NDM stories 24/11/13

Mr Paton, put up this paywall: a Gorbachev moment for news

John Paton, one of the great apostles of free online news, is to introduce charging. Have paywalls won? Maybe not quite yet

John Paton's announcement that the Journal Register company of more than 70 newspapers he runs would be now putting in place paywalls around almost all its products. This from his nation's leading apostle of "digital first", the prophet of free news access on the net has come to an end. 

"We believe an all-access print-digital subscription initiative is necessary to buy us that proverbial gas in the tank. With the rise of digital and the fall of print, we're at the point where we can launch". He means that Paton papers will start to mix and match subscription cash for print and digital along the now established New York Times route that allows a certain number of free visits (to keep up the numbers that attract advertising). However he will also charge progressive amounts for the regular users in order to bring in much-needed dollars for his company. 

• The proportion of US papers putting a paywall into place is now above 40% and is still rising. 
• Mail Online revenue was up 48%, moving from £13m to £28m to £41m in successive years as unique visitor totals soared 
•  Mail and Mail on Sunday print revenues went down by 5% overall, another £28m gone.

Personally I believe news should be free for people to access as it should be a basic human right. People should be allowed to get news and find out what's happening around the world for free.

PlayStation 4 hot on Xbox One's heels

British retailers and manufacturers set to make hundreds of millions from new videogame consoles

Xbox and PlayStation, the two biggest names in video games, go head to head over hundreds of millions of pounds in consumer cash.

Microsoft's Xbox One launched with a spectacular live show in London's Leicester Square. Sony's PlayStation 4 will arrive on Friday in what is expected to be an equally lavish affair. Never before have two games consoles of this scale launched so close to one another. The UK games industry is spending £68m on advertising both these new machines and their games to ensure they are this year's must-have Christmas gifts. PlayStation is tipped to make a comeback with its more affordable PS4. The Japanese company seems to have renewed vigour under the leadership of British-born Andrew House, who became president in 2011 and is tasked with taking on Xbox.

Both Xbox One and PS4 are expected to sell out this Christmas – and that's good news for the British games industry. Many of the most-anticipated video games for both consoles are being created here, including blockbusters such as Kinect Sports Rivals, The Crew and Fable Legends.

Meanwhile, PlayStation 4's new controller features a touchpad interface, and gamers will be able to upload videos of their games to YouTube simply by pressing a button.

Both consoles are really embracing new technology through the use of the touchpad as well as other features such as graphics. Furthermore, they are incorporating the social element to the consoles now as they realise that people want to interact with friends easily and through social networking too. I think the companies are really trying to emphasise this factor as its an important feature for users as they are consumers of social media. 

new and digital media stories 17/11/13

Sun Online finds it hard to hit the net

The first figures since the paper put up its paywall show a heavy 30% drop in audience, despite the promise of goals on demand

The Sun newspaper have lost 30% of their audience since the paper put up its paywall. It seems that their subscribers haven't "swallowed the bait" when it comes to the Sun allowing subsribers to watch the Premier league goals on demand with any device that they have. 

In August; as goals for subscriptions just started up; the Sun Online had a digital total of...

•  6,244,489 (with 2,389,764 arriving by smartphone or pad alone.)
• In September, now featuring football wall-to-wall, that was down 32.9% (4,188,720)
• mobile plus pad visits dropping off sharply to 1,012,450. 
• Only PC users subscriptions at a steady figure

The Suns pay wall has affected how people get their news now as they were not use to paying for the Sun and therefore when the paywall took place they were bound to loose subscriptions despite adding the option to watch all Premier league goals on demand with any device. Also, not all of the Suns subscribers like to watch football therefore this additional thing which they've added does not appeal to all their readers. 

BitTorrent says Netflix is hogging bandwidth - not 'beating' it

Head of marketing at peer-to-peer giant argues his company is good citizen of internet, while streaming company chokes ISPs

Research suggesting that Netflix is responsible for a third of US peak time download traffic is nothing to be proud of, argues BitTorrent, the company best known for creating a peer-to-peer download protocol widely used to share music and movies. The report, produced by Sandvine, shows Netflix to be responsible for almost a third of all US downstream traffic at peak times, with YouTube contributing another 18%. Compared to the streaming video services, BitTorrent's portion of traffic is minuscule, at just over 4%. The bittorrent protocol has a much larger share of upstream traffic, due to its peer-to-peer nature. Almost every file downloaded using bittorrent is downloaded from another user's computer, rather than from a central server. Even so, in the aggregated upload and download data, Netflix remains the biggest user of traffic by a large margin.

