Hey everyone! Do give the parody video above a like and share! My group Riderz On The Pony (nope, don’t even question the name…) decided to showcase how different people on the internet use media to satisfy their needs via platforms such as Instagram, twitter and tiktok! The twist to this is that, we simulated the unspoken reality of the audiences that use these different platforms. I hope our acting skills kept you entertained! 🙂

INSTAGRAM

Instagram’s corporate’s slogan is ”capture and share the world’s moments”. The “ideal” Instagram in my opinion should be a platform for people to share authentic pictures ranging from nature, food, and important moments to be kept like a diary! However, Instagram has became a platform for fame and everyone would want to stand out and make their post the most “Instagram worthy” with lots of editing and planning. The world’s moments now seems to be created by humans and this loses it’s essence. Therefore, the parody video mocks how Instagram users choose to favor “created moments” by Instagram stars, Kylie Jenner and Michelle Phan who has a large following as compared to the “world’s moments” which is captured by a normal individual who went on a hike and took a snap of the beautiful scenery.

I love using twitter because it allows me to read short, informative texts and keeps me updated on the issues happening around me 24/7. Due to it’s rapid speed and explicit information, many people tend to go on twitter after reading about a car crash on mainstream broadcast channels to get a glimpse of the exact footage of the car crash. I feel that this could be disrespectful because it reveals the identity of the deceased and would impact the deceased family members. In the parody video, a dealer selling overpriced mask is exposed by the uncover journalist. It is definitely really interesting to see another side of Singapore, but is it necessary to do disseminate this video public instead of just submitting it to the police authorities?

TIKTOK & WHATSAPP

We infused Tiktok and Whatsapp in the last scene of our video! Whatsapp is a communication platform for most of us in Singapore. We chose to circulate a cute video of a dog in our parody. However many unreliable information and videos are shared via Whatsapp every single day and as these videos get passed on, many of us might believe these unreliable information, and it is a vicious cycle as it creates fear and panic. Therefore, our parody would want to educate our viewers to be more aware of the information that is being circulated and not just taking the information as it is in order to fit in!

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Did UGC changed the way I viewed traditional television?

The answer is… YES IT DID!!

User generated content (UGC) are contents created by anyone (people like you and me!) regardless of age, expertise and social skills! Some platforms driven by UGCs are youtube, tumblr, instagram, wikipedia, and tumblr.

No doubt, being exposed to many UGCs as I scroll through social media throughout these years has indeed altered my view and understanding of mainstream traditional TV. I feel that UGC has more reality as compared to the broadcast content on mainstream television. The broadcasted content on mainstream television are usually controlled by the government or private media companies in which they might have hidden agendas or ratings to hit hence they alter the content to suit their needs. The reality and sole purpose of the content is now distorted which would implicate the audiences. Luckily for UGC, people have a platform to go against the traditional norms to present and add on to alternative views which might contrast with the content shown on mainstream television to give a fuller representation of a situation.

Although the credibility of UGC might be questioned, I feel that we should all be responsible active audiences to assess whether information is accurate and credible before accepting it. With that, UGC definitely made an impact on me as it allows me to gain more insights on the different perspectives people had and made me more critical in the analysis of broadcast content on mainstream television, makes a good alternative platform for opportunities, entertainment and lastly, a platform for anyone to put their views out there!

Signing off,

Hiiiiii lads! It has been awhile since i started writing again and it feels good to be back! 🙂 I promise this read will be more interesting and exciting! There will be two parts to today’s read:

Firstly, my personal take on i)feminism and my group’s ii)subvertisement.

Secondly, is about an online video sharing platform, iii) Tiktok and how it has created such a societal debate on mediated public spheres.

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i) Feminism

I firmly believe that gender should not be the ultimate factor that determines the role an individual play in society.

