NDM 34

Digital media can enhance family life, says LSE study- The Guardian 

The article talks about how digital media activities are helping family life rather than destroying it as they increasingly play an important role in families, the study has found.

• The study also claimed that engaging in digital media activities together such as watching films, playing video games and keeping in touch via calls and messaging apps brings families together rather than dividing them.

• “Today, British families eat, shop and read together – and they watch TV, stream content, play video games, and use educational technology. They stop by to see friends and family and they text, use messaging apps and make video calls.”

• “Rather than worrying about the overall amount of screen time children get, it might be better to support parents, many of whom are digital natives themselves, in deciding whether, when and why particular digital activities help or harm their child, and what to do about it.”

• “Good advice grounded in real families’ lives is a huge help, and – as this report notes – parents would welcome more well-informed, tailored support.”

This shows how digital media has effected not just industries but the family dynamics. The article does discuss how family would sit at tables or either be distant and not talk with each other but with the increase in popularity of tablets than toys amongst kids this has allowed parents to use this to be able to talk with their kids and connect with each other. 
However, this also shows maybe how other stores would be impacted by this as Toys R Us will be on the urge of bankruptcy, showing how technology has impacted fro both better and worse. 

Post-colonialism - bonus reading and tasks

MM58: Social Media and Black Identity

Open up MM58 from our Media Magazine archive. Go to page 66 and readSocial Media and Black Identity then complete the following tasks:

1) List three theorists discussed in the article and what they believe regarding black identity.

Aisha Harris- Harris states that social media is a negative role in constructing the identity of black people and this is a somewhat an unconscious reflection of an in grained "deep-rooted desire" for black people to be entertaining and preformative. This increase in the usage of social media has allowed a culture to be made where black people have become subject to "memeification" (content including black people are used as internet memes)

Giddens- Giddens argues against Harris stating that social media can be used as a platform to construct positive black identities. Shown through the 'The Blackout' a concept used by those on Tumblr and Twitter celebrating blackness(black looks). So, Giddens states that black people have been able to use social media as a way to go against these misconstruction identities of black people by the media. 

Henry Jenkins- Jankins states that social media is a place where "participatory cultures" are established; where users can come together creatively and make a platform for political activism for marginalised people. Shown through the concept of "Black Twitter" which has evolved into a community of users that actively go against these negative representations of black people in the mass media while also reinforcing positive identities and views of black people through art, activism, humour and education. Jenkins states this has lead to the power to influence politics such as the social campaign of #Blacklivesmatter'.

2) In your opinion, is social media a positive or negative force when it comes to issues of black identity? 

I think social media is able to be used as a tool to reinforce black positive identities as the audiences have been actively campaigning to empower themselves (Jenkins).  However, social media has been unsuccessful in empowering and doesn't help construct positive images but negative images of black people due to the stereotypes which surround black people. Also, like Harris stated, platforms like social media is a negative force fuelling negative identities of black people. 

3) How could you apply the post-colonial theories we have learned in class to the issue of social media and black identity?

Alvarado's representation theory can be applied, "dangerous" and "pitied", as on the news black people are shown to be dangerous by their dressing, speech and mannerisms but also impoverished by their environment. Also, "humour" as in social media black people are used as the butt of jokes in the "meme" culture linking to Harris' idea of "memefication". Fanon's racial representation can apply to social media as black representations hold themes of "decivilised" with audiences shown as dangerous and backwards. 

A Hustle for Life: Refugees in the Media

1) What examples of different representations of refugees in the media are offered in the article?

The language and imagery used represents refugees as threats dehumanising them in this representation. This is like the writings of Ktie Hopkins who continuously called refugees "feral" and "cockroaches" also dehumanising.This can be seen in documentary "Exodus:Our journey to europe" also portraying them as 'pities' and helpless.  Also, the article highlights refugees being presented as 'migrants' than 'refugees' creating the idea they come willingly rather than away from terror in their countries. 

2) In your opinion, is the documentary genre more or less biased than the news media? What examples can you provide from the article to support your view?