"Netflix is hogging all of the bandwidth in North America," BitTorrent's vice president of marketing"
"This is a problem for Netflix. They're talking about [the super-high-definition TV format] 4K, but they're crushing the network already; if they deliver 4K they're going to completely grind it to a halt. All the ISPs are pissed at Netflix, because this is an unsustainable situation."

NDM summary 14/11/13

15/9/13 - We have abandoned our children to the internet

23/9/13 - TVCatchup expands service 

30/9/13 - Some papers want to stop the presses: others might closw the browser first

7/10/13 - BBC Radio 1 to launch iPlayer video channel 

14/10/13 - ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 force TVCatchUp to drop their services... 

21/10/13 - Apple talking its GaregeBand music app freemium for iPhone and iPad

4/11/13 - Children and the internet: a parent's guide

4/11/13 - Newspaper forge ahead with plans for new regulator 

10/11/13 - Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox reports dip in profits

17/11/13 - Sun online finds it hard to hit the net

17/11/13 - BitTorrent says Netflix is hogging bandwidth - not 'beating' it

Total stories: 11
www...
Theres a range of different stories that link to media in different ways
some further description and opinions
Own personal view on some articles 
EBI...
More description with the next articles i'm going to look at

The Virtual Revolution

The Virtual Revolution 

Broadcasted on the BBC

BBC - to inform, educate and entertain audiences 

PSB - public service broadcaster

paid for through the TV licence 

A trusted source for information 

Africa... the story of the web 

• Digital divide decreasing
• Looked upon as good as well as bad
• The web has impacted society ...this has changed the way in which we live
• Ushahidi --> weak and vulnerable are protected 

You were not able to access anything interactivity because nothing could be linked on the web. A common language had to be made to link all the information. ---> all computer systems needed to be linked (hypertext)

Wikipedia 

It has 65 million users a month however some question the accuracy of the information on Wikipedia as people are able to edit pages and information as well as some things on Wikipedia could be biased. 

The binary oppositions on Wikipedia challenge authority as there is no set person in charge of regulating this website.

Napster

Website which allows sharings of music illegally for free (P2P)
Changed the music industry
First illegal downloading website
copyright, patient and design act

Youtube 
Youtube was founded in feb 2005 and its first video went up in the same year. Its a video streaming website which allows users to watch, comment, like, favourite and upload video content.
Gets more than a billion views/visits a day
"providing opportunities not available before"
"old hierarchys still there just scrambling to take control"

The huffington post
--->The huffington post is a free website
--->Represents an old fashioned paper
---> Arianna huffington "Gate Keeper"
"captures the hybrid future...includes millions of voices"

Sir Tim Berners-Lee (Englishman) ---> Inventor of the world wide web 

•  says the internet is.... "connecting humanity"

Bill Gates... 

• "How mankind communicates" 
• "Its all about letting people share information 

Al Gore... 

• "...empowering tool"
• "...an exciting and revolutionary prospect"

Steven Fry...

• "An extraordinary invention" 
• "extraordinary" 

John Perry-Barlow...

• "a civilisation online" --> making money online 

Aleks Krotosk... 

Quotes based on the web...

• "the web is inventing society"
• "is the web unequal because it mirrors the heirachy of the real world"
• "a space without relies and regulation would be equal"
• "Lack of regulation" 
• "levelled access to communications" 
• "business models have been completely challenged and changed...physical products have no value...and industries have less power" 
• "paradiym shift on par with the printing press" --> description of the internet
• "a space without rules and regulation would be equal" ---> lack of regulation 
• "is the web unequal because it mirrors the hierarchy of the real world" 
• "the web clashes with power"
• "is the web inventing society" 

Other information and keywords...

• Freedom 
• Libertarianism (1960's)
• 2 billion users online 
• Freedom/empowers audiences VS. spying/government gaining information/ censorship
• Web allows anyone access to information, send messages and have their say
• 35 million people online everyday (uk)
• 18 million people online everyday
• 40% of men watch online pornography 
• "the well" was the first form/concept of social networking --> influenced Twitter, Facebook, Myspace ect... 
• Hypertext ----> the linking of documents onlines
• HTML ----> Hyper Text Mark-up Language 
• The US Military created the internet in the 1960's but wasn't available for the general public until later on in time 
• The world wide web (www.) started off free therefore business men made it possible to make money from this. ---> resists authority and is controlling 
• First web page created in 1991 

• Google ---> searched 38 million times a month 
• Amazon ---> searched 16 millions times a month 
• Ebay ---> searched 21 million times a month 

US v Th3m

Why this website is a good idea for newspapers in the digital age (one paragraph)

This website is a good idea for newspapers in the digital age as it shows how controversial the Daily Mail is and therefore people are able to see how they are looked upon by the media. "Sharing stuff socially says something about you" said Trinity Mirror product director Malcolm Coles. This is because we are in the age where the media emphasises the importance of new and digital media and social media as well as the fact that the amount of users are growing which makes this the best place for the newspapers to get across to communities   "People want to identify with something that reflects their personality and says something about themselves. People were pleased that the Daily Mail hated them."

