few daily readers – just 40,718 once free or discounted copies are stripped out – that had simply become unsustainable in an age where so much information is free online
• It wasn’t meant to be like this. Back in March 1990, sales of the then four-year old Indy had reached an all-time high of 423,000, eclipsing the Murdoch-owned Times.

This is a story which covers the decline of the newspaper industry and how online content has managed to almost eliminate all newspapers. This story shows us how developments in new and digital media has had an impact on this industry. 

Identities and the Media: Feminism

Are we living in a post-feminist state? Do you agree there is still a need for feminism? To what extent does the media contribute to the identity created for women in popular culture? These are some of the questions we need to consider in this next section of our Identities and the Media unit.

Media Magazine reading

1) Read Playing With The Past: Post-feminism and the Media (MM40, page 64 - our Media Magazine archive is here).

2) What are the two texts the article focuses on?

The first text this article focuses on is Pan Am, which was first broadcasted on ABC in 2011, and it is a period drama set in the early Sixties focusing on the lives of pilots and stewardesses working for the Pan American World Airline. The second text is a Beyonce music video, ‘Why Don’t you Love Me’ Beyoncé parodies the stereotype of the 1950s housewife, clearly intertextually referencing the iconic 1950s pin up girl Betty Paige by taking on the persona of B.B Homemaker, a frustrated housewife.

3) What examples are provided from the two texts of the 'male gaze' (Mulvey)?

"The gaze referring to Laura Mulvey’s seminal article ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ which argues that main stream Hollywood films subject female characters to the ‘male gaze’ of the camera, fragmenting and objectifying their bodies."

"Her star construction perfectly encapsulates the contradictions of post-feminist culture, simultaneously declaring herself as an independent woman, whilst objectifying herself for the camera and the ‘male gaze’."

4) Do texts such as these show there is no longer a need for feminism or are they simply sexism in a different form?

These texts show us that there is no longer a need for feminism as all the examples were from a while ago before any of the feminist waves. 

5) Choose three words/phrases from the glossary of the article and write their definitions on your blog.

Feminism – A movement aimed at defining, establishing, and defending and equality to men.

Post-feminism – An ideology in culture and society that society is somehow past needing feminism and that the attitudes and arguments of feminism are no longer needed.

Nostalgia – A sentimental longing for the past, often only remembering the positives of the time.

Patriarchy – An ideology that places men in a dominant position over women.

Weekly Stories

Twitter 'leaving us in the dark' over state hacking claims, activists say

• When more than 50 political activists from across Europe and North America were told by Twitter in December 2015 that their accounts had been attacked by anonymous “state-sponsored actors”, they had very little to go on.

• One of those targeted was Anne Roth, who has been advising the German Left party during the government’s investigation into US surveillance. She is no stranger to these type of attacks, she said, but when threats come from her own government she has a framework for what to do

This story is talking about how political activist believe that twitter is leaving us in a dark place because of how many of their accounts have been attacked by anonymous "State-Sponsored actors". In my opinion, i think that the hacking of accounts is a serious issue as it could cause major problems and twitter should develop something to prevent hacking from happening.

Yahoo cutting workforce by 15% after announcing $4.4bn loss

• Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer has announced plans to cut the company’s workforce by 15% and close five foreign offices by the end of 2016.

• The struggling tech company reported a $4.4bn loss for the last three months of 2015 as it wrote down the value of assets including Tumblr, the blogging site it bought for $1bn in 2013.

• Yahoo’s fourth quarter earnings for 2015 were better than expected, coming in at $1.27bn. Overall, the revenue for 2015 was $4.9bn, up from $4.6bn the year before. But the company’s traffic acquisition costs (TAC), the amount Yahoo spends to attract users to its websites, rose to $271m in the fourth quarter, up from $74m a year earlier.

This is story which is talking about how the well known company 'Yahoo' is planning to cut workforce by 15% after announcing a loss of $4.4Bn, they also wrote down the value of their assets such as Tumblr which they bought for $1bn in 2013. In my opinion, I think this is interesting because if a company doesn't make enough developments to match the pace of how fast new and digital media is developing it will face major consequences.

