The Guardian Online, news is changing

www.guardian.co.uk - This is an online news source which provides readers of the Guardian newspaper and everybody else with a chance to read whatever news they want, at no cost.

Website of the year 27 January 2010

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It is without a doubt much more capable at providing readers with more information, with an inclusive process. This means it treats the audience with a privileged position. For example, you can register, sign in, immediately upload your CV for job vacancies and can gain access to frequently updated news articles by a click of the mouse.

The Guardian website has developed a close business-partner relationship with Apple; at the top of the homepage, where the prominent articles belong, is a link to a video of the launch of the new 'iPad' - not to be mistaken for the iPod. Also, users of the iPhone have the privilege of streaming news fresh from the site onto their phone, thus reaching out to a whole new audience. They are converging, by doing this they are diversifying so they produce and distribute across several media, in this case - the mobile phone - which is the most widely-used handheld gadget on the planet.

The Guardian online gives the audience the options of exclusive categories; blogs, video, community and jobs. This gives the audience a chance to express themselves and write articles on a forum, handing out links to their blogs, watching videos and a job search. These jobs range from Art and Heritage jobs to Marketing and PR jobs.

This gives a great sense of community and togetherness.

With the Internet dominating the newspapers, as it has much more to offer, and news which is updated regularly, (looking at it now, the last update was less then a minute ago) it looks as if in the near future newspapers will find no other alliterative but to conform to the change in media. In this lifetime, we may see the collapse of the newspaper industry and the Internet being home to thousands of news feeds.

News Values

1. Unexpectedness: 'Man bites dog' is news. If an event is highly unpredictable, then it is likely it will make it into the news.

2. Unambiguity: Events whose implications and meanings are clear make for a better story than those that are open for interpretation or need more explanation.

3. Personalisation: Events that can be portrayed as the actions of individuals will be more attractive than one in which there is no such "human interest".

4. Continuity: Once an event has been covered, it is convenient to cover it some more - the running story. -This will very much depend on the nature of the event. E.g. The war in Afghanistan.

5. Reference to elite nations: Those nations which are closest to our own will receive most of the coverage.

6. Reference to elite persons: The media may pay attention to important people; "The Labour Party leader falls in sea" - That is news.

7. Composition: Stories must compete with eachother for space within the media. For example, if a newspaper already has several foreign news item, the elast important news item might have to make way for a domestic news item.

8. Visual imperatives: The 9/11 terror attacks, in which the death toll was almost 3000, provided a series of powerful images. Terro attacks in the Congo have claimed 3million people, but because the cameras weren't there, the violence isn't as well-known.

9. Negativity: Bad news is good news.

10. Logistics: Although eased by the availability of global communications even from remote regions, the ability to deploy and control production of reporting staff, and functionality of technical resources can determine whether a story is covered.

Rupert Murdoch, the facts

The Dirty-Digger

He's famous for building one of the largest media empires in the world with interests in television, film, internet, newspapers and publishing.

He is the founder, a major share-holder, chairman and managing director of News Corp.

The most popular newspapers he owns are The Times, the Daily Mirror and The Sunday Times.

He has been accused of undermining the quality of the Press.

"The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow" - Rupert Murdoch

He doesn't want search engines to be free anymore; he said that he will block everything from his newspaper that comes from the popular search engine Google. "I think we will remove our websites from Google's search index, but that's when we start changing" - Rupert Murdoch

The Google boys responded with "He can block us if he wants to"

Female Representation in Two And A Half Men

As the name suggests, this programme is mainly centered around men and their lives.

Females are represented as sexy, thin 'barbie dolls'. This stereotypical view of gold-diggers have been transported to situation comdeies and therefore representing real-life.

There is the occasional difference in representation; Berta the housewife. If somone asks a man "what do houewives usually look like?" They will probably reply with, "Hot".

This 'hot' view of housewives has been almost purposefully misconstued by the creators, because they have chosen an overweight, not particularly attractive, although incredibly funny, middle-aged woman.

The picture on the left in Burta, and the one on the right is Candy.

Gender representation in 'Atonement'

In the beginning of Atonement, females are represented in a very elegant fashion. None of the women are fat, all of them are skinny, and almost every woman is beautiful.
The female role in the film is more relaxed than a man's role; writing plays, romance, reading books, smoking cigarettes.
Men are represented in the film as being very posh, handsome and straight. Their role in the beginningof the film is romance and war.

Representation Homework

Stereotypes

Stereotyping is something that we all do, it is a natural part of the way our minds work and not necessarily, in itself, a bad thing.

The four parts of a media storage:
- Appearance - This can include physical appearance as well as clothing a sound of voice.
- Behaviour - Typical things that people in this group might do.
- The stereotype is constructed in ways that fir the particular medium - E.g. One group of stereotypes are created in very different ways.
- There will always be a comparison whether real or imaginary with 'normal' behaviour - E.g. On the News, tales of striking workers (another stereotype) are always contrasted with interviews with 'normal' people who are suffering as the result of their actions.

Changing representations - Countertypes

The orgional stereotype of black people was negative. In the film 'Independance Day', Will Smith is seen as a strong and positive hero. This is changing the origional stereotype into something different.

Media Diary for Half Term

Films I've watched...that I can remember:

- My Bloody Valentine (2009)
- Goodfellas (1990)
- A Guide To Recognising Your Saints (2006)
- The 39 Steps (1935)
- The Incredible Hulk (2008)
- The Host (2006)

Television Programmes I've watched...that I can remember:

- The Simpsons (Sky1 and Channel 4)
- Come Dine With Me (Channel 4)
- Mock The Week (Dave)
- Life (BBC)
- Hollyoaks (Channel 4)
- Top Gear (Dave)
- Neighbours (FIVE)
- Curb Your Enthusiasm (More 4)
- Family Guy (BBC3)
- Katie - My Beautiful Face (Channel 4)
- P Diddy's Starmaker (Channel 4)