Yes, there are indeed differences in the way men and women handles a situation. Women are known to be more empathetic, intuitive and focuses on building relationships whereas men are known to be more assertive, task-oriented and competitive. Certain jobs might look out for particular traits that are more common in a specific gender however I feel that we should not omit a specific gender completely so that it will be fair for everyone to fight for the position based on skills that they developed and trained for rather than relying on privileges given.

ii) Subvertisement

My group members are Chessa, Chelsea and Darren! We decided to go against a popular fast food chain Nandos over their ”buns and breasts” remark where women’s private body parts are being objectified.

My group’s stand on feminism is that there should be political, economic and social equality of the sexes. The time has come where I present you my group’s subvertisement:

The message

From our subvertisement, we would like to demonstrate that there is an equality between the sexes by showing that women are capable of holding high position jobs, contributing to the society as well as doing the things that men do. The caption “Hey Nando’s we are not just hot chicks!” means that there are valuable qualities, talents and skills hidden behind a pretty face that people should explore more into. Hence we shouldn’t just degrade women by portraying them as objects to satisfy men’s pleasures.

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iii) TIK TOK

Tiktok has taken over social media. It is an application where it allows individuals to be creative and to film short lip-sync, dancing, comedy and cute animal videos. You are also able to gain popularity on tiktok via the number of followers you have for the content that you post. People these days spend so much time on tiktok that if you were to stop a teenager on the street today, almost 80% know the dance moves to popular tiktok video. This hype and obsession has gone out of control, where problems of inappropriate content such as vaping tricks arising from this platform. Also, due to peer pressure people adopt extreme methods just to create a good video so that they will look “cool”.

Many problems are brought to societal attention and the following are some discussion topics found in a mediated public sphere:

Have you all tried creating a tiktok video?

To end off, here’s a reminder to spend time with your loved ones this weekend!

Thank you for reading! 🙂

After a week’s hiatus, I am back to share my thoughts on media ownership! The presentation last week went well and I’ve gained multiple insights from other groups presentation too 🙂 With a clearer head, be prepared for a reflective write-up where I’ll touch on Government versus Private-owned media and finally my stand on who should ultimately own the media of Singapore! Enjoy!

~ Government owned ~

The government controls the mass media in Singapore. This means that whatever you see on local broadcast such as channel 5 or newspapers has been regulated before it appears in front of your eyes.

My thoughts on government owned

Many might argue that they do not support government owned media as they are afraid that the disseminated information might be infused with propaganda tactics. Luckily for us Singaporeans, we are well governed with the lowest cases of corruption in the world. And yes, the media does contain ‘pro-government’ intentions, but more importantly to me is how the audience processes the information. In the 21st century, people are more critical with information that they see and might source out alternative sources before coming to a agreement. I can say the media in Singapore is quite regulated as compared to China or North Korea where the information is completely tainted to only praise the government and the citizens have restricted access to the internet.

Example on extreme government control

Detaining Uyghur Muslims in ‘re-educational camps’

China deemed Ugyhur Muslims as ”extremist” or with politically incorrect views and this might pose a threat to China government. Hence, to eliminate Islam as a whole in china the Muslims brainwashed to reduce their ability to think critically. The Muslims are given pork to eat and forced to sing China’s national anthem as well as learn Chinese.

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~ Private owned media ~

Unfortunately, there is no private media in Singapore.

An example of private owned company that controls the media would be Rupert Murdoch, a editor who founded News Corp. Murdoch had a business mindset, and to keep his newspaper and media industry interesting, he increased sports and scandal coverage and adopted eye-catching headlines.

My thoughts on private owned

Private owned media might appeal to people as there is no censorship imposed, however I find that pretty scary.

The power lies within the editor of the company and we might not know whether the news published is reliable or not. Most business man like Murdoch prioritizes on making more profits and expanding the company. Hence it is questionable what tactics they might adopt to achieve their agenda of hitting the sales.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Growing up where media is controlled by the government, I ultimately support government owned media in Singapore.

