Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mrs. Allchin, and I'm going to be taking you through the citizenship lesson today.

I'm going to give you all the information that you need to be able to take part in the lesson, and I'll also pause and tell you when you need to complete an activity or complete a check for understanding.

I hope you enjoy the lesson.

The outcome for this lesson, which is called What is Digital media and how is it different, is it you'll be able to explain the key differences between digital and traditional media.

This lesson is taken from the unit.

How is social media changing our view of democracy? The keywords we're going to look at this lesson are digital, which refers to technology that uses electronic systems or devices to process, store or transmit data.

Media, which includes television, radio, digital and printed media, which can reach a large number of people and regulated, which is when something is controlled or governed by rules, laws, or standards.

This is our lesson outlined for today.

We're going to look at what is digital media, how is digital media regulated? And then we're going to look at how does digital media differ from traditional media? And we're going to start off by looking at what is digital media.

So digital refers to electronic technology for example, computers.

And media refers to information that can reach large audiences.

So therefore if we put them together, digital media is a relatively new media type and refers to any information that is stored, accessed, or distributed through electronic technology.

So Alex is asking, can you think of any examples of digital media? So if you want pause and have a think by yourselves.

So Sam is saying social media, streaming media, online news, and blogs are all types of digital media.

And you likely might have used some of these yourself.

Digital media can be made up of lots of different types of information, including texts that you read, images that you look at, photos, videos, and sounds.

And it also has a capacity to be interactive, so like the comment functions and things like that.

And this means that it can be responsive to the user's actions.

Digital media can be accessed through tablets, smartphones, smart watches, computers, consoles, and even cameras.

And this makes it portable and easily accessible.

People can literally have it on them 24 hours a day if they so wish.

So let's have a quick check for understanding which of the below is not a type of digital media.

Is it A, online news, B, newspaper, C, blogs, or D, social media.

Have a go.

And it's B, newspaper is not a type of digital media.

So Alex is saying, how is social media used as a form of digital media? So let's have a look at that together.

So according to the Ofcom adults media use and attitudes report 2024, which is a really big report where it looks at how people consume and look at and use the media.

Over 80% of the population use some type of social media site.

So really, really popular.

Over 80% of the population have some kind of social media or use some kind of social media site.

So this indicates that since their introduction in the early 2000s, social media platforms are now embedded into the majority of the population's day-to-day life.

Although most people use social media to interact with friends, 30% do actually use it for signing petitions.

And 26% use it to debate topics.

So this actually highlights how social media, yes, it can be used to communicate and chat with your friends, but it can also be used within a democracy to discuss political topics or to get involved in campaigns as well.

Many social media platforms have a live function where people can stream live to their followers and interact with them in real time.

And this has been a really popular method used by influencers.

So they're people who have lots and lots, thousands, millions of followers on social media.

So they're very influential people listen to engage with their content a lot.

So this has been a popular method used by these influences to engage followers and is now being used by some politicians to interact with potential voters as well.

So Sam is saying, "I follow my local MP on social media.

They often live stream themselves talking about topical issues and they encourage their followers to comment." So this is an example of a politician using the live function to engage with their citizens in their constituency in real time.

So let's have a check for understanding, true or false.

It is not possible for politicians to interact with citizens via social media.

I want you to tell me is it true or false? And then think why.

And that's false.

Why? Because many social media platforms have a live function where politicians can stream live to their followers and interact with them in real time.

According to the Ofcom Adults Media Use and Attitudes Report 2024, the one that we were talking about earlier.

Over 91% of adults use video sharing platforms as a form of streaming media.

So again, another really popular media source.

So streaming media plays a role in democracy as it can be used to live stream parliamentary proceedings such as prime minister's question time.

So that can actually be recorded and streamed in real time for people to watch at home.

Can livestream important announcements, and we saw lots of this during the COVID pandemic where in real time politicians or health ministers or scientists would give really important information for us to watch.

They can stream examples of activism.

So that might be a protest that's going on or a campaign as well as local council meetings so that local citizens can watch what's happening and hear what's happening in real time.

According to the Ofcom News Consumption in the UK report, so this is from the same people, Ofcom, but it's a slightly different report looking at how people consume.

