News Markets and Platforms (U7: P1, P2, M1)
P1 (U7): Explain the media market for different news providers
P2 (U7): Explain the media platforms used for new distribution
Case Study
The coronavirus is a disease that began in China in late 2019. The first report of the disease came after a man supposedly ate a bat. The World Health Organisation has identified the symptoms of the disease early on before there were reports in countries foreign to China stating that patients will have cold-like symptoms. Currently, the virus has made its way to Europe causing high alert and resulting in China closing the majority of its borders. Because of the deaths associated with the disease, the majority of news outlets around the world are reporting on the coronavirus as it spreads in an attempt to raise awareness.
The Sun is a tabloid newspaper and therefore has a very informal mode of address when addressing serious topics using shock factor titles to bring in viewers and always being sure to include the most shocking statistics early on in the story. For their report on the coronavirus, The Sun made sure to include the words "viral" and "plague" to ensure that viewers of the article will be startled and want to read more about a disease that is being compared to an illness that killed millions of people hundreds of years ago. However, a benefit of The Sun reporting on the virus is that they are using their huge popularity amongst British readers to keep a live blog of unfolding events available to everyone who reads the website. https://www.thesun.co.uk/topic/coronavirus/. The difference in The Sun's content between their website and their traditional printed newspaper is the availability of content. As the printed newspaper is only made once a day, information and stories can only be given from the day before. As the website can be constantly updated as stories progress with updates, The Sun can take advantage of this and give stories on their website as they develop and update them as more information has arisen, as opposed to the printed newspaper which prints completed stories from the day before.
The Guardian's mode of address is, in comparison to The Sun, much more formal mainly due to it being a broadsheet and having more educated readership. By having live updates on their websites, the Guardian are ensuring that their readership can stay engaged with minute to minute updates as well as informing readers through their more traditional outlet: their newspaper. The Guardian would give news stories and information to their viewers online when readers choose to type in the website name at a time that is convenient for them to read the news (unlike push notifications that they would receive if they downloaded The Guardian app from which they would receive details of a story as it develops).
Instagram has had a large amount of its verified influencers make posts about the epidemic, often bending the context they're being presented in to that of what they would usually post. However, because it is still a social media and the majority of users aren't using it to get updates about the news, the majority of posts about the coronavirus made by said influencers shouldn't be taken seriously with some even going on to criticise user Logan Paul for poking too much fun at the disease in a recent Instagram post. Despite some of the backlash, the platform has also been used by its influencers (particularly those based in Asia) to use their clout in an attempt to ensure that people are staying safe. Users of Instagram would most likely receive news and updates of the virus when not choosing to do so. Despite having control over who they follow and knowing the type of content they would receive in their feed, they cannot control what the users they follow post or when its posted. In that regard, they have less control over the news they consume when compared to receiving news on news websites. People can access all social medias for free and access all news pages for free. However, because its easy for people to use social media, it is equally as easy to join social media, meaning that large amounts of fake news websites create profiles in attempt to make chaos amongst social media users. Due to the large amounts of false information, as opposed to more traditional forms of news consumption, users of social media should be aware of trustworthy news outlets on social medias, of which they should only trust.
Because Buzzfeed is a largely left wing news website with a teenage target audience, the majority of their news content is ensured to cater to said target audience. They mainly do this by including topics relatable to said target audience by using teenagers as examples and words that pop for people on the left of the political spectrum such as "racist". This, accompanied with the inclusion of the popular social media TikTok were used to create a news article that would seem appealing to an otherwise barely sought after market in the sense that there aren't a large amount of news outlets that have the same target audience. However, by bringing light to the small issue, the outlet is trying its best to ensure that there will be more tolerance of the issue from its readers. Readers of Buzzfeed consume the news stories put out similarly to that of other news outlets with an internet presence. Because of the app that the service provides, users can have a choice of receiving notifications as soon as stories develop or having more control over when they read news by searching news websites and choosing when and where they would want to read the news.
M1 (U7): Compare and contract the benefits of using different media platforms
The Sun is a tabloid newspaper that offers its content to its readers on its app, printed newspaper, website and on major social medias being Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. One of the benefits of offering itself through so many digital news distribution methods are that they can stay relevant to a user whenever they go online, throughout their time online. For example, if a user goes on Instagram, posts from The Sun would show up in their feed, post notifications from The Sun showing developing stories urging them to visit their website or the app. Therefore, the large digital presence is good for The Sun and other tabloids like it as they can easily summarise their stories for bitesized content that internet users want.
