Write a 3-4 page paper, double spaced and 12pt Times New Roman about the topic you will choose and how it relates to gender, race and sexuality and the subjects we are talking about in class such as (male gaze, social media and self-esteem, safe spaces, exploitation in media, privilege, bystander effect, dating apps, digitizing sexuality).
For the project, pick a topic and make 10 blog posts related to the topic.
For example If I were to pick gender discrimantion as a topic and make 10 different blogs related to that topic. Each blog post should be related to the topic and explain what each blog post would entail.
The structure of the paper should start by explaining the topic and why you choose it and give a rough idea of each blog post it would contain. It could be opinion based
blogs but list the resources. First explain why you chose your topic and how it relates to
gender, race, and sexuality and what is talking about in class such as (male gaze, social
media and self-esteem, safe spaces, exploitation in media, privilege, bystander effect,
dating apps, digitizing sexuality).
Then list the 10 blog posts and give a rough idea of what media you are using in it. For
an example, you could use 5 videos of how gender discrimination affects women and
the other 5 blog posts you are using different articles about gender discrimination, in
total it would be 10 blog posts. Explain which videos, pictures, articles, movies you are
using in the blog posts and why you choose it.
Positive/Negative Consequences
Based on the assigned materials, what are the positive/negative consequences of more
people being able to be producers of digital content for news and/or entertainment
purposes? For whom are there positive/negative consequences (audiences/users, other
producers or content, etc.)? As a whole, do the positive consequences outweigh the
negative or vice-versa? Why/why not?
Textbook Readings:
Pavlik, J. V. (2014). Media in the Digital Age. Chapter 4: Producers of Digital Media
Articles:
https://mashable.com/2018/03/26/free-labor-facebook-profits/
Write a 3-4 page paper, double spaced and 12pt Times New Roman about the topic you
will choose and how it relates to gender, race and sexuality and the subjects we are
talking about in class such as (male gaze, social media and self-esteem, safe spaces,
exploitation in media, privilege, bystander effect, dating apps, digitizing sexuality).
For the project, pick a topic and make 10 blog posts related to the topic.
For example If I were to pick gender discrimantion as a topic and make 10 different
blogs related to that topic. Each blog post should be related to the topic and explain
what each blog post would entail.
The structure of the paper should start by explaining the topic and why you choose it
and give a rough idea of each blog post it would contain. It could be opinion based
blogs but list the resources. First explain why you chose your topic and how it relates to
gender, race, and sexuality and what is talking about in class such as (male gaze, social
media and self-esteem, safe spaces, exploitation in media, privilege, bystander effect,
dating apps, digitizing sexuality).
Then list the 10 blog posts and give a rough idea of what media you are using in it. For
an example, you could use 5 videos of how gender discrimination affects women and
the other 5 blog posts you are using different articles about gender discrimination, in
total it would be 10 blog posts. Explain which videos, pictures, articles, movies you are
using in the blog posts and why you choose it.
Media in the Digital Age
John Pavlik
Chapter 4. Producers of Digital Media
Whether text, audio or video, media of all types in the digital age come from an exploding array
of sources, or producers of content. In the analog world of newspapers and other print media
such as books and magazines, a relatively small number of increasingly large publishing
companies controlled the means of print publication. With a hand-full of national newspapers,
most papers have been largely local media, once privately owned but increasingly publicly
owned as part of national newspaper groups or chains. Magazines have long been largely
specialized in terms of audience and content and distributed most often regionally or nationally.
Books have been the province of mostly national or international publishers.
With the advent of the World Wide Web as a medium of public communication in the 1990s,
there has been an exponential increase in the diversity of sources of media production, especially
those dealing with text and graphics. From personal Web sites to blogs and other social media, a
vast array of individuals and organizations across the nation and internationally produce huge
volumes of often largely unfiltered content. Sometimes drawing an audience as small as one,
producers of this content are often times not as concerned about audience as they are in simple
self-expression. An interesting example is Chasing Windmills, an independent Minneapolisbased blog where its movie-maker founders have posted provocative and artistic 2-minute daily
episodic videos since 2005.clxii
Of course, most traditional publishers, whether of newspapers, magazines or books, have adapted
their own print products for online distribution and consumption. In some cases, the adaptation
has been minimal, simply putting the same content online that had been exclusively in print. In
other cases, the content has been significantly modified and enhanced with original content. A
detailed discussion of content strategies in the digital environment follows in Chapter 5.
