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.
In this essay I will be discussing how Marxism can have less power on audiences and how Pluralism can have more powers among audiences. Also reasons as to my points favouring Marxism and Pluralism will be given with examples from theorists and other information to justify this.
A marxist perspective would argue that the so called 'information revolution' has done little to benefit audiences or to subvert the established power structures in society. Far from being a 'great leveller' (Krotoski, 2012) as many have claimed , it has merely helped to reinforce the status quo by promoting dominant ideologies. The most popular news website in the UK by a considerable margin is the 'Mail Online', which receives more than 8 million hits every month and is continuing to expand rapidly with forecasts that it will make £100 million or more in digital revenues in the next three years. Similar to its tabloid print edition, the website takes a conservative right wing perspective on key issues around gender, sexuality and race and audiences appear to passively accept what the Marxist theorist Gramsci called a hegemonic view. When one of their chief columnists, Jan Moir wrote a homophobic article about the death of Stephen Gately in 2009 there were Twitter and Facebook protests but , ultimately they did not change the editorial direction the gatekeepers controlling the newspaper.
However a pluralist would argue that audiences do have more power and not less. This can be argued as audiences can "conform, accommodate or reject". This means that audiences have the powers to view certain types of news viewed online by not viewing a news article or rising that web page. If audiences do not view a certain news article presented online then audiences are rejected news that have been made to publish by the editorial of that news company. Another point to suggest that audiences have more powers is the ability for users to generate their own content or UGC. This means that audiences can turn into content creators in which produce videos, take images to publish on the world wide web so that other internet users can see which will eventually change the views of other internet users. Also there has been a massive increase to citizen journalism due to technological advances in which many people now have smart phones so that they can easily record and post online within minutes if something happens.
In contrast Marxist would argue again audiences having any power. The evidence that supports this point is that Andrew Keen stated that the 'web pages and blogs are like a million money typing nonsense'. From this we can understand that a Marxist would believe many things posted online onto web pages are not entirely factual and there are some things that can be inaccurate. This then would increase the amount of information readers of this content would believe. Also there is a statistic that 57% of 9-19 year olds came into contact with pornographic material online'. This provides evidence to the fact that audiences are less powerful as content that should not be accessed or a criticism of the internet which is which more than half of 9-19 year olds access means that audiences are less powerful due to new/digital developments. Again another statistic that proves audiences are less powerful is that 38% of 9-19 year olds never questioned the accuracy of online information. One more statistic shows that top 5% websites account for 75% of user volume. This means that 3/4 of people who use the website use the top 5% of website. This backs up the point that audiences do not have enough power to discover new websites however still account for using mainstream websites that presumable have been around for a long time. The trend in which websites has not changed since the world wide webb has been around.
In addition to the pluralism perspectives above, more points to supports that audiences have more power are as follows. The metallisation of news (Rusbridger) is one key point to support the fact the audiences have more power. This is because there used to be a time where writers of newspaper articles and readers were divided however with the development of new/digital media the news articles posted online have made it easier to readers to comment on articles and let writers of these articles aware of their opinions as the internet provides a great platform to do so. Also due to developments in new/digital media means that web 2.0 has emerged a few years ago. This means that blogs can then be published by internet users which expresses the freedom of speech on the internet. There are many bloggers who have a popular viewership in which can impact or challenge issues from news corporations. The fact that blogs can be published means by the public reinforces that audiences can turn into producers.
One more pluralist point of view that many will argue is 'the internet has given readers much more power... The world is changing and newspapers have to adapt' which was said by Rupert Murdoch. This statement supports pluralism as Murdoch said the internet has given audiences more power. This is because audiences have now become empowered by a platform in which audiences can speak out and potentially share opinions with the world who can then help to make an impact whether it be regarding a political issue/ economical issue/ social issue etc.
However a Marxist would argue that audiences do haves less power because of media giants. This point can be supported by Herman and Mc Chesney (1997) who sais 'he internet and digital revolution do not pose an immediate or even foreseeable threat to the market power of media giants. In the current political climate, moreover, it is likely that the global media firms will be able to incorporate the inrernet and computer related computer networks into their empires, while the egalitharian potential of the technology is minimised'. This says that big media giants will always have most website traffic and audiences do not have power to view other websites from the media giants. Also to supports this top 5% of all websites accounted for 75% of user volume' which was said by Lin and Webster in 2002. This means that 3/4 of people use the top 5% of websites which again supports the point that Marxists are trying to make in which audiences have less power.
In contrast a Pluralist would argue that audiences have more power as ' Technological blossoming of the culture of freedom, individual innovation and entrepreneurialism' This is because as audiences can become their own writers and express whatever they wish to. Also the entrepreneurialism aspect can come from people starting their own online businesses which would not be possible without the development of new/digital developments. Also pluralists would argue the fact that 'rebellion is encapsulated in the internet' This is because we see videos and images that have been uploaded to the internet where audiences are ranting or we see blogs that may talk about certain issues in society. This gives audiences more power in which those shared thoughts can directly reach big media organisations.
In Alain de Botton's view people are being uneducated about the
new/digital media. I believe that there should be a moral purpose beyond
informing people. In the points de Bottons mentioned are not
of dominant ideologies which means that these views are not hegemonic.
These views have not come from the wealthy/ owners of media companies but a
philosopher which means that these views are not marxist as well. With the help of technology there has been an increase in
pluralism as audiences have turned into content creators. An example is user
generated content which is when people record using their smart phones and
publish content online to people to see.
In conclusion I think that audiences do have more power than less power however there are big media companies trying to publish things that that we may not want supporting the hyperdermic needle. I also believe that audiences have gained more power as the internet is revolutionary as its a great platform for audiences to become content creators in which they can share their own opinions. Long gone are the days in which audiences would have to mail producers/ editors of news corporations.
