Developments in new/digital media mean that audiences can now have access to a greater variety of views and values. To what extent are audiences empowered by these developments?
I believe that audiences are empowered to some extent with these developments. Yes audiences do have more power over using UGC and becoming citizen journalist but the mass media have major control suggesting that we live in a marxist world instead of a pluralist world. Pluralists argue that we live in a classless society and media organisations are responsive to an audience and are economically determined while Marxists believe that the mass media are a tool used by ruling bodies to maintain hegemonic control over the masses and a class divided society. Hegemony is a word used to describe the dominance of one social class over others, this dominant class can decide what is accepted as normal or what is normal.
In modern day society we as audiences have been given more control and power due to new and digital technology. The internet is possibly the most "empowering tool" (as according to Al Gore) and is considered the "most important medium of the twentieth century" (Briggs and Burke). In some cases such as the K-Pop artist who had used parts of the Quaran in songs had led to many audiences being empowered as they were able to convince the singer to apologise through the use of comment sections on videos on sites such as Youtube, it did also lead to the hashtag being created and widely used known as #StayStrongCL which allowed audiences to show their support for the artist and come together in helping the artist stay positive against any negative comments. The internet along with smartphones, apps etc. have created an access to wider content and more variation of where to obtain their news from. e.g. from blogs, online organisations such as MailOnline or through twitter. This variety of views and content can allow the audience to formulate their own opinions and therefore empowered in that sense. New technology can also help create citizen journalist and capture something which media organisations wouldn't usually capture which therefore makes it possible for audiences to decide on what is news, the new technology can also lead to UGC and allow the truth to be revealed e.g. the Ian Tomlinson case. Audiences and UGC through the use of smartphone recordings had recorded the attack on Ian Tomlinson before his death, which is when he was pushed onto the ground during a G8 riot by police officers. At first the police weren't considered to be at fault for the death until the video was emerged and became news. Other ways in which the audience were empowered by new and digital technology would be through comments sections again, during the olympics after the opening ceremony a journalist had mocked the NHS and opening ceremony as well as been racist by saying that a white woman and black male cannot be living together in a house happily (as portrayed in the opening ceremony). As soon as this article was posted a herd of users had flooded the comments hating on the journalist and what the article had stated which led to the article being pulled down shortly after. Other than this online news organisations and sites such as twitter, youtube and Facebook had given audiences power as they all gave valid reasons for the London Riots stating that the riots weren't positive but occurred due to the Government ignoring those in need. In a slightly more positive note, youtube and Facebook did create a viral video to assist a young asian male during the riots and a male who had been knocked off his bike which was then robbed, the asian male was a student who came into contact with a gang who robbed his backpack and then beat him and left him to stumble off. This video made many online organisations pick up on this and decide to choose the videos (UGC videos) as main/home page news as well as try to raise money and support for the asian student. Earlier on there was a small negative empowering of audiences through the riots and the K-Pop artist being hated and to add to the list wikipedia allows many people to publish anything on the site, it does get monitored and checked but doesn't mean every page can be 100% reliable and could lead to a "dumbing down of society."
Some believe that the 80/20 rule (Pareto's law) can be applied to new and digital technology and that 80% of the news consumed by audiences come from 20% of the major mass producers, however that is just a theory unlike Lin and Webster's data which suggest that the top 5% of all websites accounted for almost have 75% of user volume. This therefore suggests differently to the pluralist perspective and leads on into marxism. People such as Rupert Murdoch has hegemonic control and chooses what does on to Sky and what can go into the Sun etc. This suggests that even though audiences have empowering tools they can never choose what is considered news. We don't have gatekeeper control an example of this would be when Rupert Murdoch chooses to say that the Times man of the year award goes to George Osbourne. Other ways in which the media is empowered instead of audiences was when Nek Nom challenges were going on which is when friends challenge others to do a certain task which usually is drinking a certain number of shots etc. and these have at some points led to deaths of those participating. Once the media organisations had told people about the dangers and deaths the Nek Noms had decreased which therefore decreased the number of deaths that may occur.
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