Audio Meets Visual: The Global Social Media entity that is BTS There are a number of celebrities who use social media as a tool for marketing themselves such as Kim Kardashian or to manipulate the media like the US President Donald Trump (which can also be argued that it may have caused him to win the 2016 election, Trump had particular focus on the media and his opponents than on actual political issues when compared to his opponents in 2016). One example includes BTS, a South Korean pop group. They have experienced a continual rise in popularity that can be attributed to their social media presence. This can be attributed to their use of their visual team (through Lumpens and their stylists) to create a cohesive storyline structure that compliments their musical style. BTS is a South Korean Pop group formed in 2011. However, they debuted in 2013 with the son No More Dream. They are known for writing and producing their own songs, which often have socially conscious lyrics tackling issues such as mental illness, loneliness, female empowerment, and exploitation of Youth. BTS' twitter account was created on the 13th of July 2011, two years prior to their official debut in the Korean Pop industry. As of April 26, 2018, they have amassed over 14 million Twitter followers. (14,340,173) (with the largest number of Twitter followers among the KPop genre, yes...more than Psy), the group was also named one of the most influential people on the internet (by Times Magazine. The group is effective in utilising their presence throughout social media, which is shown through their vast variety of media that is continually put out by the group (as well as their company) which includes: music videos; song covers (via Soundcloud); short video logs; a youtube series; streaming services (on Naver VLive) as well as two other related twitter accounts, an Instagram, and two Youtube channels which are used to post official content about the group (such as album teasers, News articles and Music Videos). In addition to a large amount of content that the group produces (tweets, videos, song lyrics etc.) a number of accounts for English (as well as Arabic, Spanish, French, etc.) subtitled content is available online (often these subtitles are created by fans). Worth mentioning about translation sites (particularly those on YouTube) is that BTS' company does not submit copyright claims on these separate channels that use their videos and place subtitles on them. This is possibly as their marketing (or advertising?) team knows that from keeping these videos up will benefit them in gaining a wider audience and following globally. (the company may also gain revenue through these youtube Fansub channels) Google Trends BTS (Blue) v Exo (Red, a KPop group of similar standing). The peaks are often new music releases. However, the peak between March to July is just after the 2016 BBMA's from interest post-ceremony. As seen in this graph BTS have quite a diverse range of interest globally (particularly in the Americas, Europe, Russia and Australia) and Exo has interesting pockets of searches coming from the Middle East, particularly Iran, Iraq, and Tunisia. Also worth noting is that China has a block on Google, however, based on Exo's Chinese fanbase they would be the dominant force in China.Their largest boom within the public sphere of social media can be attributed to the end of 2016 to early 2017. Where they came back with 2 hit songs Blood, Sweat & Tears and Spring Day, as well as scoring a nomination in the Billboard Music Awards (which was held on the 21st of May 2017), which they had received due to the combination of Topping the Billboard Social 50 chart (up to 11 consecutive weeks at one stage prior to the BBMA's), music sales (digital and streaming) as well as social media interactions (twitter mentions and hashtags, youtube views). This western focused boom can also be seen in the number of Western outlets and charts that have picked up on the wave that is BTS (NYT, Forbes, Billboard, Huffington Post). The group has charted in countries that include: the United States; Canada; the United Kingdom and Australia (they are, as far as I know, the first KPop group to actually chart on one of Australia's two main ARIA Charts at #8, as well as the digital album chart), as well as charting #1 on the albums chart in 78 different countries) The exposure that the BBMA's granted them has allowed the group to branch out into collaborations with artists that they may not have had the chance to prior to attending these awards (such as a collaboration with The Chainsmokers and an upcoming collaboration with Steve Aoki as well as more Western artists expressing an interest in collaborating with BTS).
Since their rise to prominence in the US during may this year, BTS has just recently (in September) released their fifth Mini Album (EP) Love Yourself: Her to immense success, with over one million units (physical) sold within the first month, as well as charting well (compared to other KPop groups) on both main Billboard charts. From the immense success that this group has gained over the past few years (especially 2016-17) has had a great effect on how the media (particularly in Korea) view groups from small companies do not often have the level of success that larger companies such as SM and YG acquire, perhaps the emergence of BTS, as the poster child for Big Hit stands out as an icon for smaller companies, if they ever do wish to emulate the success of companies that are much larger than them.
