Global Media News

BBC Radio; Radio 1Xtra and Their Recent Advancements.

Radio in the United Kingdom is continuing to grow as various content for music, entertainment and news are being presented for people with different interest. Similar to here in the U.S, The UK has a diverse group of people who don’t all primarily like the same type of music and entertainment. Having multiple avenues within radio with varied material, engages all type of people into the radio world. BBC Radio has done a remarkable job with appealing to wide audiences. Radio 1Xtra which is one branch within the BBC Radio conglomerate that focuses on urban music and entertainment and uses its platform to reach youth in the U.K.

 Music that is played on Radio 1Xtra include, hip hop from both UK and American artist, R&B, reggae, gospel, pop and much more. They recently teamed up with a company called Reel World to incorporate all these musical styles for a theme that fits their station. The Reel World “is a production team that creates techniques and musicality to pair with the playlist of a station, creating a seamless transition between its branding and core artists.” Taking a few minutes to listen to Radio 1Xtra’s top of the hour headline, I immediately noticed how innovative and fresh their sound was. It combined the styles of music featured and embodied the urban culture that represented the station.

While creating a new sound for the station, last year Radio 1Xtra also restructured their image. Jiggle News, explains how the creative director at Substance Media, a publication of journalism students, felt about the modernization of 1Xtra, “Such a unique station deserves a completely unique approach to imaging and I’ve literally been in fanboy heaven.”

BBC Radio 1Xtra also launched a spoken word season last year, which gave platform for additional audience listeners. Since May 2015, 1Xtra has workshops and performances with partners across the UK to seek out aspiring spoken-word artists. According to Radio Today UK, “Andy Worrell, Editor of BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra, says: “Young people are increasingly finding a voice through spoken word and using it as a means of expression….this will reflect and enrich the already vibrant underground spoken-word scene across Britain and help elevate young artists to the next level.”

Radio 1Xtra remains one of the freshest innovative radio platforms in BBC Radio. "We switch up the DJs every six months or so," We like to keep it fresh and we let them put forward a track each week that may have come to their attention – they're specialists after all,” says Austin Daboh, 1Xtra’s music manager, in an interview with The Guardian.

Chantelle Fiddy at The Guardian also explains the unexpected scenery at 1Xtra “I thought we'd have KFC," someone murmurs. With Domino pizza and MacBooks at the ready, the makeup of the far-from-glam third-floor boardroom at 1Xtra's London HQ isn't necessarily what you'd expect from the UK's most influential urban playlist meeting taking place.”

Radio 1Xtra is great example of how radio stations may not be stylish and modern in appearance but still have the ability to produce great content and create programs that are effective, exciting, and youthful.

Venezuela Thought of "Jane The Virgin" Before the U.S. Did.

Did you know that The CW hit "Jane The Virgin" was a Venezuelan telenovela in 2002?

Translated to "Juana la Virgen", this telenovela is about a young lady named Juana who accidentally gets pregnant at the doctor's office due to artificial insemination. She later falls in love with the biological father, and the rest is history.

The original telenovela aired for 153 episodes, which is equivalent to seven seasons in the American television. The writers and producers in America weren't keen on having the show for seven seasons, so they picked the pace up of the storyline. Courtesy of the article "Differences Between Jane the Virgin and the Telenovela original".

What are the key differences in both shows? With all recreations, they're all not the same. With Juana, she is 23, and Jane is 17. Juana wants to study journalism, Jane currently goes to school for teaching. Other important differences include their relationship status and the vibe of the show. Courtesy of bustle.com. 

There's an increasing trend of recreating popular telenovelas, but who's behind all of recreating them? Producer Ben Silverman jumped on the idea of recreating "Juana la Virgen" and the Colombian telenovela "Yo Soy Betty la Fea". He's also producing another telenovela in the United States called "Muerjas Asesinas", which translates to "Killer Woman". This will include "Modern Family" star Sofia Vergara. This information was found from latintimes.com.

 

Media Freedom in Eritrea: How Did it Get This Bad?

    Nestled along the banks of the Red Sea and hidden in between Etheopia and Sudan is the small country of Eritrea. Eritrea, which has been dubbed “The North Korea of Africa” by NewStatesman reporter Gabriel Pogrund has been all but forgotten. With its self isolation as well as surrounding countries often attracting the attention of the multitudes of news outlets it’s easy to see how this little country an be overlooked by the rest of the world.

