hmm

The Paper?

  I was flicking through the channels last night and came across an interesting new show on MTV. Now, I am not an MTV fan at all, but I decided to watch this show for one sole premise, Journalism. 

    The show, The Paper, is a new twist on normal reality shows, about teens in high school on a newspaper team. The first episode was about four young hopefuls looking to become the new Editor-In-Chief. The rest of the season is about how the Newspaper Team is run and the inside politics that lay beneath the surface. 

    The paper these "lucky" teens write for is called "The Circuit." Supposedly this paper doesn't just cover school topics, but bigger topics such as Presidential Elections and the war in Iraq. Now, when watching this show, I couldn't help but wonder what effect it will have on my generation that watches MTV.

 A few questions ran through my head: 

1. Will this show become a flop because it portrays more of a "Lord Of The Flies" type of plot rather than sex, scandal, drugs and drama?

2. Could this show start a new wave of newspaper? 

3.Now that this world has become so technological, will this maybe stir up possibilities of the traditional newspaper, not just online news broadcasting or television?

4. Will young teens start to read the paper and get more caught up on news because it seems "cool" now that it is on MTV?

5. Will this show just become about the teens or will it really discuss the newspaper producing process? 

    One safe bet to say is that there will be drama. Teenagers trapped in a room together? Yes, there will be. 

    I am praying though this will actually make students in high school more aware of the school newspaper and actually pay attention to the news being printed. 

  I worked at my high school's newspaper and not many students actually read the paper. The students just collected it during every announcement meeting time and looked to see if they were on the picture collage on the back of each paper. 

    If all else fails, I at least this show can make students more aware of their surroundings. 

However, I am curious to see if there is any impact on technology with this show. Maybe for once, teenagers will read more than texts and IM's to get their information....

BBC goes tech savvy

All stereotypes can now be put to rest. The British are not stuck in the 19th century, sipping tea in their large hats and using proper english, they are now making a huge leap into a potentially dangerous pool of internet media. BBC is making tracks towards putting their whole empire onto the web. This will enable fans to download all the shows that have been aired and read UK news whenever they please. 

 BBC's strategy seems to rely on the fact that many people use the internet more than they watch television. This is a new era for television broadcasting companies, and BBC is taking it to a whole other level. Behind the scenes it seems that BBC wants their information  to be more accessible. Doing this will allow them to grow new demographics and psychographics in their line of work. Bottom line: BBC will be accessible around the world and can thrive more when the internet is an access to their products.

Now, even though this sounds amazing to BBC and it seems as if everything goes according to plan(nothing ever does, trust me) then they will be a widely successful broadcasting company. All of their time and energy will bring more consumers to their station and they can finally have a wider range of viewers. Also, this will open up doors to more money and new ideas that the company has been brewing. They will join up with iPlayer and have a connection to Apple, which everyone wants to be connected to in some way. Also, this could be a huge investment and they could have more outlets for people to use such as a regional newscasting websites and different types of online "magazines." 

   However, with every great plan, there are also repercussions that could take dramatic effect if all fails. BBC owns most of its shows and is funded by the government by television viewers taxes. Now, if all said and done, BBC does not have to worry about sponsors or advertisers on their websites, so they will have a largely growing population of people who will use the website more frequently. Good for BBC bad for Advertising and media. 

Also, in order to start this complete makeover of the oldest broadcasting company in the United Kingdom, they will also have to do some lay-offs to meet the budget. This means, many people are out of jobs.

   As we have noticed, many television companies in the United States are slowly intergrading internet with their stations. Such as Fox Channel, which has now posted all their videos online so if you miss an episode you can watch it without having to wait for a repeat. 

  However, BBC website and FOX have many differences to each other. Yes, they both have their television shows posted online on their own websites, but what people can see is that BBC has made this a whole little world. 

   BBC has made it so you can customize your homepage, listen to radio stations, practice your English with quizzes and tips, look up the weather, watch the news, catch up on sports scores, and of course, watch television shows. 

 Now FOX has some interesting tricks up its sleeves as well, but not publicly announcing it as well as BBC. You can see the schedules for the upcoming week, watch old episodes, see sports, listen to the music that was used on the shows, has a kids page for kids shows and has a store you can purchase items. 

  But honestly, FOX? what are you trying to do here compared to BBC? BBC seems to have all the bases covered, or at least partially, and who knows? They will probably add much more to this website as the year goes by.