(74) Facebook accused of censoring conservatives, report says

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/09/facebook-newsfeed-censor-conservative-news

 

Summary:

 

Facebook’s trending bar deliberately suppresses conservative news, according to a new report. Facebook, now arguably the most important distributor of news online, has cultivated the idea that its bar is an impartial algorithm that responds to “likes” and gives users only what they’ve indicated they want. But in a bombshell confession on the tech blog Gizmodo, a former editor says popular conservative news would be kept off the “trending news” sidebar.

Key data/statistical information:

 

• If five of the 10 put a story on the front page, it could be made to appear more often on Facebook Paper; if 10 put the story on the front page, it was added to the “trending” bar.

 

What's my view?

 

This can be seen as an attack on the elites through the use of social media. From a pluralist point of view, social media is given the people the power to express their opinions and potentially censor, if true, what they want people to consume as media. However, in my opinion, I think that the elites are realising the power that new and digital media is giving to the audience, and is trying to find a way to get back this power by making up such stories.

(73) Egypt's activists turn to social media to call for satirists' release

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/12/egypts-activists-social-media-facebook-satirists-release-awlad-el-shawarea

 

Summary:

 

Egyptian activists are using social media to demand the release of five detained members of a satirical street performance group whose video clips mocked the president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. The activists posted pictures on Facebook of themselves holding mobile phones in front of their faces with the caption: “Does a mobile phone camera rattle you?” The performers face several charges, including inciting terror attacks and street protests, attempting to overthrow the government and insulting state institutions, according to their lawyer Mahmoud Othman. The move against Awlad el-Shawarea underlined the government’s diminishing tolerance for dissent and signalled that its next target could be social media networks, one of the last remaining platforms for young, pro-democracy activists and artists to air their views and work.

Key data/statistical information:

• Othman told Associated Press on Thursday that the 5 were being held at a police station in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis.
• Othman said their ages ranged between 19 and 25. A sixth member of the group, Mohammed Zein, has not been detained, he added.

What's my view?

This is an example of how people are now turning to social media to bring attention to a topic that they think should be discussed or to go against the elite people. From a Marxist viewpoint, this will do nothing to change the mind of the government as it is said that they are already considering perhaps censoring social media so as to avoid activists from expressing their point of views that go against the dominant ideology.

(72) Four young Egyptians in custody for video making fun of the government

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/10/egyptian-street-children-detained-by-government-video

 

Summary:

 

Four young Egyptians have been remanded in custody, accused of making fun of the government in a satirical video posted on social networks, according to judicial sources. The move is the latest in a crackdown on voices critical of the authorities in Egypt. Their latest production appears to have touched a nerve as police round up activists involved in April protests against the president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for handing over two islands to Saudi Arabia. In the group’s latest video, Street Children mock the devaluation of the Egyptian pound as well as the return of the islands to Saudi Arabia. The four are accused of “promoting ideas calling for terrorist acts by posting a video on social networks and YouTube”, Ottman said.

 

Key data/statistical information:

 

• On Tuesday, Mohammed Adel, Mohammed Gabr, Mohammed al-Dessouki and Mohammed Yehya were remanded in custody for 15 days, their lawyer and a judiciary official said.
• A Cairo court on Tuesday ordered the release on bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (about 990 euros) for a fifth member of the group, Ezzedine Khaled.

 

What's my view?

 

New and digital media has given the audience the opportunity to state their opinions on-line. However, from a Marxists point of view we are enjoying an illusion of autonomy. As this article shows, the elites are still able to decide what should be said and what shouldn't about the government. The fact that the young Egyptians were arrested shows that the police is trying to scare people into not saying anything bad about the government.

(71) Periscope used by French teenager to live-stream her own suicide

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/11/french-prosecutors-investigate-woman-live-streams-suicide-twitter-periscope

 

Summarise:

 

French prosecutors have launched an investigation after a 19-year-old woman killed herself by jumping in front of a suburban train in Paris and streamed the act live on Periscope. live on Periscope. The unnamed French woman “sent a text to one of her friends several minutes before her death to make them aware of her intentions”, said the prosecutor Eric Lallement on Wednesday. “She also made statements to internet users via the Periscope application to explain her act.” Footage of the woman’s death, which took place on Tuesday at a station in Egly to the south of Paris, was removed by Periscope but some of the video leading up to it was still available on YouTube. Police said they were informed by someone watching the stream.

