News

Friday 6th March 

What is news?

LO: To explore the nature and ownership of the news industry.


What is the purpose of news?

• Entertain
• Inform
• Educate 
• To profit
• Influence/persuade

The history of news in 5 minutes.

• "news was not a spectator sport' - what does Stephens mean by this?

- Before there was any kind of technology, we got our news from one another.

• What developments 150 years ago made it possible for people to make a business selling news?

- People could make money from the printing press and telegraphs.

• We can now access news anywhere, form out own ideas and opinions and even contribute ourselves. Stephen says ' this is mostly a wonderful thing'. Why? Do you agree?

- Yes i agree, This is because there is a lot of fake news.

Newspaper ownership.

• Newspapers are not PSB (like the BBC) they are commercial publications.
• Over three quarters (77.8%) of the British press is owned by a handful of billionaires. Over a quarter (27.3%) of the press is owned by Lord Rothermere and 24.9% by Rupert Murdoch - between them these two men have over 50% of the printed press.
• Newspapers and their online publications (example of synergy/convergence) are not legally obliged to provide an unbiased public information service.
• There are ethical and moral codes of press conduct but the printed press is self regulatory industry.

Newspaper funding.

• In the UK, there are 3 ownership models: 
• 'Media Barons' - owned by wealthy individuals or proprietors. E.g. Rupert Murdoch.
• Trusts - a legal arrangement that transfers funds from the owner to a 'trustee' to manage and control the running of the paper. E.g. Scott trust (GMG) the guardian.
• Cross-media converged conglomerates - global institutions that own numerous media outlets. These may be owned by media barons. E.g. DMG and Lord Rothermere.

News industry: Put it together.

• Write a brief definition of what news is.

- News is an industry that there is to inform, entertain, educate, influence and profit from.

• What are the advantages to news being a commercial industry?

- The news and media make or come up with fake news to try and make a profit out of false information and because they are making profit, makes the company seem as though the profit is more important than the quality or the public interest.

• What are the advantages to news being a commercial industry?

- To make it interesting for the public to view, also to entertain. there will also be competition between companies as they want the newspapers to sell. it should therefore make it more accessible for the public and the quality will be better.

• What are the disadvantages of newspapers/online newspapers being self-regulatory?

- Gives them more or less power to print whatever they want that can't be included in their news.

• What are the advantages of newspapers being self-regulatory?

- Having the influence from media barons.

• Why is ownership important?

- Ownership is important because it means power and influence from a small percentage of people owning our press.

Fake news.

• What is fake news?

- News that has been published that is false to attract readers.

• How can you spot fake news?

- Check the date when it was published, check the name of the company and the author.

• Why is there more fake news now than there was 30 years ago?

- Because people are using social media to their advantage as a bigger platform to attract readers, which wasn't a thing 30 years ago.

• Find 3 examples of recent fake news.