Audio content has seen a similar pattern of growth in the diversity of producers, though
somewhat delayed and on a smaller scale. While the sharing of audio files in the MP3 format has
been robust, the production of original audio content developed slowly with online streaming of
audio files in the 1990s. Independent audio production has taken off only since the advent of
podcasting in 2000.clxiii Like other traditional analog media, radio and other forms of audio
content (e.g., audio books) had been the domain mainly of a small number of large, centralized
corporate and non-profit media organizations. Digital technologies have enabled literally
millions of persons and organizations to produce their own audio content and post it online,
whether as podcasts on personal Web sites, or on central online distributors, such as iTunes or
elsewhere. Of course, traditional broadcasters have also developed extensive audio content in the
form of podcasts. In addition, other digital vehicles, such as communication satellites, have
provided distribution platforms for other audio media production.
Media in the Digital Age, Chapter 4
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In the traditional world of analog television, video programming was produced by a select group
of production companies and distributed by a limited and finite number of broadcasters who
tightly controlled what made it on air. Cable television has reflected somewhat more diversity of
producers, at least at the national level, with programming in 2006 coming from roughly 200
national programming networks such as A&E, HBO and The Weather Channel. Yet, many of
these networks are owned or controlled by common parent companies. Still, cable also includes
some opportunities for local diversity of production, with mandatory public access channels.
Public access represents a relative drop in the overall bucket of the total amount of television
programming.
Since the introduction and development of digital technologies, video production and distribution
has grown dramatically. At the same time, the diversity of sources of video has grown wide and
varied, from high-end professional producers to literally mom and pop producers, son and
daughter, and just about everyone else. Much of this expanded video production does not find its
way onto national or international programming networks, over-the-air broadcast television,
cable or telephone-based television networks. Much is on alternative distribution media, such as
YouTube or elsewhere.
Emerging in recent years as important sources of original, quality video programming production
and distribution are companies such as Netflix and Amazon. Both of these companies are
investing millions of dollars in original video production and providing digital distribution direct
to the consumer via the Internet and other digital distribution channels. Starring actor Kevin
Spacey, Netflix?s original series, “House of Cards” has won an Emmy and has garnered a huge
and loyal audience, with an estimated 16 percent of all Netflix?s 10 million subscribers watching
at least one episode of the show within 24 hours of its online season premier in 2014
(http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/70178217?trkid=439131;
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2014/02/18/netflix-binge-house-of-cards-season-twoviewers-surge-8x-on-day-one/).
Range of Quality
Much of the diverse content produced by widely ranging sources is of very limited quality or
interest. Some online video, for instance, is produced by young, independent videographers
looking for an alternative vehicle to reach an audience. Sometimes, digital video is produced by
average citizens who may have home movies or audio they want to share with friends and
family, or they may simply have exhibitionist tendencies, and much of this video is not worth
watching. In a growing number of cases, professional news organizations are openly seeking
photographs, audio and video captured by lay citizens using their cell phone cameras or other
digital devices. In recognition that millions of citizens have these news gathering devices and can
easily and quickly e-mail the image, audio or video file to a news editor, global news services
such as Reuters, CNN and Yahoo have established formal programs to encourage citizens to
submit their mobile news material. Starting December 5, 2006, photos and videos submitted by
lay citizens have been placed throughout Reuters.com and Yahoo News.clxiv Reuters also began
distributing some of the submissions in 2007 print, online and broadcast media outlets that
subscribe to its news service. Reuters plans to develop a service devoted to lay citizen-submitted
photographs and video. Reuters views lay citizens as a potential stringer base of millions. Many
news organizations have used digital photographs taken by amateurs to supplement their own
Media in the Digital Age, Chapter 4
2
coverage of major events such as the London subway bombing and the Asian tsunami. Yahoo’s
news division has used digital images first posted on Flickr, the company’s photo-sharing site.
