Remember a time when news was an allocated time slot in the TV guide, or waiting for tomorrow’s edition of the newspaper? Or maybe it was the irritating presence of a news break on your favourite radio station? Well I do, and I’m certainly glad that there is a way around such occurrences, and a way which I, the once consumer, am now the prosumer, as the passive, news absorbing ways of yesteryear are no more, now the new breed of engaging, participating news audiences is here, and in no better place then the CNN news app.
In today’s age, every generation has the ability now to become apart of something bigger then themselves-by not even needing to leave the house, car or airline seat. The ability only continues to grow, as we have seen throughout the last couple of years, from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street and onto breaking news incidents such as Malaysian Flight 370 and the 2012 Presidential Election, participation by people from all walks of life continues to grow. Through applications like the CNN News app, the audience now has more power at their fingertips than any audience before them, as they have gone from passive consumers to active prosumers, with their ability now to comment, share, tweet and follow news like never before.
Example of the layout and topics provided by the CNN news app.
The news app is a hybrid of monologic and dialogic media, as it is mono due to it being still access information in a newspaper, reading way. However it is also dialogic as it allows access to conversation through comment sections and opinion areas, along with interactive pieces such as the “Oscar Pistorius on trial:Explore the case” as shown in the above photo, which allows the reader to explore the actions of Pistorius at their own time and pace, leading them to make their own judgement. These are perfect examples of the power and access news audiences have nowadays due to these news apps, and also how monologic platforms are adopting to their dialogic counterparts, just like how the news media is adapting to prosumers and technology, another perfect example of convergency.
The CNN news app are designed with convergency and the user in mind, as per its exceptional user friendly design. The app aims to be easy, user friendly and provide a free, broad range of news to it’s subscribers, as we, the audience, are no lingers consumers of media but participants, we now choose who and how we recieve news, we have the power now to participate by commenting and sharing news on social media. And that is what convergency and the CNN news app have together, the power of WE, of us, of everyone, to access, promote and participate in the news and the surrounding world, it provides us easier to use and handle news formatting, combing radio, TV and newspapers into one.
Therefore, without any doubt in this bloggers mind, the CNN news app is one of the most easily accessible, power to the user and audience participation friendly technologies around. It has changed how audiences receive news and has adapted to the changes that come with audience demands and technological advances in today’s age. Thus it’s ability to provide reliable news in a range of topics, to a broad audience and in a simple yet elegant style place the CNN news app as a fantastic example of the power, access and participation the audience has now due to media convergency.
Stay Classy UOW,
Todd Steele
Bibliography
BestNewsApp YouTube channel, CNN News app-Reviewed on the iPad, http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jYMMQWfAWFM (22nd March 2012)
Moore, C 2014, Tuesday BCM112 Week. 5 Lecture 5 “Audiences-Power, Access and Participation”, 1st April 2014
Todd Steele 