They found out that over 91% of adults consume online news.

So online news is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it can be accessed anywhere as long as an individual has an electronic device.

So like we looked at before, if you've got a smartphone, if you've got a tablet you can go on and access online news whenever you wish.

Although online news reports may be identical to their comparative print media articles.

Online news also offers multimedia functions such as videos, hyperlinks to additional content, as well as comment functions which can engage citizens in social discussions.

So the actual news report itself, the article that might be on the website, is going to be the same as what would potentially be in a newspaper actually is lots of additional functions that people can access.

So Alex is saying, "I read an online article about government environmental policy and then read the comments from other readers.

I agreed with some, but for others we're ridiculous!" And this is something that you can do with online news.

You can read the article, but then you can also comment and see what other people are thinking.

Sam is saying, "I'm really into blogs at the moment.

I currently follow a really fascinating human rights blogger." So a blog is a regularly updated webpage or website where people can write and publish a opinion pieces for other people to read.

And some blogs can be extremely popular with thousands of people reading, commenting on, and sharing the piece that's been written.

There's lots of people that write blogs, there's people that write health blogs.

There's people that write lifestyle blogs, fashion blogs, political blogs.

There's lots and lots out there and they can be really, really popular.

In a democracy blogs provide a forum for free expression and there are many political blogs and activist blogs that to raise awareness of social issues and encourage political conversations.

So let's have a check for understanding.

I'd like you to match the digital media type to its description.

So a blog, it's internet pages that share regularly updated opinion pieces.

Streaming media are platforms that share videos.

And online news are 24/7 internet based news sites that have multimedia tools.

So for Task A, I'd like you to write a summary stating how each type of media listed below plays a part within democracy.

So the ones I want you to talk about are social media, streaming media, online news and blogs.

And Alex is reminding you, you do not need to evaluate the media type.

You don't need to tell me if it's good or bad.

You are simply summarising its role within a democracy.

Pause while you have a go at task A.

So your summary stating how each type of media plays a part in democracy might have looked something like this.

So for social media, people use social media to sign petitions and engage in debates by social issues.

Politicians can also use live functions to engage directly with potential voters.

Streaming media, people live stream parliamentary proceedings, important announcements, examples of activism and local council meetings.

Online news, provides people with multimedia functions so they can engage in discussions about topical news stories.

And blogs, provide a forum for free expression and allow people to consume a range of political blogs and hear from activist bloggers.

We're now gonna look at how is digital media regulated.

So regulation is the use of rules and penalties to ensure that the behaviour of individuals or organisations is as it should be.

So regulation is a type of a checking function.

It's making sure that everyone is following the same rules within a certain organisation.

Media is really powerful due to its large audiences and they rely on it for information about important topics and therefore there are clear media regulations in place to ensure that the media is accurate.

That's really important and it's really important in a democracy.

So Sam is saying, "Can you think of any rules that the media must follow?" So why don't you have a go at pausing and thinking to yourself what rules are there that you think the media must follow? So we're going to have a think about as well how digital media is regulated in the following ways.

And this will help us to think about some of the rules that they need to follow.

So social media is regulated by Ofcom.

It's a very big well-known regulator and it also has a law that it must follow, which is the Online Safety Bill 2023.

And that is a bill that ensures that social media is as safe and secure as it possibly can be.

Blogs are quite interesting 'cause there isn't a specific regulator that actually regulates blogs.

However, that doesn't mean that people can write what they want in a blog.

Anyone can come into fire with a defamation act, which is basically where you are writing something that really discredits the character of someone else by writing false information.

So although there's not a specific regulator, blogs also must follow this law.

So there are rules, you can't just lie about people and write awful things about people that are not true.

Streaming media, again, is regulated by Ofcom, and follows the Communications Act 2003.

So again, there's laws that it needs to follow as well as looking at what it needs to do from a regulation point of view.

And then online news, well that's actually regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation, which is the same as traditional printed media.

And also for law, they also follow the Defamation Act.

So again, online news can't just print what it wants, that's false or untrue or discrediting people's characters.

So this gives you just a little bit of an overview and shows you that actually different types of media have different organisations and people that regulate them.

