Lecture two was
about the new types of news. We began by looking at the old types of media such
as newspapers, magazines and radio, and then progressed through the different types
of the web (Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0). Web 1.0 was the first kind of internet where
the focus was on companies and was advertisement friendly. Web 2.0 was the
start of the social web, with sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter,
narrowing the focus to social groups. The focus of Web 3.0 is on the
individual, particularly due to the use of smart phones. From here, the
question of what this wil mean for the news was raised. The two main points
were hyperlocalisation, where one can narrow their news intake from areas such
as entertainment and sporting to news in relation to the area they live in and
specific content delivery. The advantages listed for specific content delivery
were the ability to limit what news a person views to their preferences and
through this, advertising companies will be able to advertise certain products
to an audience who will be more susceptible to this product. The disadvantage,
which I believe outweighs the advantages, are the realistic potential for
ignorance. For example, if one only consumes celebrity gossip ‘news’, it is
unlikely they will ever hear or see much of more important news subjects such
as elections, war and other social problems that may effect their lives.
The lecture also
covered the new trend many online newspapers are following of making people pay
for their news. When I first heard this, I thought it was a bit stupid and although
through the rest of the lecture I understood the reasoning behind it, it was
not until I was explaining this concept to a friend that I fully understood why
newspapers are justified in charging for online news. As Dr Redman
pointed out through a creative demonstration, once a person or group of people
have been given something they believe they are entitled to it, when in fact
they are not, they hold the belief that they should continue to be entitled to
it. In my opinion, charging people to read the news does have one particular
large disadvantage, what if people stop reading the news. I have never bought a
news paper in my life, and I am sure neither have many others, so what if
charging for online news stops people being involved in the news?
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