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You are Fake News. - Donald Trump What is 'Fake News'? Fake news can be interpreted as journalism that consists of calculated misinformation or hoaxes. It is often spread via traditional media platforms, such as print media and news broadcast, however it has also been widely spread through social media (e.g. twitter). Fake news can also be portrayed as sloppy, poorly researched journalism. Fake news rose in prominence during the 2016 Presidential election through Donald Trump, the then Republican Presidential candidate (who would go on to become the President of the United States). Since his inauguration Donald Trump has consistently affirmed his distaste of Fake News. However, Trump has come to confuse Fake News - which is news that is aimed to deceive the public, often with inaccurate sources and material - with partisan, one sided news, which can be seen in mainstream outlets such as CNN (Cable News Network) and Al Jazeera. A recent example of Fake News can be seen through CNN - which as stated before is a partisan network focused largely on liberal beliefs and values - who put out a story concerning Trump's associates links to Russian corporations (which has now been deleted). This story falsely linked Anthony Scaramucci to a Kremlin controlled Russian Direct Investment Fund, which was subsequently proven to be false, from this CNN then took down the article, and issued an editor's note via twitter to Scaramucci for their misrepresentation of him along with the resignation of three CNN journalists after the article was pulled. References: <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/cnn-trump-russia-story-deleted-retraction-anthony-scaramucci-money-apology-a7809521.html>. <http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-cnn-resignation-20170626-story.html>. fin~
Obama and The Crusades When Barack Obama spoke during the National Prayer Breakfast* in 2015, he intentionally manipulated the public sphere** in order to get his point across and stimulate debate over the issue of religious extremism. One of Obama's aides explained that: "The President wanted to be provocative in his remarks", and moreover “He wanted to make the point that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen faith perverted and it won’t be the last.” Through Obama's intentional manipulation of the public sphere he stirred up American conservative politicians and media, as well as Evangelical Christian groups who felt that their religion had been unfairly targeted. However, Obama was not trying to alienate an entire religion (i.e. Christianity). Rather, he attempted to create a historical context for the actions of Islamic Jihad, providing the example of the Crusades to show how history repeats itself. The Crusades were a series of military campaigns led by the European Christians to reclaim the Holy Land, including Jerusalem, after the Muslims had seized it from the Byzantine Empire. Many people*** look upon the Crusades as extremely violent and religiously motivated due to the acts that were committed during these campaigns. The reaction to Obama's 'Crusades speech' from the conservative media such as Fox and other right-wing commentators was one of outrage, with one Fox contributor comparing Obama's address to a "Verbal rape on Christians". The debate on this issue began from this speech from Obama and spread to mainstream media and the online twitter-sphere. This accomplished Obama's original aim of sharing debate and opinion among individuals and groups about how history continually repeats itself in regards to religious extremism. This speech contributed to debate in the public sphere and created controversy as a majority of the American public identify as Christians. It was presented at an event organised by a Christian organisation and the American political establishment is primarily Christian. However, if this speech took place in other western countries, the reaction would not have been so extreme. In countries like Australia and the United Kingdom the media and the political establishment are regarded as non-religious and would not even see Obama's comments as an issue. * An event held by the United States Congress, organised on their behalf by the Fellowship Foundation, a Christian organisation. The event is a series of meetings, luncheons and dinners that is a forum for the social and political elite to build relationships. Often there are foreign dignitaries of differing religions invited to attend this event. ** The public sphere is a place where the citizens debate among common concerns. *** The Crusades are looked down upon as particularly unfavorable by many people in the West, including world leaders and even liberal politicians such as Barack Obama. References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Prayer_Breakfast https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/23/no-religion-outnumber-christians-england-wales-study https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-speech-at-prayer-breakfast-called-offensive-to-christians/2015/02/05/6a15a240-ad50-11e4-ad71-7b9eba0f87d6_story.html?utm_term=.4ccbc2445b1e https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/02/06/why-obama-invoked-the-crusades-in-re-islam-and-terrorism/?utm_term=.d3464d87e87b https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/us/obama-trying-to-add-context-to-speech-faces-backlash-over-crusades.html?ref=oembed fin~