Key data/statistical information:

• Periscope is a smartphone application that allows users to stream live video via their Twitter account. The video usually remains accessible for 24 hours.
• “We were alerted around 4.30pm by a Periscope user who was connected with the victim and told us that she was not well,” a police source said.
• Twitter, which bought Periscope in 2015, said it did not comment on individual accounts.
• At least 1000 people were watching the live stream.

What's my view?

This is an example of the effects and impacts of new and digital media. People can use periscope to show shocking things on-line to a group of people that are watching. However, in this case, it can be used to bring awareness of problems that occur around the world as the girl died because her boyfriend abused and raped her which is a problem that occurs globally.

Updated new and digital media stories index

(1)- Amazon launches gaming and 4K streaming Fire TV update

(2)- The Media Column: British TV is being bought up and outgunned by the Americans, leaving the BBC with a dilemma

(3)- BuzzFeed to cover more local news as it expands UK editorial team

(4)- Social media 'rehab': Is a 24/7 texting helpline really the best method?

(5)- Music streaming just became a billion-dollar industry

(6)- Forty percent of US millennials still pay for news, poll finds

(7)- Meryl Streep defends feminist credentials as Suffragette opens London film festival

(8)- Richard Desmond boosts Daily Star sales with price cut

(9)- Female technology journalists report abuse is still the name of the game

(10)- News Corp offers Times and WSJ digital bundle for corporate users

(11)- Why the future of newspapers is not all doom and gloom

(12)- Map shows parts of UK most excluded from digital world

(13)- Sun website to scrap paywall

(14)- Freedom of Information Act must be strengthened, says Tom Watson

(15)- Can dropping the paywall and upping the story count boost Sun’s website?

(16)- Kate Winslet says children being harmed by social media

(17)- BBC shelves plans to shut news channel

(18)- Marketing 2020: next generation talent will be key to filling digital skills gap

(19)- Sun website traffic recovers as Mirror slips back

(20)- Eiffel Tower meets peace sign in show of solidarity after attacks

(21)- Two-thirds of Britons will own a smartphone by 2018, research finds

(22)- Twitter raids Sky for new head of UK news

(23)- Mail Online US almost doubles advertising growth

(24)- YouTube Kids: campaigners criticise app for its 'junk food' videos

(25)- Time Out to cut about 40 staff in UK and US

(26)- The Independent’s blog site hit by ransomware attack

(27)- Twitter warns users they may have been hacked by 'state-sponsored actors'

(28)- Daily Mail is cruel and childish about the Duchess of Cambridge

(29)- Sun website traffic rises by a quarter – but it is eclipsed by the Mirror

(30)- Can Donald Trump's social media genius take him all the way to the White House?

(31)- Facebook and Uber team up to offer Messenger users taxi trips

(32)- The Daily Telegraph fined £30,000 for email instructing readers to vote Conservative

(33)- US digital advertising in 2016: things will get better

(34)- Two New Jersey newspapers denounce Chris Christie's 'abysmal' performance

(35)- The social housing tenants taking to Twitter to influence policy

(36)- Daily Telegraph to withdraw devices monitoring time at desk after criticism

(37)- Phone hacking: The Sun accusers open a new chapter

(38)- Daily Mail takes full control of Australian website

(39)- Sun website traffic falls by more than 5% despite axing of paywall

(40)- How tweeting about floods became a civic duty in Jakarta

(41)- YouTube star Zoella reaches 10m subscribers milestone

(42)- Daily Mail website's ad revenues surge as paper announces price hike

(43)- Russian magazine cyber-attacked and fined after article on Putin's daughter

(44)- James Franco to direct Twitter tale of stripper Zola's sordid road trip

(45)- Independent aims to keep stars and boost quality in digital shift

(46)- Independent and Independent on Sunday print closures confirmed

(47)- Facebook sets up 'social VR' team to explore virtual reality beyond games

(48)- Telegraph suspends comment on relaunched online content

(49)- Beauty site apologises for mistaking Whoopi Goldberg for Oprah Winfrey at Oscars