Identities: Feminism and new/digital media

1) How might this video contribute to Butler’s idea that gender roles are a ‘performance’?

Butler believed that gender roles are ‘a performance’ and that male and female behaviour is socially constructed rather than the result of biology. This may contribute because in this video Beyonce is doing things which are stereotypically done by males such as fixing a car which would support his theory. 

2) Would McRobbie view Beyonce as an empowering role model for women?

McRobbie is a British cultural theorist known for her work analysing magazines aimed at women and teenage girls in the 80s and 90s, she highlights the empowering nature of magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Glamour, taking a different perspective to traditional feminists.  So therefore, she would view  Beyonce as an empowering role model for women.

3) What are your OWN views on this debate – does Beyonce empower women or reinforce the traditional ‘male gaze’ (Mulvey)?

In my opinion i think that beyonce is reinforcing the traditional 'Male Gaze' in this music video, the reason for this is because of the way she is dressed in this video, although she is trying to empower women by acting differently to the traditional stereotypes, she is still dressing and acting in a way which would support Mulveys 'Male Gaze'

Post-colonialism: Edward Said blog task

1) Summarise the three theorists we have looked at:
Alvarado - Black stereotypes.
Fanon - "White Mask"
Said - Us vs Them, East Vs West, Civilised and Uncivilised.

2) Watch the opening of Yasmin (2004) again. Does it offer a positive or negative view of British Muslims? To what extent does it reinforce or challenge Edward Said's theory of Orientalism - that the west is superior to the exotic or uncivilised east?
From watching the opening scenes of the movie 'Yasmine" we are able to see that Muslims are given both a positive and Negative stereotype. For example, at first we see that the father and the son are awake very early and then make their way to the mosque, in the shots we are also able to see that they are awake before anyone else in town which gives a positive representation of muslims. In addition, we are also able to see that the father is a working man. However, muslims are also given a negative representation. For example, we are able to see that the son of the muslim family wakes up late and looks lazy and uncivilised. 

3) Finally, choose THREE clips for EACH of the theorists and explain how you could apply that theory to the clip. Pick a selection of clips on YouTube from TV, film, music video or advertising and embed them in your blog before writing your analysis under each clip. Note: this means you needNINE clips in total on this blogpost.

Alvarado

This falls under the "Exotic" section as these black characters in the movie 'Straight Outta Compton' are music artist

                                               

This particular clip is linked to the humorous section as the black characters are represrented to be comedians. Also, there is also a sidekick which is Kevin Hart

                                             

This particular clip from the movie 'Menace to Society' reinforces the belief which shows that black characters are Dangerous as they are linked to crime, violence and gangs

Said

This can be linked to Edward Saids theory of orientalism which shows the difference between the civilised and uncivilised

                                      

                                       

                                    

Fanon

This can be linked to the 'infantilize' section of this theory as there are kids in this advert for charity who are made to look cute for sympathy.

                                           

This can be also be linked to fanons theory which belives that black characters are often represented as 'decivilsed' as they may fall under the category of being labelled as gangstas or pimps.

Lastly, this can be linked to either the 'decivilised' part of this theory or the 'Primitivize' 

Weekly Stories

How much are you worth to Facebook?

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/28/how-much-are-you-worth-to-facebook#img-1

• If you live in the UK you’re only worth one-third of a North American to the social network – and if you live elsewhere, it could be even less
• Facebook has set new records for both the number of users it has, far outstripping every other social media company, and the amount of revenue it generates. But how much are you actually worth to Facebook?
• During the Facebook earnings call on Wednesday, the social network revealed that it now has 1.59 billion users that visit it on a monthly basis, world wide, which is up 40 million users since its last report, Q3 2015. That accounts for around 50% of the 3.2 billion internet users globally, according to data from the ITU, and 21.5% of the global population.
• Daily active users were also up, reaching 1.04 billion users, while mobile-only monthly users have increased to 823 million making up 51.7% of the social network’s monthly active users. Mobile Facebook users, of which there are 1.4 billion a month, also account for 80% of Facebook’s revenue, mostly from advertising, which helped it break records and reach $5.841bn in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2015, up over $1.3bn from last quarter.