And there are also laws that they must follow ultimately to make sure that what they're printing is true and they're not printing false information that could hurt people's characters.

So let's have a quick check for understanding.

Which law protects individuals from false and harmful information about their character being released? And it's C, the Defamation Act 2013 Social media platforms have community guidelines which describe how users must conduct themselves when they are online.

And the guidelines include rules about hate speech, misinformation, and harassment.

Although this does have challenges as individuals do not need to use their real names and other identifiable information when using online platforms. So yes, there are guidelines in place that tell people what they need to do if they're using online platforms, how they should engage, how they should communicate with each other.

Actually it's relatively easy for someone to set up a profile with a false name, a false photo, and keep on creating social media identification.

So it is quite difficult to really regulate.

Platforms have tools where users can report and categorise posts or users that are going against the community guidelines.

And some platforms also use artificial intelligence to detect this type of content.

So social media platforms will have functions where you can report something that you think is false or racist or homophobic for example.

And some platforms actually use AI to try and detect this content even quicker and get it removed.

So Alex is saying, "Who moderates and investigates content that goes against community guidelines?" So have a think yourself, do you know the answer? So social media platforms have moderation teams that decide whether reported posts and users are breaking the community guidelines.

These teams can delete posts, they can remove users and they can even ban people from the sites.

But as we've already said, it's still quite challenging because if someone was banned, they could just then create another profile.

So it does have its limitations.

Social media platforms must publish reports that state how they are taking responsibility in ensuring that their sites take active steps to remove harmful content and they will work with the police and government agencies if content is detected that indicates a serious problem Eg.

a terrorism threat or something at that level.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

So social media platforms do not need to show how they are protecting users from harmful content.

Is that true, false.

And then can you tell me why? And it's false and why? Social media platforms must publish reports that state how they are taking responsibility in ensuring their sites take active steps to remove harmful content.

And they will work with the police and government agencies if content is detected.

It indicates a serious problem, for example, terrorism.

So Sam saying, "If there's no formal regulation of blogs, can people just write whatever they like? That sounds really risky." And we've discussed this a little bit already, but there are defamation laws that apply to everyone.

So anyone that uses a blog to spread malicious and untruthful information could be charged via these laws.

And readers can flag harmful or untrue content and report this to Ofcom.

And sometimes independent review board will support with investigating serious cases.

Online streaming aims to self-regulate by providing warnings and age restriction limits to access certain content.

Although this does rely on individuals and parents to implement.

So that's a way with which you can self-regulate.

So trying to have warnings about certain bits of content, having age restrictions, but a lot of that relies on the individual.

As with other forms of media, viewers can report videos that are inappropriate and review teams will investigate and take down videos if needed.

They can also ban content creators from their sites.

Well-known and popular streaming sites also use monitoring systems that can scan thousands of uploads simultaneously.

So at the same time checking for harmful content and then removing this if needed.

So let's have a check for understanding.

How can individuals support digital media regulation? Is it by A, reporting content that is untrue or harmful? B, by not using any digital media platforms. Or C, by creating fake profiles to name and shame other users.

And it's A, reporting content that is untrue or harmful.

So Alex is asking, "What about online news? Surely this is strictly regulated?" And we've touched upon this already.

So online news is held to exactly the same standards as printed media.

Through the Independent Press Standards Organisation.

Online news sites are accountable for what they publish and they must ensure that this is accurate and does not contain offensive or harmful information exactly the same as a newspaper would.

Although IPSO cannot prevent people using the interactive functions of online news in a negative way.

So that's the comment section that's often attached at the bottom of an online news article.

These are moderated carefully with content that goes against the guidelines being removed.

So what this means is that the article itself is really heavily regulated in the same way that a newspaper was, but it is a little bit more tricky to regulate what people are commenting on and what's happening in that interactive comment section.

So let's have a check for understanding.

I want you to read this text and then have a think about what are the missing words.

And Alex has given you a clue there by telling you what Letter the words start with.

So let's have a look together.

Online news sites are accountable for what they publish and must ensure this is accurate and does not contain offensive or harmful information.

So Alex is saying, "I think digital media is well regulated.

