The Future of Journalism: Blog tasks

1) Why does Clay Shirky argue that 'accountability journalism' is so important and what example does he give of this?

He suggests that it is shrinking and that our society needs it. An example given is of the Catholic priests who raped 100 boys and rather than punishing the priest he was taken to rehab.

2) What does Shirky say about the relationship between newspapers and advertisers? Which websites does he mention as having replaced major revenue-generators for newspapers (e.g. jobs, personal ads etc.)?

He states that in the past newspapers had power over adverts as if an advertisement company did not like a story published by the newspaper they were unable to fight.

3) Shirky talks about the 'unbundling of content'. This means people are reading newspapers in a different way. How does he suggest audiences are consuming news stories in the digital age?

Audiences now consume news over social media platforms.

4) Shirky also talks about the power of shareable media. How does he suggest the child abuse scandal with the Catholic Church may have been different if the internet had been widespread in 1992?

If the internet had been widespread then the case would have been more public.

5) Why does Shirky argue against paywalls? 

By having paywalls news articles would be spread less by consumers therefore less people would recieve the news.

6) What is a 'social good'? In what way might journalism be a 'social good'?

When people get together and do something good.

7) Shirky says newspapers are in terminal decline. How does he suggest we can replace the important role in society newspapers play? What is the short-term danger to this solution that he describes?

He suggests that we need more accountable journalism as this would help support newspaper companies.

8) Look at the first question and answer regarding institutional power. Give us your own opinion: how important is it that major media brands such as the New York Times or the Guardian continue to stay in business and provide news?

I believe that due to their culture, tradition and influence they should remain as they are seen us trustworthy sources.

Part 2: MM55 - Media, Publics, Protest and Power

Media Magazine 55 has an excellent feature on power and the media. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM55 and scroll to page 38 to read the article Media, Publics, Protest and Power', a summary of Media academic Natalie Fenton’s talk to a previous Media Magazine conference. Answer the following questions:

1) What are the three overlapping fields that have an influence on the relationship between media and democracy?

Political, Economic and journalistic fields.

2) What is ‘churnalism’ and what issues are there currently in journalism?

This is the practice of copy and paste and issues in journalism are it is hard to maintain profit margins and there are also a low amount or journalists.

3) What statistics are provided by Fenton to demonstrate the corporate dominance of a small number of conglomerates? 

3 companies control 71% of the UK national newspapers. Only 5 groups control the circulation offline and online news.

4) What is the 'climate of fear' that Fenton writes about in terms of politics and the media? 

Politicians fear having a bad public reputation which can be seen through the Leveson enquiry.

5) Fenton finishes her article by discussing pluralism, the internet and power. What is your opinion on this crucial debate - has the internet empowered audiences and encouraged democracy or is power even more concentrated in the hands of a few corporate giants?

My opinion is that since audiences have the ability to be producers they are now more powerful therefore big corporate giants now rely on their fan bases for funds.