This is an article which talks about how much social media has had an impact on our society, this article talks about how much each individual is worth. In my opinion I think this was very interesting knowing that a social media site is able to determine how much we are worth as humans

Google says Isis must be locked out of the open web

• Google’s head of ideas, tasked with building tools to fight oppression, has said that to stop Isis being able to publicise itself on the internet requires forcing Isis from the open web.

• Isis propaganda has been effective at spreading information online. It has produced slick videos, hijacked existing social media trends including hashtags, and used bots to spread its messages. Online, it has made itself look bigger and more widespread than it physically is in Syria and surrounding areas.

This is a story which talks about recent comments which Google have made, they said that anything related to isis (which is an extremist terrorist group) should be locked out from the internet. The reason for this is the videos that they release are very extreme. In my opinion, i think that they should only block out the violent content and keep the other information so that people could research it.

Feedback

WWW: 

• Much better in terms of context; More in depth, examples.and theories....

EBI:

• Almost no focus on the question
• How many times did you use the word trust?
• Still need more theories/examples

2) Read through the mark scheme. Of the six different statements, write which you think is currently your strongest and which is weakest. Explain WHY and, for the weakest, what you are going to do to improve in that area.

• Statics 
• Good arguments
• Good points

3) Read through the exemplar A grade essay. What does this essay offer that yours does not? Identify THREE things you can take from this essay to improve your own responses in future.

The exemplar essay has a lot more statistics and quotes in it to make it a better essay whereas mine didn't have any of them. Also, there is a solid use of theories in the whole essay. In addition to this there was also a good and balanced argument in this essay which is something that my essay lacked in.

4) Write ONE new paragraph for your January assessment essay. Ideally, this should be a section you did not cover in your original essay. This paragraph needs to be comprehensive and meet the criteria for Level 4 of the mark scheme.


With developments in new and digital media it has made it very difficult for the consumer to know who to trust, The reason for this is because there are too many different sources, views and values available to us which would make it harder for us to know who is reliable and trustworthy. These developments has made traditional media suffer hugely. This is evident from the following statistic " Over the past few years the newspaper industry has been losing 13.5% of sales per year from 2010 to 2014"

Post-colonialism: blog task

1) Read the excellent article exploring the different representations of black people in British film and TV from Media Magazine 42 (MM42 from our Media Magazine archive - page 51)  

2) List FIVE films, FIVE TV programmes and FIVE online-only productions that are discussed in the article.

Films

• Anuvahod
• Kidulthood
• Shank
• Attack the block
• Ill Manors

TV Programmes

• Top boy
• Citizen Khan
• Luther
• The Crouches
• 55 Degrees north

Online Only

• All About The McKenzies
• Meet the Adebanjos
• Brothers WIth No Game
• Venus VS Mars
• The Ryan Sisters

3) Watch Destiny Ekaragha's clips above (more of her work is available onher website, including the short film The Park). To what extent can we apply Alvarado's and Fanon's theories to these films? Do they reinforce or subvert typical black stereotypes in British film and TV? Refer to specific scenes and events in the clips in answering this question and aim for at least 350 words.

Destiny Ekaragha has reinforced the Alvarado and Fanons theory when she was considering the role of her characters. Firstly, in terms of Alvarado's theory which believes that black characters usually fall under the characters of the following;

• Exotic (models; music artists; food)
• Dangerous (crime; gangs; socially dysfunctional)
• Humorous (comedians; sidekicks; quirky)
• Pitied (poverty)

In this particular case the characters in 'Gone too far' are shown to be humorous. Also, we can see that the one of the characters who is black is shown to be pitied as he is fairly new to the country. In addition, the clothes that they are wearing shows that they are exotic. In addition, in the short film ' Tight Jeans' the main characters are all humorous. 


