Thursday, 6 March 2014

A TV ad for a nude scanner mobile app has been banned for being portraying women very negatively. The Advertising Standards Authority received 26 complaints that the ad, which aired during six episodes of Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks, was demeaning to women and was broadcast when children might see it.It showed a phone with the Nude Scanner 3D app giving the impression it was "scanning" a woman's body and revealing her naked but with her breasts and crotch blurred out.A voiceover said the app was a way to "prank your friends to think you can see what any of them look like without clothes on".In banning the ad, the ASA said: "Because the ad focused on the product's apparent ability to enable the user to view naked images of women using the camera on their phone, and had a prolonged focus on the female model, we considered it was unsuitable for a child audience and was likely to be viewed as demeaning to women and, therefore, offensive."

My view
I personally think that the advertising standards authority did the right job by taking down the app because no one has the right to show a gender very negativly. They cannot just make any app as they like even if it harms people. If i was a woman i would have also complained against this app and i would have never stopped complaining till the app was taken down. This is because every one has a right and just because some woman don't mind, you cannot just represent all women very negativly and say that they are all like that. I think because the advert was demeaning women, it had to be taken down because not every women will be like that, some of them do have some respect.

Weekly story 3

Financial Times Group profits rise 17%

The owner of FT group has reported a 21% slump in its overall operating profit for 2013, as its core US education business continues to be hit by the "worst trading conditions" seen in decades. On the other hand the profits for the company's FT group were up by 17% to £55m. FT Group, which includes the Financial Times and Pearson's 50% stake in the Economist Group, reported sales of £449m, down 1% year-on-year, but operating profits were up 17% on 2012. Digital subscribers to FT.com grew 31% year-on-year to 415,000 and now represent almost two-thirds of the FT's total paying audience, powered by a 60% upsurge in corporate users. THE HTML app, which launched in 2011 and bypasses Apple iTunes so as to have a direct relationship with readers, was performing "extremely well", the group said. Mobile now accounts for nearly a quarter of all new subscriptions at the FT, it added. FT.com digital subscriptions of 415,000, more than offset the planned reductions in print circulation, the group said.

My view

In my opinion i personally think that the reasons why FT's profits have rised by 17% is because of the new and digital media. It is all the internet and the smartphones which are helping them raise their profits. This is because people in the new tridition are intracted with the internet and when they have internet i am very sure that no one will be using the old triditional newspaper. This is why their print side was reported very weak, and it was in decline. I think print overall is in decline because people are getting all their news from the internet and because of the advancements in the technology, people can also download the companies app and subscribe to them there. It will not be long and print will be gone, no one will be in the old tridition, buying newspapers as by then they will intract with the new technology.

Weekly story 2

Premiership rugby: Sun and Times subscribers get online and mobile clips

The Sun and Times publisher News UK has snapped up the online and mobile clip rights to Aviva Premiership rugby. News Uk, the company which also publishes the Sunday times has agreed a deal with Aviva Premiership Rudby after their rights were released by BT sports. The clips will be available on The Sun, Times and Sunday Times. They will be online and on mobile apps until June 2017. The deals kicks off immediately with the first clips shown from Friday evening's encounter between Bath and Saracens. The clips will be available within three hours of the matches finishing.Mike Darcey, the News UK chief executive, said: "The partnership with Aviva Premiership Rugby significantly strengthens our offering to loyal subscribers of our world-renowned titles. Passion for rugby is shared across members of the Sun, Times and Sunday Times and we are delighted to take our post-match clips packages beyond football for the first time."

My view:

I think News UK will have a very big benefit from this because now they might even attract more subscribers. This is because they will be showing the rugby match within three hours once the match is finished. I think this is a very good way of keep their subscribers very loyal and satisfied. This will help them then raise more revenue because there will not be any chances of them losing any subscibers, as the current ones are very happy and satisfied. They will not only be satisfying one of their companies subscribers but they will be keeping three of their papers customers very happy. I think within the years they will attract much more subscribers because customers will rather just pay to them as they will be very cheap, rather than just paying for the channel BT sports.