Even though the media is controlled by the government, there is free media for me as a platform to express my thoughts on social media freely without much restriction. There is still freedom in the kinds of media that I choose to use too. (Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube)

All in all, I am just happy and blessed that the government does not impose strict censorship on the Singapore media. Singaporeans do have the freedom to have different religions and their own views. Analysis of information critically is also taught in schools to train younger Singaporeans, hence having government owned media would not bring much of a problem if the audience is objective with the media.

Thank you for staying through, this post might be fairly lengthy, but I hope you will see where I am coming from!

See you guys on the next one, cheers to the weekend! 🙂

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References

1. Bayance. (2020). Let’s Get Real: Oppression of Muslim Uighurs in China ft. AqsaSaysWhat. [online] Available at: https://bayance.wordpress.com/2019/08/19/lets-get-real-oppression-of-muslim-uighurs-in-china-ft-aqsasayswhat/ [Accessed 20 Feb. 2020].
2. D’Amico, S. (2019). Why is China Persecuting the Uyghur People?. [online] MIR. Available at: https://www.mironline.ca/why-is-china-persecuting-the-uyghur-people/ [Accessed 20 Feb. 2020].
3. Illustration of Rupert Murdoch. (2020). [image] Available at: https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2014/04/10/101572730-rupert-murdoch-illustration.1910×1000.jpg [Accessed 20 Feb. 2020].
4. Redwire Singapore (2020). People’s Action Party wins electoral-majority using laws and bans. [image] Available at: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=jEs76RD4&id=5436C9AD00FA3BE4B9A826B1B7A0087CDE8391F4&thid=OIP.jEs76RD48I6a27UUqoAiDAHaEc&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fredwiretimescom.lightningbasecdn.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2019%2f01%2fredwire-singapore-pap-national-day-x84.png&exph=600&expw=1000&q=singapore+government+pap&simid=608046727267876960&selectedIndex=2&ajaxhist=0 [Accessed 20 Feb. 2020].

Origins

In 1940s where Herta Herzog, a Austrian-American social scientist specializing in communication studies wanted to understand the appeal behind radio soap operas. She interviewed multiple fans and grouped their fulfilments into 3 groups. i) emotional release, ii)satisfaction through imagination through feelings or emotions experience through another person, iii) education. During this period, Abraham Moslow identified the hierarchy of needs theory, which somehow is related to the uses and gratification theory today.

The uses and gratification theory was developed in 1974 by Elihu Katz and Jay Blumler as a reaction to traditional mass media research emphasizing the sender and the message. As additional research in 1940s studied on what people missed out when reading newspapers. Hence, they developed a more systemic method in response to how and why people use different forms of media.

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Uses & Gratification research

The uses and gratification theory explains how people use the media to fulfill their needs. This theory characterizes audience as active and motivated in selecting the type of media they consume. On the other hand, the media effects model(as seen from my previous post) characterizes audience as passive and vulnerable to media effects.

There are several needs and gratification for different people and they can be grouped into 5 categories:

Needs:	Reasons for using media:	Examples:
Cognitive	To acquire facts, academic and intellectual knowledge	Quiz programs on television, news, do-it-yourself (DIY) videos, documentaries, online media
Affective	To satisfy emotional needs. [People relate to a character and feel their emotions]	Watching a comedy drama and laughing (emotion)
Personal Integrative	For needs of self-esteem and respect. [To reassure their status, gain credibility and stability in society]	Advertisements online showing the trendiest jewelry and apparels. People buy the products to change and upgrade lifestyle. OR watching dance video on Youtube to be better in dance = more confidence
Social Integrative	To socialize with family, friends and relations in society	Sending messages on Whatsapp/facebook , watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S (Netflix series) because everyone in town is watching it = may have a common topic to discuss with people
Tension Free	As a mean of escapism and relieve from tension	Listen to songs,watching favorite drama, surfing the net after a long day at school or school. *needs are subjective, differs between people

Evaluations on uses and gratification theory

• does not show media as powerful or important
• study is audience-oriented
• mainly focuses on people’s selectivity on media content and not the unintended effects the media might create in our minds
• results might be subjective
• audience might not be active

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‘Lobby Groups’

They are also known as advocacy groups. They are not run by the government and they use various forms of advocacy to influence the public’s opinion on the message that they want to bring out. In order to put pressure on the government/society.