Buzzfeed sued by photographer for $3.6m over 'copyright breach'

Website removed link to article after initial complaint, but lawsuit alleges 'direct and contributory infringement'

A photographer who failed to see the funny side of a Buzzfeed post on "The 30 Funniest Header Faces" is suing the site for $3.6m (£2.3m) over claims it breached his copyright. The Professional Photographer (Kai Eiselein) is suing BuzzFeed for using an image of him without consent. 

New and Digital news story 10/11/13

Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox reports dip in profits

Film and TV company that split from News Corp in June says launch of Fox Sports 1 and FXX in US dented bottom line

Entertainment giant 21st Century Fox has said that investments in new channels, including the launch of Fox Sports 1 and FXX in the US, hurt its profit in its fiscal first quarter.

The results, announced on Tuesday, marked the first quarter as a separate entity from publishing company News Corp, which was spun off at the end of June. Both entities remain controlled by Rupert Murdoch, who is CEO of 21st Century Fox and executive chairman of News Corp.

• The net income for the three months to 30 September was $1.26bn
• The revenue rose 18% to $7.06bn with the help from its TV businesses at home and abroad
• The expected revenue from Wall Street was $6.82bn
• TV operator Sky Deutschland lifted direct broadcast satellite TV revenue 68% to $1.39bn 
• Pay-TV revenue from its networks such as Fox News Channel and FX increased 12% to $2.81bn
• Studio revenue improved 9% to $2.12bn, partly because of the sales of TV shows, such as the first two seasons of New Girl to online streaming service Netflix. 

Buzzfeed sued by photographer for $3.6m over 'copyright breach'

Website removed link to article after initial complaint, but lawsuit alleges 'direct and contributory infringement'

A photographer who failed to see the funny side of a Buzzfeed post on "The 30 Funniest Header Faces" is suing the site for $3.6m (£2.3m) over claims it breached his copyright. The Professional Photographer (Kai Eiselein) is suing BuzzFeed for using an image of him without consent. 

Children and the internet: a parent's guide
Jamie Oliver has banned his children from social media – and in many families there is a constant battle between demands for privacy and safety. Here, parents share the lessons they have learned and the techniques they use




The article is based on Jamie Oliver with his view on social networking sites. He looks upon them as bad websites which are harmful to society and his children. "I found out my two eldest girls had set up Instagram accounts in secret, which I wasn't happy about and soon put a stop to," he said. "Poppy is the only girl in her class without a mobile. It may sound harsh, but I do worry about the bullying that can go on with these sites." He does not want his daughter(s) to be part of social media sites as it encourages views and opinions as well as can breach security. 

"When Lily was seven, there was one central computer in our house that we all used. Now smartphones mean that all of us are in our own private worlds, having private relationships with the internet and social media. At 17, she doesn't consider herself a digital native, but her younger sister at seven is completely immersed." He goes on to talk about how youths (at more younger ages) are becoming more immersed and more knowledgeable in terms of technology and therefore they are prone to online addiction at a younger age. 

Newspapers forge ahead with plans for new regulator

Hacked Off campaigners unimpressed with publishers' decision to ignore royal charter following its approval this week 



Newspaper and magazine publishers are pressing ahead with setting up a new regulator, in defiance of the government's rival royal charter-backed regulatory regime granted royal approval last week. Parts of the industry intend to ignore the existence of the royal charter supported by the three main political parties and Hacked Off, which was signed by the Queen on Wednesday, by creating their own entirely new system of press self-regulation.
However, the publishers of the Guardian, Independent and Financial Times, opposed to the government's use of a royal charter.
Nick Clegg says  "...If the press don't want to enter into this new [charter] system they don't have to." This allows newspaper and magazine publishers to chose between which ever they want to use

• Most newspaper and magazine publishers are backing the industry's new regulator.

• Under new legislation they could be responsible for paying a claimant's legal costs even if they lose the case.
• Publishers are thought likely to pursue their legal action against the government by arguing that the rejection of their alternative

In my opinion, newspaper and magazine publishers should chose which ever system in which they want as long as its easy for them to publish articles for various users/readers.