Camera phone videos are increasingly providing supplemental news coverage. The 2006 racist
rant by Michael Richards, the actor who played Kramer on “Seinfeld,” was recorded on a cell
phone and then posted on TMZ, the celebrity news site. Video of the December 30, 2006
execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was captured on a cell phone or other mobile
device and distributed on the Internet and cell phone to cell phone.clxv Eventually the grainy
video made its way to traditional news media as well, where, for example, NBC Nightly News
with Brian Williams aired at least part of the video during a report the evening of January 1,
2007.clxvi CNN?s iReport is a popular source of citizen-produced video in the U.S. and
worldwide.
[INSERT FIGURE 4.1 ABOUT HERE]
So-called fan films are among the most interesting examples of video produced by nontraditional video creators. Although fans have long made their own versions of popular motion
pictures or television shows, distributing them on the Web is a relatively new and significant
phenomenon. Moreover, digital technology has allowed fans to take these films to entirely new
production heights and levels of distribution. Star Trek episodes made by fans are perhaps the
most notable for their production values. Some feature high production values. They often
feature amateur actors and producers who contribute their time, energy and resources not for
profit and just for fun or perhaps to get noticed. Paramount Pictures, which owns the copyright
for Star Trek, has not challenged these digital fan films legally since the fans have not made
them for profit. Although some are amateurish and not worth watching, some are almost
indistinguishable from the real thingÂ…except for the fact that none of the actors are recognizable
stars.clxvii Some of the notable examples of Web sites featuring fan versions of Star Trek
include Newvoyages.com, usshathaway.com, ussintrepid.org.uk, starshipfarragut.com,
startrekexeter.com and hiddenfrontier.com.
Many short fan films, or videos, are also being made. Users of social networking sites such as
YouTube are creating videos to accompany their favorite songs and posting the home-made
music videos online.
Remaking a celebrity music video and posting it online is a popular enterprise for many around
the world. But in 2014 a group of six Iranians who remade Pharrell Williams? hit song “Happy”
led to their arrest (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2634710/Its-sad-kids-arrested-tryingspread-happiness-Pharrell-speaks-six-young-Iranians-interrogated-hauled-away-remaking-hitvideo.html). Authorities in Iran objected to the video featuring the music of Williams? “Happy”
and joyful dancing by the six. Posted on YouTube, the video quickly reached an audience of
more than 200,000. As of this writing, it is unclear just what law the six may have broken, and
it may be that the authorities simply objected to their being too happy or implicitly endorsing
Western popular culture.
In some cases, non-traditional providers can bring diversity to the television mix. One example is
Barrio 305, an independently produced online video magazine about Latino culture. Much of the
coverage has focused on the rise of urban Latino youth in South Beach, Miami, FL. Produced in
Media in the Digital Age, Chapter 4
3
English and Spanish, the production values are not quite at the level of much commercial
television, but it is still a useful alternative voice.
In other cases, online video is of somewhat less value, at least as independent journalism. A case
in point is an online video produced by the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants.clxviii Essentially a video news release (VNR), the video podcast titled “Pillars of
Success” profiles the story of four African American CPAs, whose numbers still total less than
one percent of all CPAs. The subject matter may be worth consideration; this production is
promotional and of limited utility.
Political candidates are increasingly turning to the Web to make important campaign speeches
and otherwise communicate directly with the public without the filter of traditional news media
gatekeepers. On January 20, 2007, Sen. Hillary Clinton announced her entrance into the 2008
U.S. Presidential campaign via a video Webcast.clxix Clinton also fielded questions from
viewers submitted via the Web during a subsequent live Webcast, an interactive capability
heightened in the online arena. News media captured video from Clinton?s Webcast and featured
it in their own video newscasts that day.
No Comprehensive Guide to Online Video
If there is a one problem facing consumers of online video, it is sorting through all the video
trash for the occasional video nugget of interest or quality. There is no truly comprehensive and
current programming guide for online television and video. Real Networks? Real Guide offers a
useful guide to online audio and video programming, but it is incomplete. What is needed is a
comprehensive and continuously updated Web portal and search engine for online TV and video
that encompasses all online video formats from MEPG 1 to 4, AVI, Quicktime, Real Player,
Windows Media Player and the various other video formats online as well as all the various
digital video distribution platforms. The current situation essentially requires users to know all
the locations of online TV and video and regularly visit them for updates. Many producers
employ syndication technology known as Really Simple Syndication (RSS), which uses XML
(the extensible mark-up language), an advanced version of hypter-text mark-up language, or
HTML, the basic building block code of the World Wide Web, to automatically notify
subscribers of newly released or updated content, whether new video, audio, text, graphics or
photographs.
