LO1- understand the news industry

UNIT 7 LO1- Understand the News Industry Report
The news is delivered to the public audience on many different platforms making it easily accessible for anyone at any time, some of these include print, web, TV, radio and social media. Web 2.0 (the second phase of the internet) has made this process of gathering current affairs much simpler for today’s people as we are now able to interact with news stories, share them with friends and family via social media and even comment, leaving feedback or opinions for those writing the articles. This has lead into a trend of Citizen journalism meaning anybody can put their own take on current events and change the way we of audiences see them.
Conglomerate companies such as the BBC have used technological convergence to their advantage, expanding their distribution to both web and social media allowing these news stories to reach a broader audience such as millennials who are seemingly out of touch when it comes to watching the news as it is broadcasted on TV. In addition to this, the BBC have gained a place on the Snapchat interface allowing them to reach further into a wide audience by appealing to a younger demographic with stories that will appeal directly to their age group. Likewise, the BBC have made it a possibility for listeners to see what will be featured in the shows in the oncoming days on social media accounts such as Twitter, each radio station has their own private account posting regularly to their audiences telling them of different talks of which they may like to listen to. 

As the BBC is a cross media conglomerate they also operate across several different radio stations in the United Kingdom which not only provides an entertainment section as part of their ethos, but delivers news hourly which again targets a mass audience for the stations which they are distributing the news from are specific for different age groups for example Radio 1 extra appeals primarily to a younger target audience however is still reporting on current affairs. As part of this, these radio stations operate on podcasts allowing listeners to tune in via the internet which again enables you to leave comments and share the content of the shows with friends on social media accounts. As mentioned previously these radio stations enable their selves to interact with users via social media as a result of technological convergence, particularly on BBC radio 2 there are portions of the show dedicated to debates where people are allowed to voice their opinions on the news or subjects related to via email or social media. At present the BBC have on going news stories regarding Donald Trump and his nomination of Neil Gorsuch for supreme court, In order to present this information to its audience, the article was hyperlinked to the BBC news website via the BBC news world Twitter account. The headline was attached to a video of Neil Gorsuch with Mr Trump stood behind Accompanied by the hashtag '#SCOTUS' which again leads you to various other mentioning’s of the
same hashtag featuring videos and alternative headlines. The article was based around the fact that Gorsuch would restore the conservative majority following the death of a member of the party, this message is continuous across the social media and online article as well as. This story has also been continued across various news stations including the world service, however this also gave information that some opposition democrats are attempting to block anyone deemed too conservative and Mr Gorsuch is causing some concern when it comes to his capability in this position. In an article given by the Telegraph, there is no mention of the arising concern about how legitimate the claim from Trump is about this court judge however input on how democrats are meeting his nomination with 'immediate resistance' - this is also being distributed by the Telegraphs social media page reconfirming that the stories are being told fairly across all of its available platforms. Both the BBC and The Telegraph take a central view in terms of political Bias however can be seen slightly leaning toward left wing as they are disputing the reliability of Trumps Nominations. The BBC in particular has taken this central view by giving information about the nominated, why the supreme court is as important as it is, protesters condemning the choice and an interview with Gorsuch himself. All Visual content surrounding this story feature the nominated Mr Gorsuch dressed formally to make an acceptance speech in the presence of Trump, these videos and images are consistent across multiple platforms in order to reinforce the importance of this event.

The issue with conglomerate such as the BBC is that they can be seen as politically biased, in this case toward left wing politics meaning that the majority of news stories we see and hear are poised to support this way of seeing. In contrast to this, News Corporation who provide the majority of the news for the world give us political bias from the right wing which again gives a skewed overview on global politics – The press association, a news agency gather all current news stories and sell them on to companies such as News Corporation therefore those containing the right wing politics can be bought and featured in their TV, Radio and print news reports. When this is the primary news provider globally , this can cause controversy. Every News outlet has editors called 'Gate Keepers' who regulate what we are exposed to via the media, this prevents us from seeing things which can be received as harmful for the audience or a political power – this of course causes some concern when media giants such as Rupert Murdoch own many of the worlds broadcasters and therefore regulate the majority of what we see on our screens and in print. The reason behind these vigorous checks is because of this idea of the Hypodermic syringe theory which implies that we as an audience are passive therefore believe everything we see and hear, to prevent this and in turn a moral panic , Gatekeepers only release what they think is suitable.
News can also be delivered in print form (tabloid or broadsheet) which covers a variety of different sectors within the news such as gossip, crime and politics. This is the most traditional way of distributing news however has been affected by technological convergence as these articles featured on the front pages daily can now be found in 'news stand' for example on your hand held devices. This again helps engage younger people with
current events as it is simply there at the touch of a screen and not amongst reams of print that may be off putting. 
Overall the biggest change in the way we receive news stories comes at the hands of citizen journalism, the rise of interactive websites such as Buzz Feed allow semi professional / amateur reporters to comment on stories that are in the larger newspapers and conglomerate broadcasters TV reports. This gives voice to people not part of large conglomerate companies and allows them to give their opinion in a way that is relatable to younger audience due to a large proportion of their content being on social media – particularly Facebook where once more audiences can engage and influence the way the next reports are written. 

However regardless of technological convergence, the remaining presence of traditional methods of distributing the news such as Newspapers are valued by many people including those not as familiar with technology. Technophobes and those simply at an age where internet access is not as feasible are those who benefit most from the traditional methods therefore should these platforms be eradicated due to web 2.0 there would be potential loss of generations receiving and acting upon the news. Digital natives however are more acclimatised to receiving the news on web based platforms and applications as this is the way more suitable for them, however the presence of traditional methods allows them to respect the convergence from broadsheets to simulcasting. Even with the rise of modern methods of interacting with the news, Print is still a relevant form of communication with the desired audience – in contrast to say a News broadcast on the television, newspapers have various different sections, reporting on multiple genres of news alongside advertisements, holiday features and self help areas which aren't available watching the six o'clock news.

In relation to this social media may be the most current way of meeting the needs of a mass audience , however isn't for everybody – some still prefer the thorough examination of current affairs in a broadsheet as opposed to brief sentences posted on a social media account. Be that as it may, social media still holds preference over say radio news broadcasts as a wider audience is reached in a shorter amount of time, however when it comes to reaching smaller audiences , say region specific – radio is more suited as it gives a more tailored approach to how we receive the news.