Tuesday 17 January 2017

weekly news articles


UK national newspapers front pages following Donald Trump’s US presidential victory.



This article discusses the concerns amid the rise of fake news, which is a threat to journalism. The News Media Association has previously warned ministers that Google and Facebook were unfairly making money out of journalism produced by its members. According to the article, the Labour party has also established its own inquiry into the changing ways that news is consumed and shared online, as well as the practical, political and ethical issues raised by fake news. Labour suggest that because dominant tech giants such as Facebook and Google provide the gateway to accessing new material, they should have a greater responsibility. As a result, it leaves the government facing similar policy challenges over plurality, ownership and potential monopolies that previous governments faced when newspapers were the dominant force.

I believe that it is important for the government to get involved to tackle the issue of fake news as this will have a serious effect on overall society and also in politics e.g. elections and so on. 


Dark days for Soundcloud … but is it worth saving?


This article discusses the continuing failures of various social media sites. For example, Soundcloud is in trouble despite signing licensing deals with the major record labels and accumulating 175 million users worldwide. As a result, the future of soundcloud now rests on whether it can get people to subscribe for money. Social blogs such as Medium are also facing a similar fate. It laid off 50 employees, closed offices in Washington and New York, and admitted its original plan to make money out of advertising wasn’t working. Commercial models to create revenue are also failing, such as ad-driven business models. The article continues to portray some of the positive advantages of social media through the example of Channel 4. They ditched words and static pictures online in favour of video only, then pushed everything on to Facebook. In 18 months they grew their Facebook audience from five million a month to 200 million. 

I believe this article is important as it suggests that there is a need for constant new models and changes on social media to keep up with the demands of users. As a result, it would be less likely for a company to go out of business or face uncertainty if they continue to adapt to the transformation of the social networking sphere.

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