Though documentaries are used as a tool to educate, I believe that they are also able to be biased themselves like news stories; producers portray issues through their own view so this means their documentary can be biased from them. Though, Exodus shows how programmes can change negative portrayals of refugees which were constructed by the media. Such as Exodus and "A refugee camp " one gave smartphones to them to film their own life and the second gave a neutral representations of refugees, showing the audience the refugees want for peace and safety; altering dominant ideologies of refugees as "scroungers". So documentaries can be used as tool for positive representations and not biased. 

3) How could you apply the post-colonial theories we have learned in class to the representation of refugees in the media?

Alvarado's representation theory is shown as the theme of "pitied" continuously represented in refugees in the media and may be "dangerous" when people find a way to compare the terrors of their countries as the refugees doing and bringing it with them. Said's theory can be used to represented in refugees in the media as the difference between the west and east as the refugees from the "impoverished" east are seen as "uncivilised" and coming to the "civilised" west. 

Identities and the Media: Post-colonialism & Orientalism

1) 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?

The opening of 'Yasmin' can be shown to challenge Said's theory of 'orientalism' as the protagonist Yasmin is portrayed subverting the stereotypical submissive representation of Muslim women which are perceived as submissive and quiet, which Yasmin is not portrayed as. Yasmin is first seen by the audience taking off her traditional Muslim clothing and conforming to the societal norms by dressing in casual clothing and being apart of society through her job highlighting the ability for the western and eastern cultures to be parallel to one another. 
Also, the opening presents a sense of detachment and isolation with the Muslim community from the rest of society, creating a negative view of British Muslims, the isolated shots with just the Muslim community and the dull, muted environment highlights detachment. Reinforcing, Said's theory as the audience are thrown into the difference between the western culture and the eastern culture (portrayed through portrayals of the mosque, call for prayer and traditional/ cultural clothing).
The environment of shots is shown to have an impoverished images done through the settings connecting to Alvarado's theory ideas of pitied, as the audience is left feeling sorry for those living in the setting. Said's theory of orientalism is reinforced as the flawed setting compared to the socially functioning environment suggests the west is superior.

2) Summarise the three theorists we have looked at this week: Alvarado, Fanon and Said.

Alvarado: Used on the racial representations of black people to decode how they can be represented, where the text should come under 4 racial representations: Pitied, Humorous, Exotic and Dangerous. 

Fanon: Stated that the 4 stereotype themes; infantilize, primitive, decivilize and essentialize,  based on the racial representations of specifically black people as derogatory to the black person.

Said: Theory of 'orientalism ' focuses on the racial representation and stereotypes in the middle east, where the west constructed a generalisation of certain characteristics  led to division of difference between east and west 

3) Finally, choose ONE clip for EACH of the theorists and explain how you could apply that theory to the clip. 

ALVARADO

DANGEROUS: This scene from the movie 'Juice' reinforces Alvarado's theory of the 'dangerous' and the 'pitied'. As the movie shows teens trying to beat each other up in an impoverished setting in the shot, also suggests they are loitering and involved in anti-social behaviour.

HUMOROUS: In the 1970’s race was a major vehicle for comedy. Programs removed the threat of black people by making them the butt of the jokes. Some movies with a black American man tend to make particular jokes against his race or ethnicity.  By doing this creates a humorous affect for the audience and makes a comedic atmosphere.

PITIED: Adverts and documentaries raise awareness for African people and young children who are in need of water and food in order to survive. An atmosphere of sadness is also made by audience/viewers identifying the lack of basic necessities some children have compared to themselves. By doing this not only is it presenting real problems in the world but also creating an atmosphere of pity within the audience which in turn persuades members to pay and portray beneficial methods so they can help these young children in need. 

FANON: 

The image of Latin people are portrayed as different to people of a western society. The children playing and the traditional music maybe used to distance the audience and feel as though they are the 'other', reinforcing the theory  'decivilised' also the dysfunctional setting of the scene may be portrayed as 'primitive' because of their loud nature of it

SAID

ORIENTALISM:  This scene highlights the theory as the eastern charterers are portrayed as submissive and subordinate compared to the dominant western character. The superiority of west over the east is highlighted through the actors facial expressions as they are surprised of the house suggesting they have never been in something like.

Identities and the Media: Post-colonial theory

1) Read the excellent article exploring the different representations of black people in British film and TV rom Media Magazine 42 (MM42 fromour Media Magazine archive - page 51). Pick three key points from the article and bullet point them here.