It's great to know that moderators are checking for harmful content and that AI is being used to try to hunt down any malicious content." But Sam is saying, "I'm not sure if I agree.

I think it all relies too heavily on individuals reporting content.

Plus not everyone uses their real identity online.

So people that are banned from sites.

can just create a new online identity and carry on creating harmful content." So you can see that both sides of this argument.

Let's have a check for understanding.

People always use their real identity when online.

Is that true false, and can you tell me why? It's false, why? Individuals can easily set up fake or hidden profiles.

They do not have to use their real name, photo or other identical information.

And this is again, something that makes regulation of online apps and social media platforms and things like that really tricky.

So for task B, I want you to create three stars and a wish.

I want you to identify and briefly explain three positives of digital media regulations.

So three things that you think are working well, that are really good ideas.

Then I want you to identify and explain something that you think needs to be improved.

And Alex is saying, "You can consider any type of digital media in your answer." So you can think about social media platforms, you can think about online news in the comment section, livestream videos, blogs, anything that you wish.

Pause while you have a go at this task.

So when you are identifying and briefly explaining the three positives of digital media regulation and then thinking about something that could be improved, you may have included defamation laws applied to everyone, making it illegal to write untrue and damaging information about other people.

So the fact that there are laws that protect people about having false information written about them.

You might have said how AI is being used to search and check for malicious content.

And this better ensures that this type of content is found and remove quickly.

You might have talked about how digital media users can be banned from sites if they're found to be breaking the guidelines set and this removes them and their harmful content from the public.

You might have said for something that needed to be improved.

Digital media regulation relies too heavily on individuals following the rules and reporting content.

There needs to be more formal external regulation.

We're now gonna look at how does digital media differ from more traditional media types.

So let's just think about what do we mean by traditional media? We've looked at digital media.

So what do we think we mean by traditional media? So pause and have a think to yourselves.

So traditional media includes print and broadcast media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, and television.

It tends to be the media that's been around for longer than digital media.

These are older media types that people listen to or read.

Whereas digital media is a type of new media that involves technology.

So traditional media does not rely on technology for people to consume it.

So let's have a check for understanding, which is an example of traditional media.

Is it A, blog.

B, Radio, or C social media? It's B, radio.

So Sam's asking, "Are traditional media and digital media regulated differently?" So let's have a look at that together.

Yes, so the media types themselves are very different and therefore so is the regulation that's applied to them.

Traditional media is scheduled and the authorship is clear.

So what we mean by that is traditional media follows strict schedules.

So if we think about the news, it's on a certain time, on a certain channel.

Newspapers are printed either every week or every day.

So there's a clear schedule.

People need to plan ahead I think what's going in them.

And therefore the authorship is clear as well.

If you are a news presenter, you are literally there on screen presenting so we know who it's coming from.

If it's an article in a newspaper, it will have the name of the journalist who's written that piece as well.

So it's scheduled and the authorship is clear.

Whereas if we compare that to digital media, that is much more fast paced and it evolves quickly so it can happen and be posted at any time.

So they are quite different.

The main differences regarding regulation relate to the oversight and the standard consistency.

So who oversees it? And also the point at which the media is checked.

So let's have a look at these in a bit more detail.

So all regulation relies on content being checked and there are clear differences in who or what has this oversight when regulating digital or traditional media.

So traditional media is regulated by central authorities.

So for example, ITSO and Ofcom, which we've referred to this lesson.

So that means that there's a central big organisation that looks at absolutely everything.

There's a really, really clear structure in place.

And this means that there are clear rules and sanctions that apply to all traditional media outlets.

They must follow strict guidelines relating to things such as how accurate they are, if they're being transparent and clear about who's writing pieces, and also making sure they're following rules and laws about harmful content.

So Alex is saying, "So does this mean my local newspaper is regulated in the same way as a popular national newspaper?" And Sams saying "Yes, whereas digital media tend to self-regulate and set their own guidelines.

These differ across platforms." So if we think about a newspaper, which is a traditional type of media as regulated centrally, so it doesn't matter if you're a tiny little local newspaper or a huge really popular national newspaper, you are going to follow the same regulation and be regulated by the same people.

Whereas digital media, different websites, different social media sites will self-regulate.

