Unit 7: Journalisme and News: LO:1 understandind news industry

News providers

In the media sector there are many different news providers that report the news through different platforms that the news reaches people through the web, social media, print, TV and radio. A lot of news providers get their news from other sources.

Political bias

Political bias is when a news is reports on in a way that it promotes their own political opinions within the article whether it be bias towards left of right wing parties. Right wing political bias is prominent in newspapers like the Sun where its stories are written firm a right wing perspective, whereas Newspapers like the Daily Mirror is a more left wing orientated newspaper. This also relates to the hypodermic syringe theory that the audience believes everything they see or hear.

What is ‘News Corporation’?

News Corporation is a multinational mass media corporation which is owned by 20^th Century Fox which is owned by Rupert Murdoc and distributes news to the news subsidiaries that he owns i.e. in Britain he owns The Sun, The Times ,The Sunday Times and Press Association[MF1] , not to mention the international news providers he owns i.e. Sky News, CNN, Fox News .etc. News Corporations’ empire infiltrates our media streams greatly, according to an article from the Guardian[MF2] , Rupert Murdoc controls 20% of all news that Britons consume making Rupert Murdoc the Gatekeeper of 20% of our news and as Shoemaker and Vos said in 2009 that “The editor acts as a gatekeeper - chooses certain items for publication which he regards as more important or more interesting than others. Very often this is based on personal experience of the editor and their bias/ideology.”. Which means 20% of our media is overseen as dictated by one man.

What is Reuters

Reuters is a British news company that transmits news in [MF3] English, French, Arabic, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Urdu, and Chinese and operates in 200 cities in 94 countries in about 20 different languages, giving Reuters’ editor Stephen J. Adler great protective power all over the world and making him the gatekeeper of large a portion of the worlds media and gives them great protective coverage power allowing them to decide what to reaches the audience depending on their personal feeling. Meaning the news that Reuters produce is decided by the editor Stephen J. Adler. Reuters has a strong policy of a "value-neutral approach"[MF4] [MF5] this even meant not using the word ‘terrorist’ in the reports of the 9/11 attacks, which opened them up of criticism and controversy. Stephen Jukes, global news editor for Reuters, the British wire service said that "We all know that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and that Reuters upholds the principle that we do not use the word terrorist,"[MF6]

News is distributed through the TV by programs like CNN, Fox News and Sky News, these channels are owned by the News conglomerate News Corporation which is owned by Rupert Murdoc like many other mainstream news providers this is where they get their news from meaning that most of the mainstream news that we see is controlled by one man, another way we can get our news through free public service providers i.e. BBC News which dose its own journalism and writes their own stories. The benefits of using TV is that nowadays most people have a TV in their homes and news can be broadcast during prime time TV ensuring most amount of people are watching and in the event of breaking news scheduled programing can be interrupted for updates, a problem with TV news is that it relies on people being sat in front of a TV for it to reach their audience.

Web

Since the invention of Web 2.0 it has been easier for news providers to reach their audience and suggest stories that will suit the user best based on their recent activity, this is also a cheaper platform for news providers to work on for because it has less cost that printing. Newspapers like The Independent have converted to being an online Newspaper and stopped printing, this is an example of technological convergence. Nowadays all news providers have a website that the users can access the news on and get up to date stories. Web also allows for quick news updates the minuet they happen rather than waiting for stories to be printed or broadcasted. The Web is also a very good platform for citizens to have their say on the news through websites like BuzzFeed and Reddit however

these articles can still be subject to political bias depending on the writers point of view and not completely reliable. The good thing about web is that it is free to use and most people carry a mobile phone with internet access, this is a reason why it is better than print.

Radio

The radio reports its news through by broadcasting, most mainstream radio stations will report on main a wide variety of news and readers can call in to have their say i.e. Jeremy Vine BBC 2 this is a part citizen journalism and allowing the public to have their say on a matter by calling or texting in. Nowadays people can download podcasts, these appeal to more niche audiences as they focus mainly on one topic or issue that may only apply to a small demographic of people, this is an example of technological convergence.

Many newspapers like are politically bias i.e. the Daily Star, Daily Star and The Sun are right wing newspapers and The Guardian, Daily Mirror and Morning Star are left wing newspapers. Many newspapers are a part of the news conglomerate News Corporation and Press Association, newspapers like The Sun , The Daily Times and The Times are owned by UK News which is owned by Rupert Murdoc again meaning more of our media is controlled by one person. Some newspapers like the independent have stopped printing and have become an online newspaper, this is evidence of technological convergence within the media industry.

Citizen journalism

Social media:

All news providers have their own Facebook page where they can post about the news and what is going on and meaning they can access their audience more effectively, but social media also allows everyday people opportunity to report the news as they see it for example Facebook live stream has given people the ability to broadcast things that are happening right in front of them for example Philando Castile was driving with his girlfriend and was shot by police when reaching into his pocket, his girlfriend live streamed the whole thing live to Facebook.

Social media has also had an impact on the distribution of news though the share function and users can post hyperlinks to news articles Singer in 2003 said that ‘’Along with Web 2.0 environment, users have begun playing a greater role in producing and (re)distributing online news items via online social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.’’ Also giving the people power to decide how popular a story is which can lead to sensationalism.

Blog:

People can run their own blogs where they can upload their different takes on the news or upload news worthy stories as they happen and as they see them, this gives the public the power to express their opinion and try to offer a wider view from their own perspectives, rather than those of the news conglomerates

Media websites:

Media website likes BuzzFeed and Reddit allows people to upload news stories to a websites and collates them for people to read and means that people are getting a wide range of views, opinions and versions of events and all of the stories won’t have the same political bias throughout all the articles the but will have its impact on certain articles.

Citizen journalism is good because it makes the gatekeepers of media the general public allowing them to have their say and not allowing the media conglomerates to control the news and what we see and hear unlike in China where the media is controlled by the state.