• The problem with British black culture maybe due to the dependence on American Black culture. 
• Dizzee Rascal music though his heritage is from Ghana and Nigeria he was able to shape Black British culture. 
• That the problem with the representations of black people is that it is anchored in 'race' or 'issues' continuously, which was stated it could lie in the hands of media ownership an who tells the story. 

2) List FIVE films, FIVE TV programmes and FIVE online-only productions that are discussed in the article. These are great examples you could use in the MEST1 or MEST3 unseen exams.

Films:

• Kidulthoood
• ILL Manors
• Attack the Block
• AnuvaHood
• Slumdog Millionaire

TV Programmes: 

• Top Boy
• Luther
• Citizen Khan
• The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
• Line of Duty

Online-only productions:

• Venus vs. Mars
• Meet the Abebanjos
• The Ryan Sisters
• Brothers with No Game
• All about McKenzies

3) Watch Destiny Ekaragha's clips above (more of her work is available on her 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.

'Tight jeans' is an example of Alvarado's  theory of the idea of "pitied" and "dangerous" as the boys are put in the location setting of a improvised estate so portrayed as living poorly and Fanon's theory idea of "decivilised" is reinforced here also because of their setting and clothing. The clothing they wear is that of hoodies and jeans, nothing lavish or designer and because those clothing types have been portrayed in media as something dangerous youths wear it reinforces the theory and because they are all black highlights Alvarado's theory of this being particular clothing style to being for Black males, being socially dysfunctional and linked to gang culture. There is also the idea of being "humourous" (Alvarado) as the characters talk of some comical topics which would amuse audiences watching them and are there to do that. 
'Gone Too Far' would be used to reinforce stereotypes of Black people and would be used to subvert these stereotypes due to the actions of the main protagonist.  The use of having the Nigerian mother and brother in the short would reinforce Alvarado's theory idea of "exoticism"  as the mother and son Ikudayisi show their Nigerian culture through their clothing which is surprises and intrigues other characters in the short and the audience is. Also, the setting is in impoverished area in estates and flats and so maybe deemed as "pitied" (Alvarado) and because of the non-conventional behaviour of the Nigerian brother in the context of how British people act he may reinforce Fanon's idea of "decivilised". 
Also, the idea of subverting ideas of Black Africans by the main character from 'Gone Too Far' not particularly happy with his brothers Nigerian(ess) could be put the idea of putting on a "white mask" as he sees this part of his culture as "other" and at the beginning doesn't want to be associated with it. However, this would not be subverting this idea as many Black youth sometimes do not want to be associated with their African heritage but would rather make fun of it "humorous"(Alvarado) as the characters make fun of Ikudayisi for his accent and way of dress. This would also be a subversion due to the representation of the Nigerian mother and son as it is not particularly shown in British TV in a light where it is just an all black cast .

NDM News: A case study in News and Social Media

1) What does Guardian journalist and academic Emily Bell say has happened to the print news industry on page 1 of the factsheet?

-Emily Bell states that it has "slipped suddenly and conclusively into a world where it no longer owns the means of production, or controls the routes to distribution" this shows that the news industry hasn't adapted to the changes of the times as more people seek news digitally rather than physically through print/newspapers.

2) How do news stories become prominent on social media?

- Rather than gatekeepers in newsrooms, computerised algorithms are created to dictate what is deemed more important and popular to people and in fact what we see on social media sites. They get this information by viewing what people search and popularity of it and that is given importance filtering out others.
3) What is EdgeRank and how does it work?

-EdgeRank is an algorithm created by Facebook which decides which stories to appear for each user on the site. It works by hiding certain stories which people are not intrested in so if the story doesn't get a high score on popularity then it won't be viewed by people on Facebook. 

4) Why was the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri (after the shooting of Michael Brown) an interesting example of how Facebook's news algorithm works?

-Facebook's algorithms proved that it had "too much" of a filtering process to the stories that it found the Ice Bucket challenge more interesting that the stories of Ferguson and the story later stared appearing only after all the discussions and reports were made.
5) How did the news of Osama Bin Laden's death break?

