NDM News case study: Audience and Institution

Blog task: Audience and Institution

1) Read this extract from the Ofcom 2014 report on the consumption of news in the UK. What are the key statistics relating to the influence of new and digital media?

• The majority of adults in the UK (95%) say they follow the news. Television is by far the most-used platform for news, with 75% of UK adults saying they use TV as a source of news; this figure has seen a small decrease since 2013 (78%).
• There has been growth in the number of those who use any internet or apps for news.This is particularly evident in the 16-34 age group, where use of internet or apps for news has increased from 44% in 2013 to 60% in 2014.
• Since 2013 there has been an increase in the number of people stating a website/app as their most important news source (21% in 2014 vs. 14% in 2013). Almost half (45%) of 16-24s say their most important news source is a website/app.
• BARB figures show that each adult watched an average of 115 hours of national and international news on television in 2013.
• However, 16-24 year olds consumed only 27 hours of news on television in the same period, compared to 196 hours for those aged 55 and over.
• When asked which topics they considered to be news, UK adults nominated crime (53%), worldwide current affairs (53%), UK-wide current affairs (51%) and UK-wide politics (49%).
• Younger and older age groups find different news topics personally interesting. Among the 16-24s, specific news categories such as crime, sports, technology and science/environment fall into the top ten topics, while the over-55s are more likely to nominate, general world news and UK and regional current affairs.

2) Come up with an example of an institution that has benefited from the changes new and digital media has brought to the news industry. Explain how new technology has helped the institution and try to find statistics or financial figures that support your point.

•  An example of an institution that has benefited from the changes new and digital media has brought to the media industry is BBC News. This is because they have adapted to and made good use of the new technology   examples include,

• Free digital television: Freeview is now the UK's largest digital television platform (available in 14 million households) thanks to the BBC's central role in the creation of the platform and the launch of BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC News 24 and the BBCi's red button services for the platform.

• DAB digital radio: The BBC has launched five new digital radio services and invested in transmission networks covering 85% (January 2008) of the population.

• The internet: The BBC continues to play an important role in demonstrating the power of the medium as a platform for original content, having created the UK's third most used website and most used mobile internet (WAP) service.

• The BBC will promote understanding of new technologies by continuing to invest in media literacy in order to promote understanding of the benefits of new technologies, particularly among the most vulnerable audiences.

• The BBC will also drive adoption of new technologies by helping to establish industry technical standards which help audiences to find, access and use them more easily and consistently, building audience confidence and spreading the benefits widely.

3) Find an example of an institution that has suffered as a result of the changes new and digital media has brought to the news industry. In what way has it had a negative impact? Again, try and find actual statistics or financial figures to explain your point.

Newspaper institutions are in competition with one another such as rupert murdochs news corp institution in order to ensure they have enough people consuming their products so that they can make money from advertising to safeguard their survival. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for paperbased news forms to compete with the rise in e-media news services. • Over the last decade, the UK’s daily newspapers have lost some 2.25 million readers. Falling circulations mean less money through the till and newspapers’ other main source of income, advertising, is also drying up. In the last 10 years, advertising revenues have fallen by about 20%. In the struggle to stay profitable, newspaper companies are cutting staff, closing offices and, in the case of local papers, getting rid of titles. 

4) Answer the following question in a mini-essay on your blog:

Who has benefited most from the changes new and digital media have had on the news industry - audiences or institutions?

I believe that they have both benefit a lot as they both have different roles. This is because institutions are the ones that give the audience the chance to express/share/view content online and audiences are the ones that make the the institutions have something to show. I believe that it has benefited the audiences because They have a wealth of information available at all times via broadband, wi-fi and multi platform mobile devices such as the iPone and Blackberry. Furthermore the availability of interactive features - Social Networking Sites  such as Facebook, and the 140 character blog Twitter, and internet blogs. Also Skype for long distance phone calls, and email. There is also on demand media content means music, feature films, radio and television and all the content of the internet are available on a laptop with wi-fi. Audience are also able to view there missed a television programme – no problem it is available for at least a week on the BBC iplayer, and the other mainstream channels have similar devices. Furthermore NDM has allowed convergence to come together which means that all digital content can be accessed in one place for the cost of broadband or subscription via Sky or Virgin or on the move via a device such as an iPad or notebook computer.

On the other hand i believe that institutions also benefit as for example • newsgathering - it helps us gather more, and sometimes better, material; we can find a wider ranges of voices, ideas and eyewitnesses quickly. Audience engagement - how we listen to and talk to our audiences, and allowing us to speak to different audiences - and a platform for our content - it's a way of us getting our journalism out there, in short form or as a tool to take people to our journalism on the website, TV or radio. It allows us to engage different and younger audiences.

Overall i believe audiences have benefited as thinking about and Trying to break into journalism – think about Citizen Journalism –send your report and pictures of a newsworthy event to a news organisation or dedicated site such as the Huffington post and they are more than likely to publish it – no fee but plenty of kudos. This is a way of democratising the media and making content free from traditional gatekeepers, Podcasts, forums and blogs allow ordinary people to have an interactive relationship with the media offering more democracy