AQA Exam Paper Media 2

1Q) New and digital technology has a huge impact on traditional media industries.
What challenges have media brands faced as a result of changes in technology? Refer to your online  ans social participatory Close Study Products (The Voice and Teen Vogue).

Media brands such as Teen Vogue (TVU) and The Voice (TVE) have faced an increase of competitors and difficulties due to changes in technology.

TVU from 2007-15 used to have a stereotypical and almost degrading patriarchal view of women. Women in the magazine are perceived  from the "male gaze" as Mulvey would say as they were being objectified. This led to the decline in TVU audience in 2015 but, changed as they used the internet to better interact with "digital natives" ( people who grew up with the internet and want rich,free and fast content) as Marc Prensky would say. TVU faced backlash on Twitter so severe they had to take down the comment section due to white male peoples' preferred readings of TVU's work. This shows how due to changes in technology that media brands like TVU have updated better, which they've been doing in contemporary times seen from TVU is focused on promoting women in politics, fashion, power as well as diversification.

TVE is a newspaper company owned by GV media and a Jamaican owner, who founded the paper in 1982 due to the Brixton riots in 1981. TVE main focus of viewership are the Black British demographic and try to give black people a voice in politics through the black community not white racist media. As it focuses on a niche group it is small, however due to using the internet as a platform they can compete with other media brand giants like Vogue even with smaller resources. Although due to the changes in technology they also face more media brands as competitors and because they focus on a "niche" demographic of people who face having, as Paul Gilroy would say a diasporic identity, which is theory when people belong to neither their home country or the country they currently live, causing TVE'S media presence to be week. This can also be seen from TVE'S YouTube channel which videos have lower than a thousand views as well as from the pitiful amounts of followers they have on Twitter and Facebook.This means that since TVE cannot effectively adapt/utilise the changes they cannot effectively build up their media brand.

TVU has also faced a need to increase their political appearance to the public due to the changes of technology. TVU had women appear:weak, superficial and catty. Van Zoonen talks about how gender is constructed through the media as weak and superficial and TVU had been making women appear this way for years. This idea has been cultivated over the years as Gerbner would say so that TVU can exploit young women insecurities to make a profit. Also due to technology people are becoming more socially and politically aware leading to a decline in TVU's viewership, however they have adjusted and used their online presence to promote women and events like the Teen Vogue summit on their online platforms.This shows the challenges that media brands like TVU face due to the changes in technology.