A large internet presence for broadsheet news outlets such as The Guardian, however, may prove to not be helpful. Because of their more sophisticated writing style compared to newspapers such as The Sun, it would be harder for editors of The Guardian to summarise articles for platforms such as Instagram in which users expect to have information needed in only a sentence or two, a task which would prove to be difficult for a newspaper that likes to focus on hard facts and evidence when reporting on a story. In that regard, it wouldn't be in broadsheet news outlets, such as The Guardian's best interest to have as large of an internet presence as tabloids such as The Sun.
Because of tabloids, such as The Sun's simplistic writing structure, its a benefit to offer their news through digital news distribution methods such as social media i.e Snapchat and Instagram. Because of the social media's younger demographic, particularly those who get their news on social media are similar to those users who read topics that tabloids such as The Sun offer (such as celebrity gossip, non-serious news). By having a similar demographic to the platforms they allow themselves to be accessed on, it it ultimately beneficial for The Sun as they can expand their amount of readers and the amount of views their online advertisements get, all of which can increase the popularity of their news outlet.
Another disadvantage for broadsheet news outlets such as The Guardian to have as many digital news distribution methods as The Sun is due to their different target audiences. Because broadsheets such as The Guardian have a target audience that is wealthier, more educated and older than that of The Sun, they would most likely not have as much free time in their days to keep up with news whether that would be on their phones, tablets or computers mainly because higher demanding jobs cause employees to devote a larger portion of their time to said jobs. This would mean that regular updates from The Guardian's app and social medias would inevitably be seen as annoying to their target audience and less of an essential. Because of their advanced age compared to tabloid readers, broadsheet readers would be more likely to traditionally read their news from printed newspapers rather than getting their news from social medias and apps. Therefore it would be broadsheets, such as The Guardian's best interest to scale back the amount of platforms they offer their news on, or at the least market it to the younger end of their demographic who would rather get their news online than on printed newspapers.
News outlets that use television to show their news stories also come with their advantages and disadvantages. Despite being able to show videos and interviews relating to the story which could give viewers a better sense of what was developing, a large disadvantage for news channels is that they are live. This means that viewers can only watch the news on television by being in front of their immobile televisions at the exact time that stories be reported on. News stations have, however, found three ways to counteract this con. The first being 24 hour news. This means that as the news station is on all the time, stories can be repeated sometimes with added commentary if the story is unfolding. This means that viewers could watch a story even if it was previously reported on. The second way that news stations battled their main weakness was the introduction of evening news. As most people are at home in front of their televisions in the evening, news channels would show their most important news stories at this time. The third development came from the introduction of large streaming websites such as YouTube and websites. Because of these, news channels can upload clips of the news to their website/YouTube after they aired on television under the title of what the clips are about. By doing this, viewers can access the news wherever and whenever they please due to the introduction of mobile phones, and also have the added benefit of picking and choosing which parts of the news they would want to watch. This can be shown by The Sun, who despite not having a news channel, upload news stories about the coronavirus daily, all of which link to their website with the same information. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTAAI24aeOo
News outlets use radio to give stories mainly to people in the car commuting to and fro places. Because of the decrease in users of using the radio at home, and because it's illegal to consume media on ones phone while driving, the driver is the main consumer of radio news. However, a disadvantage of radio news is the lack of visuals available for the viewer. Because they can only listen, all news presented to the listener must be available through sound and not rely on users viewing any graphs or interviews.
P2 (U7): Explain the media platforms used for new distribution
Case Study
The coronavirus is a disease that began in China in late 2019. The first report of the disease came after a man supposedly ate a bat. The World Health Organisation has identified the symptoms of the disease early on before there were reports in countries foreign to China stating that patients will have cold-like symptoms. Currently, the virus has made its way to Europe causing high alert and resulting in China closing the majority of its borders. Because of the deaths associated with the disease, the majority of news outlets around the world are reporting on the coronavirus as it spreads in an attempt to raise awareness.
The Sun is a tabloid newspaper and therefore has a very informal mode of address when addressing serious topics using shock factor titles to bring in viewers and always being sure to include the most shocking statistics early on in the story. For their report on the coronavirus, The Sun made sure to include the words "viral" and "plague" to ensure that viewers of the article will be startled and want to read more about a disease that is being compared to an illness that killed millions of people hundreds of years ago. However, a benefit of The Sun reporting on the virus is that they are using their huge popularity amongst British readers to keep a live blog of unfolding events available to everyone who reads the website. https://www.thesun.co.uk/topic/coronavirus/. The difference in The Sun's content between their website and their traditional printed newspaper is the availability of content. As the printed newspaper is only made once a day, information and stories can only be given from the day before. As the website can be constantly updated as stories progress with updates, The Sun can take advantage of this and give stories on their website as they develop and update them as more information has arisen, as opposed to the printed newspaper which prints completed stories from the day before.
