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.

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.

Many would agree that advances in technology allow audiences to feel empowered, especially in an era known as the “information revolution” whereby audiences have strong opinions of news and can express that freely on social media sites. The theories of Marxism and Pluralism are vital in differentiating how exactly powerful audiences are with the audiences in new and digital media, as it demonstrates a clear contrast in power between the elite and how society influences the media through freedom of speech.

In my opinion, audiences are empowered by developments to new and digital media to a large extent as citizen journalism allows audiences to challenge those in power. This supports the idea of pluralism, with the media supporting the idea of audiences having freedom of speech as “the internet has given readers much more power” (Rupert Murdoch, Newscorp). For instance, CNN an American news channel has been portrayed negatively on social media because recently this year CNN and Facebook hosted the first 2016 Democratic Party presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nevada. CNN conducted an online poll asking viewers to select which of the participants they believed won the debate. Despite the fact that the poll ended with Bernie Sanders holding 75% of the vote, and Hillary Clinton holding 18% of the vote, CNN published several articles declaring Secretary Clinton as the winner of the debate. Users of Twitter were unhappy with CNN's dishonesty and stated how CNN purposely tried to "bury Bernie Sanders's victory in an effort to support Hillary Clinton." This created online debate and as a result CNN removed the poll from their website. The fact that social media influenced a big debate demonstrates how new and digital media has allowed audiences to be dominant. Ultimately, many users of Twitter expressed how CNN were fraudulent and this became a trending topic, following the hashtag #CNN in the United States for 24 hours. As a result, this leads to people becoming ‘opinion leaders’ on social media as their view may influence somebody else’s thinking if they are not already aware of the issue. Audiences have the freedom to challenge audiences and could be described as "rebellion is encapsulated in the internet" (Keen) and suggests how audiences do have the capabilities to challenge the elite.

Furthermore, the idea of pluralism allows audiences to choose what they can consume and allows them to engage with the news agenda. This is most apparent with the police brutality in America which encouraged the activist movement called “Black Lives Matter”. The movement began with the use of the hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter, on social media after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin. Black Lives Matter became nationally recognized for its street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African Americans: Michael Brown—that resulted in protests and unrest in Ferguson—and Eric Garner in New York City. Audiences are empowered by perspective and are able to challenge those in power, such as the police. As it was the audiences, in this case, who influenced the media to expose the “Black Lives Matter” campaign, it is notable that new and digital media allows audiences to “conform, accommodate, challenge or reject” (Gurevitch) to such views in society.

From a Marxist perspective, it is evident that within limited reason the elite allows audiences to be powerful. As mass media institutions have been recognised for having “a minority of (media) producers” which “serve a majority of consumers” (Pareto’s Law) this arguably demonstrates how audiences are limited in what they see as “freedom of speech” as websites, such as The Daily Mail are moderated regularly and can remove filter/remove any comment from their online website, which attracts 100 million users monthly. An example of this is the homophobic article written about the death of Stepthen Gately, produced by Jan Moir (The Daily Mail’s chief columnist). The article provoked much criticism on Twitter and Facebook and an opponent columnist Charlie Brooker, from The Guardian, described the article as "a gratuitous piece of gay-bashing" and urging readers to contact the Press Complaints Commission. As a result, the editorial direction of the gatekeepers controlling the newspaper did not change and this depicts audiences are trapped under hegemonic control and social media sites such as Twitter are just under the illusion of having freedom of speech.

Also, Marxists are in in control and this is clearly evident for online newspaper sites which moderate comments which people leave on each article. In further detail, if audiences express their opinions which are too far out of the mainstream, that comment can easily be removed. This proves how the elite have the power to remove comments online without hassle. For instance, if users use too much swearing in their comment this will automatically notify the website to remove the comment easily. Online moderation takes place in order for The Daily Mail to maintain their brand image and not have audiences thinking to negatively. In addition, social media sites such as Twitter can suspend users for example for being too sexist or homophobic to a large extent.

To conclude, anyone has the ability to express their opinion on social media there are limitations on what can be viewed to other users. It is noticed that audiences are heavily empowered by the developments in technology as social media helps to expose the opinions of the audience, this helps supports pluralism. Even though websites have some control over what comments can be shown, this control is minor as audiences have the ability to spark online debates which could impact those with high control, and this is most evident with the Black Lives Matter campaign. Overall, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that audiences are under hegemonic control, as Marxists have cleverly crafted an illusion of autonomy.