    Reporters Without Borders is responsible for ranking 180 different countries according to the level of freedom each country has for journalism. According to their website, Eritrea not only has the lowest ranking currently, but has had it for the past 8 years. But what does this really mean? To put it into perspective CPJ.org delves into exactly what restrictions exist in this small country. The reigning president, Isaias Afwerki has devoted his campaign to controlling media and reporting completely. Reporters Without Borders captivates his attitude appropriately with this quote: “Those who think there will be democracy in this county can think so in another world.” TV, internet, newspapers and any other news outlets are completely state controlled, making it impossible to gain information from the outside world. Offenses made by the authorities against journalists include torture, forced labor, degradation during imprisonment among others.

    A country as small as Eritrea is susceptible to being influenced by surrounding areas.  With that said, it certainly doesn’t help that one of Eritrea’s surrounding nations, South Sudan, has dropped 15 places since 2013 due to their civil war, according to CPJ.

    But what about the future? Because this country has so little output or intake of news, it makes it nearly impossible to figure out exactly what’s happening there. Even CPJ was unable to confirm with 100% accuracy how many imprisoned journalists were killed after being held simply for doing their jobs. CPJ also reports that less than one percent of the few million people populating this country have access to the internet. Even if they did, would they even benefit from it? The state controls all journalism and reporting. Which begs the question: Who will stand up for its people and who will stand up for journalism?

 

Global Media News Webcast #2: Thursday, September 15, 2016

Listen to Global Media News for Thursday, September 15, 2016

This week on Global Media News:

• Telenovelas in Colombia: "Yo Soy Betty la Fea"
• Texting in Afghanistan
• Twitter vs. the Terrorists
• Journalists in Putin's Russia
• After the Coup: Journalism in Turkey
• BBC & Social Media
• UK Radio: An Introduction
• Chinese E-Sports: My New Major?
• Social Media in India

Global Media News is a weekly webcast covering media news from around the world.  GMN is a production of  Media Studies students from the SUNY College @ Old Westbury.   We scour the web for news about media, journalism and technology.  

See you next week!

Listen to our next webcast from the Global Media Newsroom  streaming live on Thursday, September 22, 2016 @ 10am EST.

Can't listen live? Our next webcast of the season will be posted by 2:00pm, Thursday, September 22, 2016.

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Is Japan Pushing The Right Buttons For Mobile Gaming?

    The world of Japanese mobile gaming has been known as one of the oldest and richest in the mobile gaming industry. Ollie Barder mentions in an article "Earlier in March, there was an incident where a player of the mobile game Granblue Fantasy spent $6,065 in one night in order to get a rare character". The reason this is such a big thing is they made a lot of money in one night but it was for the wrong reason. With this game specifically, you need to use in game transactions to do a lot of things so that's how it makes money. 

    "Today, Japan’s mobile gaming market is not only the biggest globally by revenue but also the oldest, most mature – and extremely competitive (the largest number of listed mobile game developers worldwide, hundreds of private ones, increased influx of foreign game makers, focus on the limited local demand side, etc.)." Serkan Toto explains that Japan mobile gaming is one of the better types of gaming they have. As I explained with social gaming, Japan has dropped the ball on it, but mobile gaming they are rolling. They invest a lot of money on mobile gaming alone and they are getting a lot of positive feedback on it. Toto also says " The acceptance of local users to consume and pay for games on their mobile devices, a gaming culture deeply rooted in Japanese society, and other specific factors led to the birth of a whole new industry about nine years ago". Therefore, Japan is very happy with their mobile gaming industry and should continue it.

    

    

Turkey vs The People: Influence of Social Media (Or Lack There of)

Worldwide, citizens have taken their voices to social media platforms such as Twitter to discuss social injustices. In Turkey, users have frequently found themselves locked out of websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube amidst conflict. In recent news, Turkey's constitutional court has annulled a law which formerly punished all sexual acts involving children under age 15. They have given parliament six months to draw up a new law. Talk of this change among social media in Turkey is scarce. Considering the country's habit to censor media, we can speculate as to why there's little discussion.