(50)- Sun hasn't decided which side to back in EU referendum, claims its editor

(51)- Seized Turkish opposition newspaper toes government line

(52)- Online harassment of women at risk of becoming 'established norm', study finds

(53)- BBC and ITV in talks to launch a Netflix-style streaming service

(54)- Mashable launches French-language site with France 24

(55)- Netflix races ahead of Amazon and Sky with 5m UK households

(56)- Sun ordered to admit British Muslims story was 'significantly misleading'

(57)- Fake Brussels YouTube videos prove ease of digital disinformation

(58)- The eagle dares: Independent goes out of print on a scoop

(59)- Using Twitter and Facebook images of tragedies raises ethical dilemmas

(60)- The Times drops online rolling news for four editions a day

(61)- Daily Mail goes nuclear over Barack Obama 'peace sign'

(62)- Twitter to live stream NFL's Thursday night football

(63)- How newsroom pressure is letting fake stories on to the web

(64)- Publishing platform Medium may be blocked in China, reports say

(65)- Can the web save the press from oblivion?

(66)- Football clubs trawl social media for gaffes by transfer targets

(67)- Corbyn: Labour must use social media to fight rightwing press attacks

(68)- Trinity Mirror reports 19% print ad slide as it confirms the New Day's closure

(69)- Vice UK rejects call for union recognition

(70)- BBC follows Netflix in using online viewing data to help it pick new shows

(71)- Periscope used by French teenager to live-stream her own suicide

(72)- Four young Egyptians in custody for video making fun of the government

(73)- Egypt's activists turn to social media to call for satirists' release

(74)- Facebook accused of censoring conservatives, report says

(75)- The Independent's website traffic rises by more than 6%

(76)- Suddenly, national newspapers are heading for that print cliff fall

(77)- DMGT issues profit warning after double-digit fall in print ads

(78)- Twitter abuse - '50% of misogynistic tweets from women'

(79)- EU referendum poster aimed at minority ethnic vote causes controversy

(80)- Labour MP says she may leave Twitter over trolls' rape abuse

(70) BBC follows Netflix in using online viewing data to help it pick new shows

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/may/07/bbc-netflix-data-twitter-facebook-bbc-id

 

Summary:

 

The BBC is following Netflix in using online viewing data to help it decide which programmes to make. It is also experimenting with using social media such as Twitter and Facebook to help it make commissioning decisions. The experiments are part of the corporation’s myBBC project announced by director general Tony Hall last year to “reinvent public service broadcasting through data”.

Key data/statistical information:

• The project has also gathered data from the 6 million-plus people who have signed up for a BBC iD that lets them access personalised services online
• The BBC are capturing 800m events a day
• Though many of the six million people who have signed up for a BBC ID do not appear to be using it regularly, more than a third up are using it at least once a month, and 10% are doing so ever day
• People who are signed in consume 44% more hours of content
• More than one million people have also signed up for a daily newsletter which recommends BBC content people might enjoy, up from 200,000 a year ago

What's my view?

As competition rises, so does the BBC iplayer in accord to staying as popular as Netflix and Amazon Prime. New and digital media has created TV streaming which seems to be very popular. The fact that the BBC are considering using social media to increase their popularity, could mean that BBC iplayer could become a great streaming service competitor in the near future.

(69) Vice UK rejects call for union recognition

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/apr/27/vice-uk-union-recognition-nuj

 

Summary:

 

Vice’s UK arm has rejected a push for union recognition by a group of staff, bucking a growing trend that has seen unionisation at digital media businesses including the outlet’s main base in the US. Media group claims NUJ is ‘not used to innovative, digital workplaces’ and offers to set up staff council instead. At a meeting held in London on Tuesday, Vice UK staff were told that the National Union of Journalists would not be recognised at this point but instead were offered the chance to set up an internal staff council.

 

Key data/statistical information:

 

 

What's my view?
 

Vice is known for using user generated content and uncensored news stories on their websites or on snapchat. Due to the lack of censorship that the company has, Vice UK refuses a union recognition in order to get pulled into censorship and gatekeepers.