Traditional Providers
A considerable amount of video comes from established, familiar or traditional sources, such as
news and entertainment companies, television networks and stations, public television, sports
teams and leagues, arts organizations and the government. One significant change in video news
production from just a few years ago is that many news providers who once had specialized in
print, such as major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as
news agencies such as Reuters and the Associated Press (AP), now produce extensive video for
online and other distribution.clxx The AP makes its news video available through member
newspaper Web sites, such as that of the New York Daily News, which on May 25, 2006
published a text story and AP video report about the power outage that shut down the northeast
corridor of New Jersey Transit?s commuter train line to and from New York City.clxxi
Media in the Digital Age, Chapter 4
4
An excellent example of quality journalism being produced originally for an online audience
comes in the form of a video report titled “A Shifting Bolivia,” produced for The New York
Times on the Web by Times? reporter Juan Forero.clxxii Forero reported from Bolivia on Evo
Morales, who in January, 2005 assumed the office of President of Bolivia. Morales is an Aymara
Indian and former coca grower who is decriminalizing the growing of coca, “a staple of the
indigenous culture and the prime ingredient in cocaine,” and making other fundamental changes
to his country?s struggling economy, but with significant social and political implications.clxxiii
The 13-minute multi-part Web-exclusive video report features an interesting combination of
video and stills, in English but with Spanish actualities (audio sound-bites from sources
interviewed) either subtitled or dubbed in English.
In 2014, The New York Times produced digital documentaries on a regular basis, often relatively
short and available on demand and called op-docs. One good example debuted on 20 May 2014
and was called “Wiring the Amazon.” Through original video reporting it told the story of a
four-year effort to bring Internet service to a remote Peruvian village
(http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/20/opinion/wiring-the-amazon.html?ref=technology).
Washingtonpost.com also produces quality original online video journalism, such as its October
4, 2005 report, Fueling Azerbaijan’s Future.clxxiv The ten-minute documentary style report
provided a detailed examination of the former Soviet-republic?s economic development through
its oil resources.
Convergent Content Providers
An interesting case in media production is the Belo Corporation, owners of some two dozen
news media properties around the country, including the Dallas Morning News, well known for
its quality local and regional journalism, as well as television stations and interactive media. Belo
has developed a converged news operation where video is often produced and distributed
alongside traditional newspaper reporting.clxxv The author conducted on May 19, 2006
telephone interviews with two Belo executives, including David Duitch, Belo?s vice president,
Capital Bureau, who has responsibility for managing both the print and broadcast operations of
the bureau.clxxvi He has been behind the Washington bureau?s drive to produce videos for The
Dallas Morning News Website. Among the best examples of online video journalism at Belo
comes from the Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau, where veteran newspaper reporter
Jim Landers has distinguished himself in the new media age by shooting and editing his own
video to accompany his newspaper reporting. Landers specializes in international reporting on
how developments around the globe impact communities in north Texas. He has mastered a new
form of storytelling, and has produced quality video reports on a variety of stories, including
economic problems in the West Bank and oil concerns in Saudi Arabia.clxxvii
The author also interviewed Belo?s John Granatino, vice president of news and operations for
Belo Interactive.clxxviii Granatino noted that increasing numbers of the Belo audience are
broadband enabled. “Roughly 80% of our online audience has broadband Internet access,” he
explains. The audience, he adds, expects broadband content, especially video. “Fortunately, we
have it at our TV stations. We also create original video reporting. It?s a „must do,? not a „should
do?.”
Media in the Digital Age, Chapter 4
5
The audience has grown considerably for Belo?s online video journalism. “We?re seeing a
doubling, tripling of video streams over the past year. We?re now doing two million video
streams a month across 20 sites around the country.” The video segments tend to be short, but in
some cases, video blog reports can actually be longer than a video report on television. “Our
reporters often give behind-the-scenes looks and this might take a bit longer,” Granatino notes.