Just months before the annulment, a sexual abuse scandal caused a temporary ban on Twitter. According to The Daily Dot, The cell phone company Turkcell ordered a ban on 860 Tweets following reports of a child rape scandal. Customers of Turkcell, who tweeted their opinions on the matter, had their posts removed from the site.  

Turkey may have the ability to stop conversation among their own citizens, but let us not doubt the impact our voices may have.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström took to Twitter to discuss her opinion on the annulment of consent laws in Turkey. She wrote," Turkish decision to allow sex with children under 15 must be reversed. Children need more protection, not less, against violence, sex abuse."

In a crude attempt to defend themselves , a billboard was displayed in one of Turkeys main airports. It read, "Travel Warning: Do You Know That Sweden Has The Highest Rape Rate Worldwide?"

Juvenile move Turkey. Not only is this billboard senseless but it's minimizing the seriousness of rape culture. The question is displayed here as a "fun fact."

 

 

Despite the media limitations in Turkey, there are still ways to advocate the occurring social injustices. Its easy for us to forget that there are other sources for news besides the mainstream media.The movie Mustang, streaming on Netflix, is a compelling drama about five Turkish sisters whom are each married off as child brides. This film is an eye opener for those who are unfamiliar with the tradition and culture in Turkey. Each sister is forced into marriage, all under the age of sixteen. This film has helped spread awareness about the unethical treatement of young women.

 

Is Japan Gaming, Struggling To Turn Social?

    Japan gaming has been struggling to keep up with western gaming as I had mentioned in my last post. This time in a different way. Japan is not grasping the whole "social gaming" aspect that the rest of the world is doing now. A lot of people nowadays are into technology advancing and social media of some sort.

    This leads to my point on "social gaming". Seth Schiesel mentions in an article on the topic that certain games are in the social gaming field. "Nintendo’s fabulously popular Wii console is Exhibit A, but is also joined in that vein by games like Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, World of Warcraft and even casual office games like Spider solitaire, Bejeweled and Peggle". He's explaining that as for Japan they created the WII which is included in the social gaming aspect. However, the other games mentioned including World of Warcraft, are not Japan gaming. All these other games are western games and it means the west is killing it in sales and has the right idea as far as social gaming goes. They are keeping up with the times.

    Phil Harrison was the president of Sony's worldwide game studios and left because of disagreement with the other colleagues. “It’s a very interesting and frustrating thing for me to experience because I have been banging the drum about social gaming for a long time,” he said. “And our Japanese colleagues said that there is no such thing as social gaming in Japan: ‘People do not play games on the same sofa together in eachother’s homes. It will never happen.’ And then out comes the Wii.” Japan downplays social gaming and says its not worth investing in but later on they release the Wii, which was a huge success in social gaming. It got people off their seats and hit a whole new age group.

    Overall, western gaming is ahead of Japan once again and this time, with social gaming. As of now, it is a huge part of gaming. Most games no longer have "coop capability", and its all online multiplayer so you need to socialize with others and play. They focus less on the single player campaigns and focus on the multiplayer aspect. Some games don't even include single player story lines anymore.

Does Japan Have The Most Success In The Video Game Industry?

    Japan has been known as one of the most successful in the video game industry. As of late, that's not exactly true. Sure they have Sony Playstation and Nintendo but, they aren't exactly killing the numbers lately with the games. "Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario still sell games. But more recent Japanese attempts to establish franchises, like White Knight Chronicles from Sony or Monster Hunter from Capcom, have not made a mark in the United States and Europe" said Hiroki Tabuchi.

    The big games that have been taking the glory from Japan include, Call Of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. These games are big reasons why Japan is losing ground in the area that they have always placed first in. They aren't adapting to the change around them. Although, Nintendo is the exception. Its been the leading Japanese game company for a long time now because they seem to be the ones who remain "different" from others. They invented the "WII" gaming console, which isn't the ordinary gaming platform. It is different because its more of an interactive remote that you wing around and point, rather than a usual controller. It brought in the casual gamers.

    Japan is now trying to reach out West to get help. "Part of Japan’s problem, Mr. Kazdal said, is a growing gap in tastes between players there and overseas". Japan seems to be stuck in their own ways. They always send out the same old games and their game styles but they need to compete with Western gaming companies. The video game industry is always on the move so Japan needs to learn the ways and get back to being on top.

    

A Look Into Colombia's Ugly Telenovela That Beautifies Stereotypes.

