Developments in new/digital media mean that audiences can now have access to a greater variety of views and values. To what extent are audiences empowered by these developments?
Developments in new/digital media mean that audiences are both empowered and dis-empowered. I believe due to the nature of new media, audiences can become empowered by being able to voice their opinion online, be it with their name attached or anonymously. A great example is social media; such sites as Facebook and Twitter allow the general public to say what they like and don’t like about certain news stories. This can be linked to the two-step flow as most people are forming their opinions about a specific story under opinion leaders, who are, in turn, being influenced by the mass media. However, opinion leaders’ views can be slightly biased as their own opinions can come into the views they are imparting onto the rest of the public. An example of social media empowering audiences could be the story with Sky News presenter Martin Brunt. After he had exposed a woman who he had believed to be ‘trolling’ the McCann’s, he himself received online abuse after the woman in question committed suicide. A Facebook group calling for Brunt to be sacked had 1,800 likes. He also received many vicious messages on Twitter. This can be seen as society becoming pluralist as the power can be seen as being shared.
Furthermore, audiences can become empowered through Citizen Journalism (UGC). UGC allows the audience to become a part of the making of the news. This can definitely give the audience a sense of empowerment as they feel they are helping to educate the public on matters by giving a first-hand view of the event. This also helps the audience as they are seeing what has actually happened and not what is inferred by a journalist. An example of this is the LA riots in 1991 as a result of police brutality being caught on film by George Holliday. This is an example of power being shared among the people as the masses rose up (although violence is not something I’m trying to justify) to protest an issue that would normally go unseen.
On the other hand, it can be argued that audiences are not empowered as Marxists would insist. A Marxist would argue that all the power that is seen to be given to the audience is an illusion by the corporate elite. An example of this is the Ian Tomlinson case where a bystander had recorded evidence of a police officer enforcing brutality whereby the victim would later on die. The officer involved was not charged for manslaughter and just sacked from his job. As the police can be considered to be part of these elite, nothing has been done against them in this case as they have more power.
To continue, audiences are being dis-empowered through the dumbing down of media. This could be to control what the audiences are seeing and hearing, so their decisions can be influenced to benefit the media elite. An example of this is Radio 1’s Newsbeat. They changed their serious and informative news section into a much shorter and more teen/kid-friendly, with the addition of games, segment. This shows that they changed their news values to suit a younger audience to bring in a larger audience. It can be argued that through the dumbing down of media, this hegemony allows the elite to keep the power through a non-physical means.