And that means they set their own community guidelines and they have slightly different ways of regulating what is on them.

So that's a really clear difference between the two.

And in practise, this means that different social media platforms may have different definitions for what counts as harmful content, and this makes it inconsistent.

Whereas with traditional media, they will all follow the same definition as it is centrally regulated, which means it's more consistent.

So let's have a check for understanding, true or false.

Social media platforms are consistent in their definitions for things such as what is classed as harmful content.

Is that true, is that false, and can you tell me why? It's false, and why? Digital media is self-regulating.

This means they will set their own definitions and these may vary between platforms. There is also a key difference between when content is checked.

So traditional media has strict processes that must be followed.

Journalists follow a code of conduct and apply this to the content they are writing.

There are then editors, broadcasters, and many other teams of people that thoroughly check content before it is printed or broadcast to citizens.

And Alex is asking, "What would happen if an editor thought the content was not up to their regulation standards?" Sams saying, "Well, it just simply wouldn't be printed.

Editors and broadcasters will be in lots of trouble if inaccurate information was released.

And that's why there are lots of pre-checks." So we think about traditional media that's scheduled.

The checks would all happen before anything was printed, so that when it was actually printed or broadcasted to the nation or to citizens, the checks had already taken place.

Whereas that's different to digital media 'cause people can just post what they want when they want and the checks come after when people might report things that they've seen.

So this is very different to digital media.

Social media, live streaming and blogs can be uploaded by anyone at any time.

The checks do happen, but they come later.

And these are not consistent across different platforms. 'Cause people will have different definitions, for example, of what is cast as harmful content.

Harmful content can and is taken down, but this doesn't happen instantly because it needs to be found first or reported.

So Alex is saying, "What about online news? Is that not checked before it's published?" And remember, yes, online news is regulated in the same way as printed news, but remember the interactive elements such as the comments are not.

So let's have a check for understanding.

I want you to pause and take a look at these two sentences and think hat the missing words might be.

So the first one, social media, live streaming and blogs can be uploaded by anyone at any time.

Checks do happen, but they come later.

With traditional media editors and broadcasters thoroughly check content before it is printed or broadcast to citizens.

So if we compare digital and traditional media in a table, just so you can see it all together, you can see the differences.

So the key features of digital is that it's instant, it's interactive, and it uses technology.

Whereas with traditional it's scheduled, there's a clear time, there's clear authorship, and it's very carefully planned in advance.

So digital examples are things like social media, streaming and blogs, whereas with traditional, it's things like radio, television and newspapers.

In terms of regulation with digital it's self-regulated and it differs between platforms, so it's not quite as consistent.

Whereas with traditional, it's centrally regulated, which means it's consistent across the different media types.

So let's have a check for understanding Which description relates to digital media.

And it's D, it's self-regulated and it differs between platforms. So for task C, I'd like you to write a summary of the key differences between digital and traditional media.

Your summary should include key features of digital and traditional media, examples of digital and traditional media, and how digital and traditional media are regulated.

Pause while you have a go at this task.

So your summary of the key differences between digital and traditional media could have included.

For key features, digital media can be created instantly.

It includes lots of interactive elements and uses technology such as laptops and smartphones.

Whereas traditional media is scheduled, has clear authorship and is carefully planned.

For examples, digital media includes social media, streaming media, online news and blogs.

Whereas traditional media includes radio, television, and newspapers.

For regulation, digital media is self-regulated and this varies between platforms. A lot of checking comes after something has been released.

This is different to traditional media, which is centrally regulated and carefully checked before being broadcast or printed.

So in summary of the lesson, what is digital media and how is it different? Digital media is a new media type and refers to any information that is stored, accessed, or distributed through electronic technology.

Examples of digital media include social media, blogs, streaming media, and online news.

Digital media content can be produced by anyone at any time.

Therefore, checking of content often comes after information has been posted and relies on user communication.

Digital media is self-regulated, which means individual platforms create their own guidelines regarding acceptable usage.

This differs from traditional media, which is centrally regulated, scheduled, carefully planned, and provides authorship information.

That takes us to the end of this lesson.

What is digital media and how it was different? Well done for all your hard work and I hope you come back some more citizenship lessons in the future.