    The popular Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea (translated to "I Am Betty the Ugly") has crushed a big telenovela stereotype.

    Classic telenovelas in South America are filled with pounds of make-up, beautiful and well-known actresses, and over dramatic episodes. This telenovela's main character is a girl with big glasses, braces, and untamed hair. No other telenovela is like this one, and everyone is hooked on it.

    Yo Soy Betty La Fea stars Ana Maria Orozco as Beatriz "Betty" Pinzó Solano, the sweet, shy, intelligent and unattractive main character, who falls in love with her boss Armando while working at the prestigious fashion company EcoModa. Although she never wanted a career in fashion, she couldn't find a job anywhere else due to her appearance. So she put a different picture on her resume and got the job. At the end of the series, she then gets a makeover, ditching the glasses and braces, making her much more attractive. This is from the article "Ugly is the New Beautiful" at jerriblank.com.

    By the end of the show's two year run and having 340 episodes, Yo Soy Betty La Fea was Columbia's most popular telenovela, having 3 million viewers a night. Countries around the world wanted their own Betty. This included India's Betty named Jassi, and her show "There's No One Like Jassi". Other countries included the Netherlands, Russia and the United States. Even though their storylines weren't the same, they had the same "ugly duckling" theme in mind. This was from an article by Matthew Fogel of The New York Times.

    This quote is from the original Betty the Ugly, Miss Ana Orozco, about how the show affects people of Colombia, from the article The Phenomenom of Yo Soy Betty La Fea at zonalatina.com:

"In Colombia, a country plagued by infighting country, this telenovela is an escape from reality in a nation overwhelmed... It is a parallel world to everything else that happens in the country. I think this is a way for people to forget reality, while some laughed for half an hour everyday".

Image from user Feamoda of DeviantART.

Radio Life in the UK

The United Kingdom is located within the northwest region of Europe. It is argued as Europe's most influential country with individual countries of England, Scotland and Wales which is also known as Great Britain. Northern Ireland is a distinct region that make up the rest of the United Kingdom.

Radio in the United Kingdom is a lot like radio throughout the world, where the goal is to reach a broad range of audiences, painting pictures for listeners with the latest news and entertainment and music as they go about their everyday lives. According to Radio and Telly, a team in the UK that provides relevant and accurate information to UK consumers, “Radio in the UK started back in the early 1920’s with just one tiny BBC radio station in Chelmsford, Essex. The last 30 years have led to several hundred radio stations, with a huge variety of formats and audiences.”

On media.info, a worldwide site for media contacts, information and analysis, the top five radio stations throughout the UK are BBC Radio 2 with 15.5 million listeners every week, BBC Radio 4 with 10.5 million, BBC Radio 1 with 9.9 million, Heart with 9.0, and Capital FM with 7.5 million listeners. The BBC stands for British Broadcasting Cooperation, and it is one the most respected broadcasting organizations in the United Kingdom.

There are 11 branches of radio within the United Kingdom mentioned by BBC News. BBC making up 8 of those branches. They include, “Radio 1 new music station, Radio 2 adult music station, Radio 3 cultural network, Radio 4 flagship speech station and news and sports on station Five Live. All five make up 1 conglomerate branch.

The second BBC branch is BBC Radio Scotland, third, BBC Radio nan Gaidheal, a Gaelic-language station for Scotland, fourth, BBC Radio Ulster, for Northern Ireland,  and fifth being BBC Radio Wales. The last three are BBC Radio Cymru, for Welsh-language listeners, BBC Asian Network for Asian communities in the UK and lastly, BBC World Service, a major international broadcaster, heard worldwide via shortwave and increasingly on FM relays, which programs in more than 30 languages.”

The other three divisions that make up the 11 branches not under the BBC include, Absolute Radio a national commercial pop and rock station, Talk Sport, a national commercial sports station and Classic FM, a national commercial classical music station.

Just as here in America, the United Kingdom has radio access online for people who are not in cars or have physical radios. You can pull up your favorite station online and listen in live whenever you like. Radio has had a resurgence in popularity, as stated by EJC, the European Journalism Centre. They claim “more than 90 percent of people over 15 years of age which equates to about 46.3 million people, listen at least once a week. However, it is national, rather than local, stations which have increased their popularity.”