Let us take some time to analyze the picture below:

I find this image really powerful in delivering it’s message about going vegan. As many people claim to ‘love’ animals they only refer to the cute pets that we have at home, but not other animals such as chickens or cows hence they still consume and support animal products. This suggests that many ‘claim-to-be’ animal lovers do not really love animals. Hence, this image mocks ‘animal lovers’ in hope that they will re-think and change to a plant-based diet.

Lobby groups uses persuasive techniques in their posters to help influence their audience to make them agree with their stand. For instance this image uses the word ‘killed’ multiple times for emphasis. It also uses strong, sarcastic phrases such as ‘it’s awesome to kill’ and ‘kill them please’ that evoke an emotional response on the reader. Lastly, the use of capital letters and the font colour red shows additional emphasis on its message.

Thank you for staying and reading so many words, do take a break and reward yourself with something good after you have read this! I’ll see you all on the next one! 🙂

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Citations

1. Communication Theory. (n.d.). uses and gratification theory. [online] Available at: https://www.communicationtheory.org/uses-and-gratification-theory/ [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].
2. Thepowerofmedia.files.wordpress.com. (n.d.). [online] Available at: https://thepowerofmedia.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/screen-shot-2012-02-28-at-9-06-56-pm.png [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].
3. the power of media. (n.d.). The Basics of Uses & Gratifications Theory. [online] Available at: https://thepowerofmedia.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/the-basics-of-uses-gratifications-theory/ [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].
4. Representation of hypocrisy, (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://www.vegansidekick.com [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].

What is wrong with the ‘media effects’ model?

The media effects model believes that the power lies within the message of a text and that audience are passive and vulnerable to media effects. In simpler terms, the audience are highly influenced by the media and are powerless to its effects. Hence it is widely considered a negative effect.  

I strongly believe that the media effects model has its flaws and we should dive deeper into other areas that would affect the thinking and behaviour of the audiences.

Do you agree with this phrase ‘The media needs to stop inspiring copycat murders.’? I don’t. Till today, murderer cases are still the hardest to crack. Why? Due to it being so complex in nature that the FBI and psychologists have to look at one’s family’s background to see if whether they come from a broken family. Usually murderers tend to have a bad childhood which then resulted in them feeling isolated or have a resentment towards humans. Hence, they carry out murderers and massacres to make them feel seen by the world.

Enough of all that killings.. Let’s focus on the positive effects of the media, shall we? As, we progress into the future, the media is a platform for knowledgeable information where anyone can easily learn skills for free. It also ensures faster communication throughout the world. For instance, for the current coronavirus (nCoV) we depend on media to get updates of situations around the world so that it will benefit travellers who are healthy to avoid countries that are affected so that the virus is contained within a specific region.

To sum things up, I agree that media does have influence on us, and the level of influence varies (children are more likely to be influence by the media as compared to adults). However, what is wrong about the ‘media effects’ model is that it only focuses and blames that the media affects us without taking into consideration of other factors. I believe that with a good childhood and proper education and the use of media in moderation the audience will have the ability to differentiate what is right from wrong.

What are some interesting questions to ask about the role of the media today, in the shaping of mass opinion (In the age of the Internet)?

As we go into the 21^st century there has been major shifts in the role of media in shaping the mass opinion. As the newer generation become more educated and outspoken, they tend of question what is presented to them. Hence, here are some questions to ask about the role of media today:

1. How much truth there is in the media we see today since most media organisations are controlled by the government?
2. Why are some form of media MORE effective in shaping the mass opinion today?

Thank you for taking your time to read my post, see you guys soon!

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Citations

1. Addiction to social media. (2020). [image] Available at: https://rockisocialmediamarketingsolutions.wordpress.com/2017/09/07/instagram-addiction-the-new-age-drug/ [Accessed 3 Feb. 2020].