Also, this can be linked to Frantz Fanons theory which believes the following;

Infantilize - such as the 'cute' children of the Charity Poster or the 'simple-minded‘ 'Step ‘n’ fetch it‘ lazy comedian.

Primitivize - The 'exotic & virile' tribal warriors or 'bare-breasted maidens' with a 'natural sense of rhythm‘. Sporting prowess.

Decivilize - The 'Gangsta', 'Pimp' etc.

Essentialize - Undifferentiated mass-'they all look the same to me'

This can be linked to the second clip 'Tight Jeans' where the boys are seen to be decivilised as they look dangerous such as a 'gangsta or 'pimp' would look like.

Weekly stories

Five things great brands will do differently on social media in 2016

• Last year was great for social but it’s always good to have some perspective. Facebook’s recent $4.5bn (£3.1bn) earnings are hugely impressive but also suggest that overall social investment is still only around 1% of total media spends ($611bn globally).

• social channels have become walled gardens, offering meaningful mobile reach and relative safety from fraud and adblockers. Ironically there’s never been a better time to invest in them, not because of some new promise of engagement and conversation, but because they’re starting to deliver on traditional media and marketing objectives.

This is a story which talks about what leading social media brands are planning to do for the upcoming year. This is interesting because developments in new and social media are changing rapidly. I think that this is exiting because 2015 was filled with lots of new developments. 

This was the year social networks turned into news organizations

• Social networks are the overworked writer’s best friend. It’s easy to observe the latest outrage on Twitter, grab a few good jokes from Reddit, or screen cap the ridiculous things people write on Facebook and turn them into blog posts. Writers used to have to find stories to chase — now they just have to be willing to sift through gargantuan masses of shit to find a few nuggets of social media gold.

• Snapchat’s foray into breaking news took yet a different form. Its staffers gathered content shared to public “Stories” and made them available to anyone near the area affected by the San Bernardino mass shooting of December 2. Small updates about the investigation were written by these same staffers, but for the most part, the company simply shared what its users were experiencing.

This is a story talking about how social media has developed into coming news organisations. Personally i think that this is very convenient for all social media users

Identities and the Media: Reading the riots

How did the language and selection of images in the coverage create a particular representation of young people?
there's a picture where you can see a British youth who is represented to be a villain to society, this is because in the image we can see the youth who is wearing a hooded tracksuit and covering his face, and behind him there is a large fire which looks like it came from a car explosion, from the first look at this image we get a an understanding that they are trying to create a sense of fear for the audience. Next, the title says "Anarchy in the UK" this word means a state of disorder due to absence or non-recognition of authority or other controlling systems. 

Why does David Buckingham mention Owen Jones and his work Chavs: the demonisation of the working class? 

David Buckingham speaks about what Owen Jones mentioned in his book about how the elite control the media and demonise the working class people (marxist theory). 

What is the typical representation of young people – and teenage boys in particular? What did the 2005 IPSOS/MORI survey find?
The typical representations of young people are generally negative, violent and scary. The 2005 survey found that “76% of reporting of young people is negative and only 12% of crime in general is committed by young people” 

How can Stanley Cohen’s work on Moral Panic be linked to the coverage of the riots due to the fact that the London riots caused young people to become violent, aggressive and unpleasant. This caused a moral panic across England as it all happened within a week

What elements of the media and popular culture were blamed for the riots?
There was alot of critism towards the popular culture of Rap/Hip hop/ grime music as many people believed that this was a major factor towards what caused the riots.

How was social media blamed for the riots? What was interesting about the discussion of social media when compared to the Arab Spring in 2011?
Social media was blamed a lot during the London riots (mainly blackberry messenger) as this was used as a form of communication for the rioters to meet up before causing chaos.

