There are both arguments to support and disagree with the idea that “the development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production”. On one hand audiences now take on a less passive role in regards to the media, however on the other hand institution still regulates what can actually be accessed by the audiences and some elements of the media are still censored and controlled.
In regards to the audience gaining more powerful in terms of production of media , online sites such as ‘Youtube’ and ‘Facebook’ allow audience in effect to leave the past passive status of the audience behind , with audiences creating media to release to the wider society. Many people now use websites such as ‘Youtube’ to publicize their talents such as musical talents etc in a quick and easy way, which in the past would have been far more difficult. By doing so the audience is both gaining more power and receiving personal gratifications. Also it is possible for the general public to make money through their uploaded video’s by sharing revenue with the ‘Youtube’ institution itself , giving the audience power in a financial way.
Another way in which the audience gains power through new and digital media is through social networking sites and VoIP, which reflect the globalization of the media, landscape today. For example ‘Skype’ acts as a means of communication across the world allowing audiences to do business across the world with little difficulty and expense. As well as ‘Skype’ social networking site ‘Facebook’ allows audience to broadcast information to hundreds, even thousand of people at one time, whether this be business information, advertising or simply general information to friends. ‘Facebook’ means that the audience can both be in control of who they communicate with, what information they see and what it is that gets posted onto their own profile page. In effect making the audience both more powerful in the production of media and in the consumption of it.
However, there are also arguments to suggest that the audience have actually gained very little power from new and digital media. Firstly, from a Marxist outlook, the changes in the media actually reinforce the already established hierarchy, keeping the proletariat on the bottom and the bourgeoisie on top. Institutions do so by allowing the audience to believe they have been given more freedom such as when looking at Apple’s product the iPhone. The vast amount of app’s available create the illusion that the audience has great power in the selecting of what they consume, however Apple as a company still have to approve app’s before they are made available to the audience. This shows that institutions still have major control over what the audience is receiving and at what cost they will do so at.
As well as this the pluralistic and easily accessible nature of the new media landscape also has its negative effects on the audience as opposed to benefits , for example as search engines such as Google and Bing can be accessed from almost all new mobile phones such as Blackberrys and HTC smart-phones , audience members have the world wide web in the palm of their hands. Whilst this could be seen as highly beneficial it also reflects the reliance the audience has on such technology when considering obtaining information , inevitably ‘dumbing down’ audience members. This is also reflected by the use of social networking sites such as MSN , where people are now typing in shortened vocabulary and ‘text talk’ in the past people could only communicate in person , by writing letters or verbally through the phone – all of which use a number of basic literacy skills which are now often pushed aside due to the ease of technology and the lack of literacy required to do so in new media communication methods.
To conclude , it is apparent that the institution is still very much in power when it comes to what audiences produce and consume . However to a certain extent the audience can also be seen to have gained more power , although limited in regards to this , becoming more in control of what they consume and becoming less passive as a result of this.
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