Task 2...


The development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view.

It can be argued that the audience are more powerful, due to the rise in technology in communication. Due to communicative ways such as mobiles phones becoming vastly improved, they now have high quality cameras built in, allowing audiences to produce better quality user generated content. This can be shown through the case of Rodney king, who was brutally beaten by police officers with no attempt to stop, which was recorded by civilian George Holiday, who had caught the actions on video tape by sheer chance, showing that UGC is important and makes the audience become the producer. This therefore, puts the audience in the position of power as they are now becoming the producers, over riding main producers in industries such as the news, as they are gaining footage that is up to date and exclusive.
Although on the other hand, all text that are broadcast to audiences are in fact mediated, therefore showing that the producers are still in control as they get to choose what the audiences watch. Even in reality TV shows, it is up to the producers what they think are the most important or interesting parts and broadcast them. This also occurs in the platform of print, journalists also choose an angle at which to write the story that they are reporting on, and perhaps not writing about the full content or occurrence that has happened. Therefore showing that producers in some aspects are still in control as us as an audience still do not have control or an option to what we see or read as someone else is choosing it for us. Though, this used to be more appropriate fitting to when the medium of newspapers were in demand, as they were the only form of news and information, apart from word and mouth that audiences were exposed to, whereas now audiences are exposed to a number of different mediums such as TV: Sky News, and online content.
In some cases it is further argued that audiences have power, as we are living in a growing pluralist society. Due to the rise in new & digital media and the internet, audience now have the privilege of having a vast amount of resources on the internet to give out information on the news, or even entertainment. Consequently because there are so many, it could be disputed that audiences therefore choose what they want to read, and read as many different view on something as they want, leading them to make up their own mind over a certain matter, e.g. a scandal in the news over a celebrity.
Then again, because of new & digital media, producers are constantly coming up with something new, better and even more fashionable to have. Thus putting the producers in the power of position as they are gaining more and more profit because consumers want to buy the latest gadget. This can be shown through the rise in Apple Mac, there are so many versions of the Ipod: nano, touch, shuffle and classic, and now there is the Iphone 4G, opposed to the ‘old’ 3GS. Although on the other hand, it can be thought that the audiences are putting pressure on the producers to create new and better things, therefore producers are working to audiences expectations, and catering for what they want. If the audience do not like a product, then producers have to come up with something that they do like, creating a demanding audience and having the producers under their control, putting the producers profit in the hands of the audience, ultimately creating the all so powerful audience. This is further enforced through the transition of newspapers being printed to becoming online websites. Having the newspapers accommodate the audiences so it can therefore become accessible to them, as they can now view the news on their laptops, Ipad and mobile phones, again portrays the audience as having the power as the producers are meeting the criteria needed by the audience to have a more accessible lifestyle to content such as the news.