The riots generated a huge amount of comment and opinion - both in mainstream and social media. How can the two-step flow theory be linked to the coverage of the riots?
Famous people like Russel Brand and skepta were sharing their thought on the riots through social media and each of them have over 100k followers
Alternatively, how might media scholars like Henry Jenkins view the 'tsunami' of blogs, forums and social media comments? Do you agree that this shows the democratisation of the media?

What were the right-wing responses to the causes of the riots?
the right wings responses was more negative as they were blaming the youths and criticising them a lot and comparing them to animals, whereas the left wing responses were more understanding of the rioters and the reasons they may have participated.

What are your OWN views on the main causes of the riots?
In my opinion, i thought that there was more reasons for people part taking in the riots other than just wanting to cause trouble. These are thing such as unemployment rates, police harassment etc.

How can capitalism be blamed for the riots? What media theory (from our new/digital media unit) can this be linked to?
Were people involved in the riots given a voice in the media to explain their participation?
There was significant cover of the voice of people involved, one in particular was an interview on Sky news with a a young teenager who had his face covered and he was expressing his anger towards society and how he feels he has been marginalised, this was his main cause to participate in the riots.

In the Guardian website's investigation into the causes of the riots, they did interview rioters themselves. Read this Guardian article from their Reading the Riots academic research project - what causes are outlined by those involved in the disturbances? 

What is your own opinion on the riots? Do you have sympathy with those involved or do you believe strong prison sentences are the right approach to prevent such events happening in future
In my opinion i thought what happened with the riots were tragic. However, i also think that way which the media portrayed youth was also very unfair. This is because they didn't really cover the wider context enough

Weekly stories(4)

Netflix, Spotify and Apple power UK entertainment revenue to record £6.1bn

• UK revenue from music, TV shows, films and video games hit an all-time high of £6.1bn in 2015 thanks to the booming popularity of digital services offered by players including Netflix, Amazon, Spotify and Apple.

• A surge in digital spending combined with the mega-selling new album by Adele hauled the total UK music market to its first growth in at least a decade, up 3.5% to £1.06bn. The UK music industry saw the number of streams almost double to 27m and physical sales, while flat, were greater than they have been for a decade.

• The digital boost countered a 15% fall in sales of DVD and Blu-ray on the high street to £1.07bn and a 28% decline in the physical rental market to £76.9m, as the overall video market crept up by 1.5% to £2.24bn.

This is an essay talking about how developments in new and digital media has powered out the entertainment industry, it has now made a record £6.1bn . I think that over the years this will increase to grow more and more. 

Google, Facebook and Twitter among internet giants attacking 'snooper's charter'

• Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo criticised plans to force firms to help security services hack into devices as “very dangerous” and called for several changes to the draft legislation.

• They stated that “as a general rule” users should be informed when the Government seeks access to data. They also criticised “opaque” aspects of the Bill and claimed that allowing warrants on overseas companies to be served on British-based offices “presents a risk to UK employees”.

YouTube boss: 'Aim to be the next PewDiePie, not the next Tom Cruise'

• YouTube’s PR rep assured me there would be no news at their chief business officer Robert Kyncl’s keynote talk at tech’s largest consumer showcase this week.

• Internet video has become so important, and Kyncl’s role so influential, conference attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show formed a line through the casino. Four hundred hours of video are shared on YouTube every single minute. More than a billion people watch something on the site every month. And if those stats weren't enough, Kyncl added that 600,000 people cut their cable subscriptions last quarter, a sobering new record for the industry.

this is an article talking about how the CEO of YouTube believes that you should aim to be the next big thing on YouTube rather than becoming an actor. YouTube has become the most popular broadcasting website over the years.

Netflix: from DVD rentals to the verge of world domination

• When Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings took to the stage in Las Vegas on Wednesday to announce the streaming service’s expansion into a further 130 countries, he told the audience they were “witnessing the birth of a global TV network”.

• It was a grand statement for a company that started out as a US mail-order DVD rental business, but one it has backed by attracting about 74 million subscribers around the world and making huge investments in TV programming.

This is an article which talks about how netflix has dominated the DVD rental industry and how developments in new and digital media has changed over the years.