The Guardian's mode of address is, in comparison to The Sun, much more formal mainly due to it being a broadsheet and having more educated readership. By having live updates on their websites, the Guardian are ensuring that their readership can stay engaged with minute to minute updates as well as informing readers through their more traditional outlet: their newspaper. The Guardian would give news stories and information to their viewers online when readers choose to type in the website name at a time that is convenient for them to read the news (unlike push notifications that they would receive if they downloaded The Guardian app from which they would receive details of a story as it develops).
Instagram has had a large amount of its verified influencers make posts about the epidemic, often bending the context they're being presented in to that of what they would usually post. However, because it is still a social media and the majority of users aren't using it to get updates about the news, the majority of posts about the coronavirus made by said influencers shouldn't be taken seriously with some even going on to criticise user Logan Paul for poking too much fun at the disease in a recent Instagram post. Despite some of the backlash, the platform has also been used by its influencers (particularly those based in Asia) to use their clout in an attempt to ensure that people are staying safe. Users of Instagram would most likely receive news and updates of the virus when not choosing to do so. Despite having control over who they follow and knowing the type of content they would receive in their feed, they cannot control what the users they follow post or when its posted. In that regard, they have less control over the news they consume when compared to receiving news on news websites. People can access all social medias for free and access all news pages for free. However, because its easy for people to use social media, it is equally as easy to join social media, meaning that large amounts of fake news websites create profiles in attempt to make chaos amongst social media users. Due to the large amounts of false information, as opposed to more traditional forms of news consumption, users of social media should be aware of trustworthy news outlets on social medias, of which they should only trust.
Because Buzzfeed is a largely left wing news website with a teenage target audience, the majority of their news content is ensured to cater to said target audience. They mainly do this by including topics relatable to said target audience by using teenagers as examples and words that pop for people on the left of the political spectrum such as "racist". This, accompanied with the inclusion of the popular social media TikTok were used to create a news article that would seem appealing to an otherwise barely sought after market in the sense that there aren't a large amount of news outlets that have the same target audience. However, by bringing light to the small issue, the outlet is trying its best to ensure that there will be more tolerance of the issue from its readers. Readers of Buzzfeed consume the news stories put out similarly to that of other news outlets with an internet presence. Because of the app that the service provides, users can have a choice of receiving notifications as soon as stories develop or having more control over when they read news by searching news websites and choosing when and where they would want to read the news.
M1 (U7): Compare and contract the benefits of using different media platforms
The Sun is a tabloid newspaper that offers its content to its readers on its app, printed newspaper, website and on major social medias being Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. One of the benefits of offering itself through so many digital news distribution methods are that they can stay relevant to a user whenever they go online, throughout their time online. For example, if a user goes on Instagram, posts from The Sun would show up in their feed, post notifications from The Sun showing developing stories urging them to visit their website or the app. Therefore, the large digital presence is good for The Sun and other tabloids like it as they can easily summarise their stories for bitesized content that internet users want.
Because of tabloids, such as The Sun's simplistic writing structure, its a benefit to offer their news through digital news distribution methods such as social media i.e Snapchat and Instagram. Because of the social media's younger demographic, particularly those who get their news on social media are similar to those users who read topics that tabloids such as The Sun offer (such as celebrity gossip, non-serious news). By having a similar demographic to the platforms they allow themselves to be accessed on, it it ultimately beneficial for The Sun as they can expand their amount of readers and the amount of views their online advertisements get, all of which can increase the popularity of their news outlet.
Another disadvantage for broadsheet news outlets such as The Guardian to have as many digital news distribution methods as The Sun is due to their different target audiences. Because broadsheets such as The Guardian have a target audience that is wealthier, more educated and older than that of The Sun, they would most likely not have as much free time in their days to keep up with news whether that would be on their phones, tablets or computers mainly because higher demanding jobs cause employees to devote a larger portion of their time to said jobs. This would mean that regular updates from The Guardian's app and social medias would inevitably be seen as annoying to their target audience and less of an essential. Because of their advanced age compared to tabloid readers, broadsheet readers would be more likely to traditionally read their news from printed newspapers rather than getting their news from social medias and apps. Therefore it would be broadsheets, such as The Guardian's best interest to scale back the amount of platforms they offer their news on, or at the least market it to the younger end of their demographic who would rather get their news online than on printed newspapers.
News outlets use radio to give stories mainly to people in the car commuting to and fro places. Because of the decrease in users of using the radio at home, and because it's illegal to consume media on ones phone while driving, the driver is the main consumer of radio news. However, a disadvantage of radio news is the lack of visuals available for the viewer. Because they can only listen, all news presented to the listener must be available through sound and not rely on users viewing any graphs or interviews.
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