When you're a catalyst for change, you make enemies - and I'm proud of the ones I've got.- Rupert Murdoch Why does the ownership of media matter? Media ownership matters because in countries with a large amount of media concentration, such as Australia it can lead to a heavily skewed bias towards one side or another. This can heavily influence the public's perception on certain view-points. One of the largest media conglomerates is News Corp. owned by Rupert Murdoch. News Corp. owns media corporations across three continents (Australia, Europe and the Americas). One company owning such a large amount of the media leads to a lack of diversity. This matters because owning a majority of the media can often lead to a one-sided view on many issues, misrepresenting these issues and causing the public to have a single-sided perception on many news stories from a lack of transparency. An example of the manipulation of the media can be seen in the reign of the ex-Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi. His family owns Italy's three top national television stations and has control over 90% of Italy's national television audience. Berlusconi's control of the majority of the Italian mainstream media has restricted reporting to biased positive views on Berlusconi. fin~
When you're a catalyst for change, you make enemies - and I'm proud of the ones I've got.- Rupert Murdoch Why does the ownership of media matter? Media ownership matters because in countries with a large amount of media concentration, such as Australia it can lead to a heavily skewed bias towards one side or another. This can heavily influence the public's perception on certain view-points One of the largest media conglomerates is News Corp. owned by Rupert Murdoch. News Corp. owns media corporations across three continents (Australia, Europe and the Americas). Due to one company owning such a large amount of the media leads to a lack of diversity in the media. This matters because owning a majority of the media can lead to a often one-sided view on many issues misrepresenting these issues causing the public to have a single sided perception on many news stories due to a lack of transparency. An example of the manipulation of the media can be seen through the reign of the ex-Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi. Berlusconi's family controlled Italy's three top national television stations and had control over 90% of Italy's national television audience. From Berlusconi's control of the majority of the Italian mainstream media led the media to only report biased positive views on Berlusconi. Peace Journalism, as opposed to War Journalism is the reporting of struggles and conflicts in a productive way where a solution is eventually approached, whereas war journalism is the reporting of a conflict in an impacting way that is direct and to the point but does not come to a solution to end the conflict like peace journalism does. Gaulting (2002) who is a leading figure in the field of peace journalism, argues that in the times of conflict, the media should focus on conflict transformation, a move that needs journalists that are empathetic and also understanding. that are able to provide a platform for all parties and voices to be able to express their own views and focus on the way that violence can impact negatively. such as damage and trauma. whereas Hackett (2006) advocates for building a new field of journalists, parallel to that of the current existing journalism. creating alternative media organizations separate from the influence from the state or corporations, such as 'The current Canadian-based initiative to create an Independent World Television news network, and to offer "real news" about peace and development to an international viewership' However the major downside of peace journalism is that it has a style of reporting that is conflict driven. that, even though this type of journalism offers up a solution to many of the worlds conflicts (unlike war journalism) they require the conflict in these areas of the world to go unresolved to fuel the journalism that is being practiced as the audience interest is at its highest when reporting on these conflicts. Therefore, can peace journalisms aims for conflict resolution ever be achieved if they rely solely on conflict driven society and war-zones. Al-Jazeera English stands out as one such peace journalism platform. Launched in November of 2006, it stands out among its peers for its journalistic code and identity. As it was the first of its kind to reach out to the generally ignored and set aside people of the world and offers an alternative to the sponsored stereotypical journalism that today's mainstream journalism currently offers, as opposed to Fox News and CNN. with the latter being named in the DNC leaks for collaborating with the Clinton campaign to release extremely biased news toward the Presidential candidate. References:
el-Nawawy, Mohammed and Powers, Shawn 2010, 'Al-Jazeera English: a conciliatory medium in a conflict-driven environment?' Global media and communication, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 61-84 Galtung (2002) as cited in el-Nawawy, Mohammed and Powers, Shawn 2010, 'Al-Jazeera English: a conciliatory medium in a conflict-driven environment?' Global media and communication, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 61-84 Hackett, Robert A. Is Peace Journalism Possible? Three Frameworks for Assessing Structure and Agency in News Media1 Reporting migrants using peace journalism - Steven Youngblood War or Peace Journalism? Asian Newspaper Coverage of Conflicts Peace Journalism: A Needed, Desirable and Practicable Reform The translation of a television series from its original country to another (the U.S is typically guilty of this) can often be a difficult task. With many television series that have attempted to be translated and remade for the local audience failing horrendously (e.g. Kath and Kim, Skins). Although in some cases the T.V series can become extremely successful spanning multiple seasons and success, as is the case with the Office and the many television competition shows such as Master-chef and Who wants to be a millionaire. One recent example of a successful remake would be the remake of the American Television series 'The Good Wife' into a short 16-episode Television Drama. People were initially critical that the drama would be a success, particularly the international audience who had seen much of the original. One of the reasons that many adaptions of foreign Television and Cinema fail, is mainly because it does not translate into the local culture effectively and may also be because of the local television and cinema regulation laws. As is the case of the U.S adaption of Skins. The American remake of Skins UK started off with much controversy. Including accusations of child pornography accusations by the Parents Television Council. After much scrutiny over the television series MTV (the broadcaster of the television series) decided to axe the show after one series. This is an example of how Broadcasting Regulations in one country (Britain) do not always line up with American regulations. The way that a television translation can be a success is when the producers take the same basic idea and structure and then tailor it for the home audience, e.g. SHOWTIME'S Homeland, an adaption of Israels Hatufim/Homeland. Where Hatufim is about the kidnapped soldiers and Prisoners of War, Homeland is more broad, with the focus on the military conflict in Iraq. Homeland is successful as a show because it utilizes the real life situations that some of these people face. and with America being a largely Military country the audience can relate to the characters. Along wit the idea of an unknown MIA returning years later sparks curiosity and intrigue in the audience which is what makes the show interesting. References:
The Office Articulations of National Identity in Television Format Adaptation Alexandra Beeden Joost de Bruin Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand p. 3-19 'It's Lke They Threw a Panther in the Air and Caught It in Embroidery': Television Comedy in Translation. Metro Magazine: Media and Education Magazine, Issue 159 (2008) Turnbull, Sue Turnbull, Sue1 Korean Cinema Throughout the world, there are few countries that can claim to have standout Cinema industries, South Korea is one of them. With horror movies that can make even the most courageous soil themselves, to romance films that will turn you into a blubbering fool, the film industry of South Korea has it all. The past 15 years has seen a significant increase in the influence and consumption of South Korean film and Cinema, with South Korea becoming the seventh largest film industry worldwide. By the turn of the century the national audience attendance totals have exceeded 70 million. The South Korean Film industry, paired together with their television drama and pop music industry has come to be known as the 'Korean Wave' (Hallyu wave in Korean) South Korea is one of the small majority of countries where large Hollywood Blockbusters do not make up the majority of the domestic market. With a number of domestic films beating out large scale American productions, as was the case when Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens failed to compete against the domestic adventure film Himalayas (Star Wars VII grossing $7.9 Million to Himalayas 8.9 Million in opening week ticket sales) With multiple Korean films being remade internationally (with only the Lakehouse enjoying relative success in Hollyood), the 'Train to Busan' currently being fought over by major French and Hollywood studios, South Korean Cinema stands out as one of the major players in the Asian film and television Industry in the coming years and with films like Oldboy, Pure Love and Train to Busan, the future looks bright for South Korean filmmakers and audiences alike. References:
Woong-jae Ryoo, Globilization, or the logic of hybridization: the case of the Korean wave Star Wars vs. Himalayas asianwiki.com/Oldboy Jimin: Cr. to owner 1. I was born in the year of the pig
Can you guess how old i am??? 2. I am a University student 3. I am Australian 4. When I was eight, I almost drowned 5. I have never travelled overseas 6. I'm Agnostic 7. I have a dog. 8. My top places i want to travel to: Hong Kong, South Korea, France, Canada, Wales 9. I hate seeing myself in photos |
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