Video advertising is also growing, especially for national Web sites, but even for regional ones,
helping support such original online video reporting.
Among a growing number of news organizations with video reporting capabilities is the St.
Petersburg (FL) Times, once exclusively a newspaper organization. Today, “We think of
ourselves more as a journalism company than a newspaper company,” explains Kevin
McGeever, city editor for tampabay.com, the portal site where sptimes.com resides, and whom
the author interviewed by telephone on May 23, 2006.clxxix “A year ago we weren?t even
thinking about video,” he notes. Now the company produces it regularly. “Some stories lend
themselves better to video, or are well told in moving images rather than in words or words
alone,” McGeever adds. “We?re working to change the culture of the newsroom and video is not
something journalists at newspapers always think of.” Stories where they have produced original
video include the 2006 immigration marches as well as hurricane preparation. Particularly
interesting is a special report on the petting of the manatee, an endangered species living in the
waters of the Tampa region and increasingly approached and harassed by snorklers in the area, in
violation of federal law.clxxx The site obtained unique footage showing snorklers approaching
the manatee and coming in illegal and harmful physical contact with the large marine mammal.
At the Times, the legacy newsroom is embracing a culture change. Tampabay.com, the Times
leadership says, is the “first edition” now and “we will publish at the height of interestÂ…Yet,”
McGeever adds, “it?s nice if the video has an evergreen quality and audience interest can last
more than a few days.”
Another example of quality online video reporting being produced by a local journalism
organization comes by way of the San Francisco Chronicle. One four-minute original San
Francisco Chronicle online video report was titled “Ski Jump Spectacle on Filmore Street” and
went online on September 30, 2005 at www.sfgate.com. It featured a dramatic look at the
creation of a ski jump in the waning days of summer on a steep San Francisco street, and then the
actual ski jump competition.
A notable development regarding even these recognized quality sources of video is the sheer
volume of video being made available online, either live or on demand. Most of these sources
have found the cost of quality video production to have fallen dramatically or can leverage their
resources by making the video available online after it has had its premier on conventional
television. Once it has aired, video is often made available for on-demand viewing online,
including for a fee (ranging from modest amounts of about a dollar to substantially greater
amounts) but sometimes for free.
New Online Producers
In some cases, major Web portals such as Yahoo are producing significant amounts of original
content for the Web, including journalism. One exemplar is Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone.clxxxi A
veteran war correspondent, Sites has covered global war and disaster for several national
Media in the Digital Age, Chapter 4
6
networks and now is producing original video news reporting on various conflict zones around
the world for Yahoo. His report, “Africa in the Hot Zone,” involved in-depth on-location
reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia and elsewhere.
International Perspectives
With the rise of digital media, international producers of video and other media content have
developed new opportunities to participate in the global flow of information and media
programming. This is a vital development since for most of the analog age of media the flow of
information and media programming has been dominated by the United States and other
advanced information societies. As Jesús MartÃn Barbero and others have articulated,
communication and information are basic agents of social change and development, and as such
it is essential that all countries and regions are able to fully participate in the global media and
communication system.clxxxii Nestor Garcia Canclini has noted that digital technology is
reshaping the cultural industry, the collection of companies and institutions that create, distribute
and control media content.clxxxiii It is critical that a wide spectrum of participants from all parts
of the world have access to these technologies of production in order to contribute to the growth
of cultural creativity. As Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer of the Frankfurt School of
critical media studies have explained, this process of cultural production is fundamental to the
creation of social and political meaning and power.clxxxiv Understanding the impact of
technology on this process is critical to evaluating the potential of digital media to help reengage disenfranchised groups in the political process in the U.S. and internationally.
Fake News: One Man’s Experience on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart clxxxv
Not all the news or news-like content produced in the digital age is meant to be taken seriously.
And, sometimes when it is, it should not be. The sudden and dramatic increase in the number of
distribution channels for media content, including video, has created something of a
programming vacuum, and since the media abhor a vacuum, producers have raced to create new
and entertaining forms of content to fill the void. Among the more popular of program producers
is Jon Stewart, the wry comedian whose specialty is fake news, a genre that has captured the
eyeballs of an expanding generation of would-be television real news viewers. In the spring of
2005 the author became something of an accidental celebrity on campus. He was a guest on
Comedy Central?s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Since being on the show he has had
students ask for his autograph. He has seen attendance at his occasional public lectures swell
significantly. Students have interviewed him for campus publications and television about what
it is like to be on The Daily Show.
