SOPA and PIPA

As current affairs is an important part of our trailer's narrative, the recent Sopa/Pipa debate has been an interesting development within the news that has links to our trailer.

Sopa and Pipa are United States bills that have been introduced by Lamar Smith (R) and Patrick Leahy (D) to combat online piracy. While proponents of the bills claim that they will protect the intellectual property of its owners, there is a divide in the US, and the world, over whether the bills will achieve anything at all. Some argue that the bills will do quite the opposite and will actually restrict the "free" internet. Examples of the "bigger" opponents to the bills include Wikipedia, which held a 24 hour "blackout" of its website in protest over Sopa and Pipa, and Google, which "censored" its doodle.

"Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge": The sight that greeted visitors to the Wikipedia site during its blackout.

Google's censored doodle in protest over Sopa

The Obama Administration issued a statement that included: "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet." Essentially, the Obama Administration appears to be taking an opposing stance on the issue of Sopa and Pipa.

The internet community has issued large-scale opposition to the bills, and "hacktivist" groups such as Anonymous have already started cyber-attacks on US sites. On a lighter note, the humour of the internet community is still alive and well over the issue, as seen through the meme of "Conspiracy Keanu".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16628143

'Page One' YouTube User Discussion

These are screen shots from a YouTube Trailer (Click here for the link). We are not actually looking at the trailer which is for an American Docu-Drama about a day at 'The New York Times'. We have focused upon the interesting comments made by YouTube users commenting on the role our journalists in our society, which is very relevant to our media product.

The comments above show the controversial debate at the heart of Media, and therefore News, publishers. There are the two conflicting views "Journalism is the cornerstone of democracy" writes Porterchas and advocates the idea of journalists "standing by their story", by extension dismissing the anonymity of Internet news sources.

However, in opposition it is pointed out that 'The New York Times' is "EXTREMELY biased" (commented by MrSuperiorBeing) thereby discrediting news items that they report because of its unreliability for impartial judgement.

Most interestingly it is the freedom of speech online which becomes the focus of the debate, with arabianknight86 who points out that "Wikileaks" was only necessary because journalists failed the public by not reporting news on the governments who were exposed to be covering up a number of indescrepancies. The implication is that journalism has become less about the 'freedom of speech' and delivering the truth to the public and more about business and political influence. This corruption is something which we have discussed as a group for our coursework and is the catalyst for the dystopian future we are in the process of creating.

Relevant Articles In the News: 'Considering' Televising English Court Cases

News Article: BBC News UK 6^th September 2011

Out-Law.com (Legal news and guidance Pinsent Masons) 6^th September 2011

[References from 2 different and reliable sources]

Positive/Negative Points:

Relationship to our media-based narrative:

Ø  Media in our society seems to be gaining more power – encroaching and becoming a very powerful institution and although separate from government control/ privately owned it could sway how people think –manipulate the truth –become a ruling/consuming power of its own.

Ø  This idea has the potential to give corporations the power to manipulate society’s trust in the media, due to its influence in shaping our personal opinions on a number of issues –most especially politically – and this may also lead to the corruption of leaders who would work with the corruption to use this bias news for their advantage.

Ø  Even now the Murdock corporations highlight the dangers of biased news businesses. By present commentary and bias as fact Murdock could passively rule a large percentage of the world (4.7 billion) by selectively choosing what they know and what they don’t. Without the News Industry as the epitomy of truth and fact a nation would become a dictatorship.

Ø  We only have to look into ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’  to see that for decades the fear that media is no longer the pinnacle of free speech that it once was is a large concern.

Our narrative is the, seeming, political backlash against the Media Industry’s abuse of power, rivalling that of the government.  We have taken this concept to an extreme to examine the issue of free speech in today’s world whilst suspending the disbelief of the viewer. Our dystopian future is where idealistic values, of removing the lying influence of the media, become corrupt anyway leading to a people’s rebellion.