Times Online

Jeyda Plummer
 We Media – The Modern Media
is a conversation not a lecture.
• The Times Online displays the latest news, about
what is going on in every aspect of the world, for
example they provide the latest news on Money,
Sport, Travel and Driving etc.
• This particular website relies on the internet to
display Times Online, if the internet is not
available then the website is not able to present
their information.
 Free Speech
• The Times Online offers people
the chance to register with them,
and by doing this they are able
to join in with competitions and
receive emails with the latest
news bulletins, this would mean
you would know what's
happening in the news, without
logging onto The Times website.
• The Times Online offers people a
daily live quiz, and a chance to
debate on line, and a chance to
see exclusive photo galleries and
videos, the Times Online offers
people a more varied way of
learning more about the world
through their website.
 Institutions – Big Media
• Times Online is affiliated with The Times newspaper, the
newspaper itself sells so highly that it was inevitable that a
website would eventually be created.
• The Times Newspaper created Times Online, although
Times Online came along long after the newspaper was
created. The Times is a daily national newspaper published
in the United Kingdom since 1785, when it was known as
The Daily Universal Register.
• Currently Times Online is free, and anyone, anywhere has
access to it, however in the near future the owner of The
Times (Rupert Murdoch) has stated that the news will no
longer will be provided for free online (for more look at the
last PowerPoint = Internet Neutrality)
 We Think – New Media Allows members of society to share
and collaborate faster than ever before. Mass innovation is
now more important that Mass Production

• The ideas shared on The Times Online, are the latest news
stories, they also place each type of news story into
different categories on the website, for example, World
News, Science etc.

•These are the different categories of Times Online that the

public can select, depending on what they are interested in,
this gives users more variety and choice in what they want to
find out about, depending on what they are interested in. This
also connotes that Times Online, is highly useful as it displays
so many different types of news stories. Therefore the target
audience for Times Online is varied because there is such
 We Think – Pro Ams

• The Times Online does allow people to collaborate and

share, in terms of taking part in competitions etc,
however users are not able to actually edit any of the
news articles or give an opinion on them for everyone
else to see.
• The information shared varies, there are many parts to
the website and each contain different news articles, this
is a positive aspect of the website, as there is something
for everyone of all ages to read and find interesting.
• The type of expertise/audience in which The Times Online
may attract are those who are educated, this is simply
because the language used within the articles are highly
complex, meaning that someone with an uneducated
background may not be able to grasp the meaning of the
news article.
 Open Source
• The technology The Times Online uses, I believe
is open source, as it is available to anyone who
has internet access, although it is important to
consider that, The Times Online requires people
to be registered in order to have access to some
pages on the site, although the majority of the
website is available to everyone.
 Copyright
• There is now the legal case of the owner Rupert Murdoch wanting to make
it so that everyone has to pay for the news online. The billionaire media
mogul Rupert Murdoch saw his global empire make a huge financial loss
not so long ago and promptly pledged to shake up the newspaper industry
by introducing charges for access to all his news websites, including the
Times, the Sun and the News of the World, by this summer 2010.

• I do believe that this particular company benefits from the internet, as it

allows them to not only established within a newspaper, which is sold
everyday, but now people who may not have the time to purchase a
newspaper from The Times, they are then able to catch up on the latest
news from the internet itself, this therefore makes The Times well known
and could even increase sales in newspapers or visa versa.
 Creative Commons
• The Times Online does not allow people to
have a creative commons licence. As The
Times Online gives facts out, if people
were allowed to build on the articles, they
would not longer be fact. I think this
makes the website more effective as it
means what is being put on the website is
factual, without being edited by the public.
 Access Digital Divide (only 25% of the
world is online)

• Any person who has an internet

connection is able to have access to The
Times On line's services, nothing on the
website is restricted for users to see or
read.
• Users do not have to pay to be involved in
the website itself, unlike the physical copy
of The Times Newspaper has to be paid
for.
 Gate Keeping
• There are some restrictions about what the public can
get access to and what they cannot, for example you
have to be registered to get access to certain pages
on the website. Furthermore the public can not edit
news articles that have been placed online. The
public also can not comment underneath any news
articles. Perhaps reporters/editors are also like Gate
Keepers because they have access to what is
published and what is not, essentially they have
power over the publics knowledge of certain news
stories, as they control what is published and how it is
written.
 Free Press
• I do not believe that the Times Online has in any way suppressed any information from
the public, as the reason why the website exists is to give information about what is
happening in the world. However it is important to consider that it still maybe selective in
what it tells people, as it is owned by Rupert Murdoch he may choose stories/articles that
say what he wants for example, during the 1980s and early 1990s, Murdoch's publications
were generally supportive of the UK's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
• At the end of the Thatcher/Major era, Murdoch switched his support to the Labour Party
and the party's leader Tony Blair. The closeness of his relationship with Blair and their
secret meetings to discuss national policies was to become a political issue in Britain.
Though this has recently started to change, with The Sun publicly renouncing the ruling
Labour government and seemingly lending its support to David Cameron's Conservative
Party, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said in November 2009 that
Brown and Murdoch "were in regular communication" and that "there is nothing unusual
in the prime minister talking to Rupert Murdoch". So perhaps Times Online may be slightly
bias towards who they support, maybe resulting in influencing the public.
 Marxist Theories of
Control?
• Times On line's mission is to
simply give the latest UK news,
world news and business news.
• This company do not run their
service on being bias, as they are
providing the latest world news,
and if they were to be bias then
they would not be as successful
as they are, because the public
just want to hear the facts, and On every page/link that the public
press, a new quote from someone
then make their own mind and
appears; this represents the
opinions based on that. public’s opinions on every page,
this portrays The Times as giving
everyone a say.
 Power Elites
• I do not believe that Times Online challenges any
existing power structures or big media
companies, as the owner Rupert Murdoch owns
most major newspaper companies, e.g. The
Times, The Sun and News of the World.
• Times Online is their own company, displaying
the latest news on a daily basis 24/7, for anyone
who has access to the internet.
 Internet Neutrality
• I do not believe that The Times Online relies on internet neutrality at all as The Times
originally began and is still continuing on a newspaper. However it is important to consider
that if The Times Online did not have the internet then they would not be able to have a
website.
• I do not believe that The Times Online is in any danger of being banned or shut down, as
they do not copy or infringe on anybody else's work.
• The Times Online did not originally try to control the internet, but in recent reports, owner
Rupert Murdoch has suggested that websites need to pay for the news. Murdoch is the
owner of news corporations, and he has said that this sites should soon pay for content
taken from his firm’s news providers.
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8298507.stm