Essay...

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

This essay focuses on whether the audience is powerful in terms of producing new and digital media developed through text or has the new and digital media done little to empower the audience. The development of new and digital media has increased incredibly over the years as multimedia technologies have become famous worldwide such as smartphones, Ipads, tablets, social media sites etc, all these benefit access to a large demographic audience. Pluralist's would argue that we live in a classless society in democracy therefore we are entitled for freedom and choice. Audiences are perceived as capable of manipulating the media and having access to 'the plural values of society' enabling them to 'conform, accommodate or reject'. On the other hand a Marxist's point of view would be a different approach on the new and digital media development, as they would say the mass media seek greater audiences because of the profit motive, they believe the media is a tool to control us and maintain the ideological hegemonic control over the masses and a class divided society. 

A Pluralist prospective would argue that the audience have more power over the media as the new and digital developments have become economically active. An example would be the Web 2.0 produced in 2005 by Tim O'Relly, a site where audiences from different demographics are able to become producers of a media text. Audiences are now relying on more citizen journalism based sites which allow audiences to produce and display their own content online rather than expecting information from conglomerates which are sometimes exaggerated content. "The internet is an empowering tool" (Al Gore) which states the audience have more freedom to what they do such as accessing the internet, an citizen journalist would strongly relate to this quote as they are journalist who produce their own content online. An example of citizen journalism can be the 2004 'Tsunami' which many of ordinary people at the place and time took footage of what was really happening, this footage by audience were published into online sites which spread very fast across the internet for others to see, whereas professionals did not have live realistic footage of the tragedy. Thus, new and digital developments has become a huge impact in society as cameras, online social media text etc are becoming very popular to access information and publish text online. 

However a Marxist's could argue that new and digital media text are all developed by conglomerates who have produced these social sites for audiences to acces therefore in order for audience to access information they need the internet content to provide it. Revenue is a huge institution in the media world as conglomerates such as News Corporation charge for their content online, they know the media seek greater audiences of the profit motive and that audiences would be willingly enough to pay it. In addition this is because the mass media maintains the dominate ideologies and values of the ruling class as they know what the audience pleasures are. '38% of UK pupils aged 9-19 never question the accuracy of online information' (Livingstone/Bober 2005) as audiences are too vulnerable to what the internet provides and says. This quote shows how the audience are not in control as the internet is in more power against them.

According to Pluralist's another argument could be that the audience are in power over the internet due to social media sites and other active sites, as conglomerates need a greater audience for their profits and institutions to be successful. The use of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc are all controlled by the audience as we are able to self-express our freedom and speech of content. Moreover "Technological blossoming of the culture of freedom, individual innovation and entrepreneurialism" (Castells 1996) is all up to the audience as we are in control in what we want to do online. Another example of audiences being in control over the media is user generated content, audiences are able to express their own opinion and views on social networking sites as well as an famous site called 'Youtube' which allows audiences to publish their own content for worldwide audiences to view and share opinions. The rise of citizen journalism and user generated content has made the audience more powerful in terms of consumption and production through the new and digital media developments. Moreover in relation to Blumler and Katz users and gratification theory, the audience are expressing their personal views online, it relates to personal relationship, surveillance or identity. 

"The internet has given readers much more power, the world is changing and newspapers have to adapt" (Rupert Murdoch) This quote states that the new and digital media developments are certainly changing society and how audiences access the internet. Rupert Murdoch himself is huge individual in the media industry as he owns a big conglomerate called News Corporation mentioned above, he owns one of the popular newspapers called 'The Sun' which is also known as a news and tabloid media text. As online versions have developed audiences are becoming less interested in the print values therefore more audiences are subscribing onto sites which provide news as new and digital technologies such as smartphones are used to access these sites.

On the other hand again a Marxist would disagree with a Pluralist's point of view as the media have dumbed down their output and construct texts simply to generate mass audiences, moreover this could relate to the hypodermic needle theory as they believe the audience tend to believe what the media provides. James Murdoch states "It is essential for the future of independent digital journalism that a fair price can be charged for news to people who value it" this quote is an example to Marxism as the audience would need to go through a pay-wall in order to receive the media text therefore audiences are willingly enough to pay for this subscription to value the news so audiences need the internet to pleasure their own values. In addition gatekeepers are another example in which professionals produce the media content therefore they would be the ones getting paid instead of citizen journalists as they do not own the revenue itself.

Furthermore, one could say that the audience are in empowered by the internet as censorship has impacted the audience and internet very much. I believe pornography is mostly watched by 40% of men and that these sites are mostly paid for to watch. As well as censorship, the media text also consumes the privacy and copyright content which restricts audiences from copying content of copyright as it is a big impact in our society. An example of copyright can be 'Napstar' which was created in 1999, and network which allowed to download free copyright music, this was later banned as it was a disadvantage to the economically industries therefore the audience do not have any control over the internet. 

In addition the new and digital media developments have let the audience become in power of the internet as censorship of pornography can been easily accessed by anyone, even of a younger demographic as the privacy of pornography is not restricted. The audiences choose to go on certain sites if they please which is somehow always available to them online, thus the audience do have the power over the internet as there is not much restriction. Also the copyright of 'Napstar' was another illegal issue of downloading music, however there many sites still available for many audiences to access and download music, not even music, as well as films, media text and more. Another example to what a Pluralist would argue against would be the Arab communication which allowed Arabs to share their opinions and context across the internet to others to view, what was really happening in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. The use of new and digital media has allowed the Arab communication to publish their content on the internet making the issue more notable and in consideration, as surveillance was not able to have freedom of speech. This relates to the users and gratification theory of person identity and person relationships.

In conclusion the developments of new and digital media can be argued equally as the audience have power in terms of consumption and production from both point of views. As a Pluralist would argue that the control of media is said to be in the hands of an elite who allow a considerable degree of flexibility in production choices whereas a Marxist's would state Mass media are seen as a way of entertaining the workers while drip feeding them ideologies and beliefs. Both sides argue equally showing us there are an audience who agree or disagree with some points therefore the argument is truly to be equal.