How did the author, the then-chair of a department of journalism and media studies, come to be
on this popular show specializing in “fake news”? What was it like being on a show which
research has shown 21% of Americans 18-29 years of age say is a primary source of their
news?clxxxvi By way of comparison, only a slightly higher percentage, 23%, of this age group
report the major television evening news programs serve as a primary source of their news. Well,
it is a long story, but following are the highlights.
As a department chair at Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, the author saw significant
funding cuts to the departmental budget in the early years of the 21st century. These cuts made
Media in the Digital Age, Chapter 4
7
the job of teaching some 600 undergraduate majors increasingly difficult, sometimes forcing the
cutting of key programs and classes, as well as seeking innovative alternative funding
opportunities and resources. One unique opportunity developed in the fall of 2004 when the
campus daily student newspaper agreed to sponsor the hiring of an instructor for the
department?s advanced reporting course, which had been off the class schedule the previous
semester because of state funding cuts. In exchange for its support (several thousand dollars per
semester), the paper would be permitted to enroll a half dozen of its reporting staff in the class,
even though they were not majors in the department and might not have had met all the
prerequisites. Instead, the instructor of the course, an award-winning seasoned journalist with
more than 20 years of daily newspaper reporting experience and a veteran journalism teacher in
the department, would review each student’s qualifications and decide on a case-by-case basis
whether each should be admitted into the course. As the department’s chair, the author was
pleased to able to make this novel arrangement since otherwise the class would not have been
offered. Nevertheless, from the outset, the chair made clear to the editorial leadership of the
student paper that this arrangement was an experimental one and might not be one the
department or the paper would want to repeat. The chair indicated that a thorough review would
be made of the course at its conclusion to determine whether the unique funding and teaching
arrangement would be repeated. Moreover, there might be significant changes in how the course
would be structured and taught to insure the highest quality education for the students enrolled.
An important part of the chair?s job is to not just to find ways to offer the full curriculum in an
increasingly financially challenging time but to make sure that curriculum is of the highest
possible quality and meets its educational goals. At the conclusion of the course, it was clear that
the class was a success, as it had been when previously offered. Ten of the 18 stories produced
by students in the course were published in the student newspaper, most running on page one and
online. Not one of the stories published was challenged for accuracy. One of the stories, a series
on tuition hikes, won a third place award in the investigative and enterprise reporting category in
the New Jersey Press Association’s Better College Newspaper contest. Yet, the course had its
problems. Some students were not properly identifying themselves when conducting interviews.
The chair knew this first-hand because one student interviewed him for a story and identified
herself as a reporter for the student newspaper and never mentioned she was also doing the story
as part of a class assignment. Some students were also relying extensively on e-mail to conduct
their interviews. The chair knew this because a student in the class attempted to interview him
this way. Although e-mail has its place in modern newsgathering, it does not and should not
replace face-to-face interviewing or even audio interviews conducted over the telephone. E-mail
can be effectively used when following up with a source, or when other attempts to conduct inperson or phone interviews fail (perhaps a source is out of the country) and deadline is fast
approaching. Otherwise, nuance and other important aspects of an interview can be lost. On the
other hand, e-mail responses from sources can guarantee accurate quotes, and the value of this
cannot be underestimated.
Overall, the biggest problem with the course, however, was some students were settling in to a
comfort zone of rarely or never leaving the campus when on assignment, doing many of their
interviews via e-mail. The advanced investigative course was the department?s highest level
undergraduate reporting class. These students might not take another reporting course before
graduating. The chair wanted to make sure they were challenged to get beyond the comfort of the
campus. In this course as in many other reporting courses students do much of their reporting on
campus, covering campus stories. After the conclusion of the semester, the chair reviewed the
Media in the Digital Age, Chapter 4
8
course with the instructor and discussed changes that needed to be made to improve the course in
future offerings, including getting the students to fully identify themselves, not over-rely on email to do their interviews, and to get stu