- It was done by one person with the job of an adviser called Keith Urbahn tweeting that Bin Laden had been killed and because of his 1000 followers the tweet began to spread and because of its gained popular interest from users it because more believable the more people shared it online.
6) How does news spread on Twitter?

- As Twitter relays news in reverse chronological oreder, meaning old tweets get pushed to the bottom and news ones at the top, it allows it to be up to date and time relevant for stories that appear on the site. 
7) What is YOUR opinion on editorial control at tech giants like Facebook and Twitter? Are they neutral or should they play an active role (such as blocking and deleting ISIS beheading videos)?

Tech Giants like Facebook and Twitter are at a higher platform to be able to dictate what their audience are able to view and with revelations on news that "everyone" uses Twitter, i think allowing videos such as ISIS will show their own moral stand on the situation. I think because of this access to power and importance to peoples lives they should take a stand against such content and rather leave it to news broadcasters to reveal such information (though that can lead to bias and fake information) it would be disastrous for sites such as Twitter where numerous ages are at play using the site to let explicit videos to get on the site. However, videos such as that may bring to question if the site themselves put it on their or they have little ability to verify who users are and the content they spread. Also, A Black Mirror episode called 'The National Anthem' revealed though explicit content it seen as morally wrong audience themselves will share and await the problems which would happen because of them sharing the video, evident when people sat at their TVs in hopes the Prime minister would do what the "terror group" wanted. 
So, it could be that both parties are to be blames, as are audiences morally aligned to know what is right to share and what isn't or are the social media sites the ones to do that when they can also alter what people see and view and if they themselves are unable tackle in their content from their users. 

8) Spend some time exploring First Look Media. Is this a realistic future for quality journalism?

-I think the site takes on a more different and "edgy" look to their website for news, which reinforces the idea which Murdoch states of "news changing" with society. Like The Guardian did with their website and actual newspapers making it more gossip magazine look rather than tabloid which many people had opinions about the change saying it's political ideas will change more far-left. However, I do think that the First Look Media does have a more futuristic look on their website but still holding onto typical conventions of have key large quotes from the article but this is a underlying feature as the whole site loks starkly different to what new websites are keeping with


9) Read the About page for First Look Media. What are they trying to achieve and do you think they will be successful?

- They define themselves as "A bold, independent spirit" which would be higlifhting their status as being more "different" and less "conventional" to other news sites. The bold quote they highlights at the top states “Our nation is stronger when we protect the rights of individuals to speak their minds, associate with whomever they please and criticize their government and others in power.”, this would be the page stating they intend to make their news based on the idea of "freedom of speech" ("to speak their minds, associate with whomever they please and criticise their government and others in power") for the masses rather than speaking with focusing on one particular ideological view which most news pages do (far-right, leftist etc.). 
I think this is successful to an extent as it is inevitable that we would be seeing layouts like FLM, even the Guardian changed their look with a more 'modern' page layout, as traditional media and layouts and may be conservative views are dying out this news age of young people (millennials, gen z) would lead to less conventional news as many people are aware of corruption of the government via news digitally and on print. However because FLM want people to able to "speak their mind" without critic is quite toxic in the sense that, are we supposed to allow any one to speak their mind even if collectively many would say it was wrong? People who speak negatively about bringing in refugees from other countries, those who would say the violent Police action against predominately Black people on the streets is justified ("Blue Lives Matter", FOX) or for it to be right for government officials to be able to target audiences on any platform with one click for their own political gain? (America, Russia etc.). 
FLM will have to decide which "side" they are a part of politically because if everyone s freely able to voice out their opinions and make articles that could lead to a lot of imbalance of audience and revenue they will be able to get. 
So, the idea of having a freedom in what you say is biased as you cant speak so freely if your speech involves dehumanisation of someones's life and ,with that idea in mind, FLM could be creating problems and limiting their success.

10) Finally, take a good look at The Intercept. Explain how The Intercept started and list three interesting stories on there from the last 12 months.

The Intercept's was created after Edward Snowden with information of mass survelliance in 2013 leading to a group of journalists  Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Jeremy Scahill to found their own media outlet to be able to like Snowden bring revelations through journalism to reveal such things significantly from the government. 

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• Caught in a Gang Dragnet and Detained by ICE, an Immigrant Tests the Limits of a Sanctuary CitY