Essay on NDM

"The development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view."

Due to the advancement of the technology, this has meant that new and digital media has taken over as the primary source of news and lead to the decline within the traditional print format institution. This means that the audience/consumer have a greater input and relevance within the consumption and production of the media industry in this day and age. 

Firstly, due to cellular devices such as cameras and phone with the joint use of social media has caused a increased the importance of citizen journalism throughout the years. This means that news institutions are not solely responsible for resources and consumers have become more dependent on citizen journalism in order to provide evidence for their news stories. For example, the general public have filmed disasters on their phones, which have then been sent and used by news institutions that show the footage on TV and online. This creates a higher level sense of realism for audiences as the footage is usually more shaky and unclear, as oppose to it being shot steadily on a professional camera.
 In addition, this makes audience relate to the news story more as they see the perspective of someone who was actually there which reiterates my point as a  more realistic and practical viewpoint to the incident means that the audience takes a higher level of interest and to a certain degree 'amusement' to T the incident. 
Furthermore, on the down side this has also contributed to the continuing decline of journalism as the institutions use rely online sources footage rather than a professional origin such as a journalist. Also, this saves news institutions heaps of costs and preparation as online usually cost little to nothing whilst effectively doing all work needed however a journalist relies on hours and money to produce therefore there has been a decrease in the value of the profession.
Another case example of citizen journalism is the death of Ian Tomlinson who was brutally killed by an police officer. this footage was caught and recorded by a member of the public who was present at the incident, which the Guardian used and then shortly released  after. This created major controversy over the case as the police officer resigned, therefore was unable to face consequences. 
Similar to this overseas, the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson was also carried out by a police officer. This lead to movements such as #blacklivesmatter which had over hundreds of thousands followers on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Protesters also used social media to organise their demonstrations and protest over major cities all over the global such as Britain, France and the united states. 

This links to user generated content (UGC) which has also increased within the past years , giving audiences the power to create their own media products.
Audiences now have resources such as blog where they can share their activities and opinions with little to no restriction as to what they share or post. Another great resource for consumers is YouTube which is easy to sign up and make an account where millions can subscribe and watch.
 Furthermore, when it comes to websites such as the guardian and you-tube, consumer are able to discuss and debate among themselves through comments which they can leave criticisms or appropriation regard the content above. However, if the corporation such as you-tube find comments to be inappropriate then it can be removed due it not being able to meet the guidelines set by the institution.  this relates to the Baudrillard's theory of hyper reality as it suggests that audiences believe they have more power than they actually do, however fail to see that the upper class still hold power over us.

In contrast, developments of new and digital media has made audience more authoritative and commanding as they are now able to more actively producing their own content on the internet and therefore can create their own regulations online. Online sites, blogs. forums, social networking sites are known for being  accepting of self expression and surveillance for the consumers which establishes the power within the audience. This contrasts to Baudrillard point as the lack of censorship could be suggested that the audience are no longer passive and now able to actively challenging and criticise to any dominate ideologies through social media. An great example of this is the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed became a symbol for the issue of American Islamophobia when he was arrested for taking a homemade clock to school. Following his arrest, social media rallied using the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed as a show of support, which was used more than 300,000 times on Twitter, including one from President Obama. Mohamed was also invited to visit Facebook, and offered a scholarship to MIT and an internship at Twitter.

Lastly, pluralists argue that we live in a classless society and that media organisations are extremely responsive to the consumers interests and it is more economically determined. Pluralists also state that media industry is a big market that wouldn't be able to survive  or run without their consumers. Therefore Pluralists argue that the consumers are more powerful in terms of consumption and production. This is due to the fact that  we have many resources and platforms that allow us to express our opinions on and have the ability to strengthen our views and values due to the vast amount of content online to elevate us. The development of new and digital media has meant we have the capability to engage with media texts whilst also able to given us the  challenge and manipulate the media. Therefore consumers have the power to  can now conform, accommodate or reject media oppressed by the elite and ruling class.

In contrast, others would argue that the developments of new and digital media has done little to give the audience power as they are still relatively insignificant compared to the media institutions. Marxism makes an important point to the debate as they suggest that the media plays a vital role in brainwashing  and controlling the audience to accept the dominate ideologies of the elite.

In conclusion, the advancements of the new and digitial media means that the audience/consumer have a greater input and relevance within the consumption and production of the media industry.