Weekly story 1

Tony Hall wants people to pay a fee to BBC iPlayer

Tony Hall the BBC's general diector wants the licence fee extended to include the estimated 500,000 UK homes where viewers do not have a TV set but watch programmes on-demand on the iPlayer.The move would enable the BBC to start charging the estimated 2% of household – 500,000 – in the UK which only consume on-demand TV content, rather than watching programmes live. He gave a speech at the Oxford Media convection on Wednesday to defence his view. He described the BBC as "one of the finest broadcasting organisations in the world" and "great value for money" reaching 96% of the population ever week. He said their should be a fee for every aspect in which the audience consume TV and Radio, so on the computers Ipad even a smartphone. Hall said the BBC's latest research showed that the public was prepared to spend an average of between £15 and £20 for its services, beyond the £12 a month (or £145.50 a year) households currently pay.

My view
In my opinion i think that the BBC will have a very big benefit from this because they will be just generating extra revenue, but on the other side they might have a risk of loosing their audience because i don't think that their audience will be happy about paying a license fee for BBC Iplayer. I don't think the customers will be willing to pay for Iplayer because they are paying for their internet and as it has been on the internet for free for a long time now, they cannot just come up with a new idea that there should be a license fee. The people that are just watching it on Iplyter without a TV in their household should just be charged or something. They cannot just apply a fee for everyone, even the people who have a TV in their household and are paying the license fee.

Thursday, 13 February 2014

Weekly story

BBC2 controller steps down

BBC2 controller Janice Hadlow has to step down the role after more than five years to take up a new job as controller. She is also the controller of BBC4 said it had been an "amazing privilege" to run BBC2 which she said she had "loved ever since I was old enough to appreciate great programmes." She is leaving on the channels 50th birthday, on 20 April this year. She become in charge for the BBC4 last year. In her new job she will "develop and originate high-impact, cross-platform series, seasons and other major television events." She will also "advise Danny Cohen and the channel controllers on broadcast strategy."The BBC's director of television, Danny Cohen, said Hadlow had been an "extraordinarily successful controller of BBC2. In a time of digital change, she has both creatively enriched BBC2 and ensured it remains a competitive force to be reckoned with".

My view: I personally think this could seriously affect the BBC as they are loosing a controller, who was in charge of two things in the company. This could seriosuly affect the company in many different ways as she was an star for them. The channel might not be controlled the same way as she use to control it. This could result to having unorgainsed staff and unorgained channel. This will then affect the BBC as one of there channels is nopt performing well and is loosing viewers, which means the company will be loosing its audience.

Weekly story

Parents unaware of dangers faced by children on smartphones

Children holding a selection of smartphones

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26121434

Many parents are out of touch with the dangers faced by their children on tablets and smartphones.

One in five children said they had seen something on their devices that had upset them. A study found that just over 20% of parents do not monitor what their children are doing online. The rest of the parents said that they have spoken to their children about staying safe onlin when using a tablet or a smartphone. The parents said that they are happy to let their children use the internet unsupervised. The study found out that teenagers aged 12-15 do get bullied on the internet as they are the young age and people think they can say whatever they like to them. Before there wasn't as much of the danger when people use to use PC's but now that people have communicating in a much intractive way, the danger has increased. Apple's iPhone and iPad have restrictions, or parental controls, that can be set using a passcode.Access to certain apps or websites can be blocked completely or restricted to age appropriate content.Restricted profile accounts can also be set up on Android smartphones and tablets.

My view:

I think that the parents should not let go out their children, they should keep up to date with what their chilldren are using on the internet with their phones and tablets. I think parents need to be more aware of the dangers and risks to their children which is why they should be in control of what they use and what not they use. I think if parents don't take the responsibility and let their children do whatever they like then there children could face so many problems which their parents will hardly know about. Parents need to show their power and control what their children use on the internet. They should manage the apps and websites their children use because at the end of the day they are the parents and they have to take full responsibilty of their children.