NDM baseline assessment learner response

4) WWW: A solid well developed essay that explores both sides of the argument.

EBI: One genuine concern is handwriting: it was mentioned in the MEST3 Examiner's Report and you need to address this over the next few months.
You've used a lot of examples but make sure they relate to audience empowerment.
It's great you've discussed institutions retaining power but I'd love to see examples of this. 
More Media Theory required.

5) Another way in which audiences are gaining power would be from the variety of views that are present in Twitter. In this case twitter would allow their users to tweet out what they would like to. However they are limited to 140 characters. This could negate the effect of the hypodermic needle syringe since this would suggest that audiences are pretty passive. However since they could tweet about their opinions then this could show that audiences are empowered with their opinions and the freedom that they have. This would mean that big institutions would need to take this into consideration. An example of how the opinions of an audience dictates the content of the media was with Blizzard and the fan base. The players had an outcry for one of Overwatch's playable heroes. The players had felt that the developers had sexualized women with the victory pose that Tracer had. Since this comment from the early stages of the game, they had changed her pose to be seen as less offensive. This could further emphasise the power that an audience could have as they would dictate the content for their products. 

However the other side to this would be that big institutions are also gaining power. In this case they would use adverts to their advantage to try and empower themselves. An example of this would be the Presidential Elections. The both parties have used various celebrities and public figures to endorse their party. One strong endorsement would be the current President Barack Obama supporting Hillary Clinton. Since he would have a following from his previous terms as President, those who would've voted for him might want to support him again. This would therefore mean that their opinions would be influenced by his presence. As a result this would support the hypodermic syringe model as this would suggest that Barack Obama would be one of the driving forces for the popularity of the Democratic Party. One other way in which customers are influenced into their decisions would be adverts. Since the adverts would try and persuade an audience, this would mean that audiences might be likely to purchase that product if it intrests them. This could go both ways. One way would be that the advert would persuade them to purchase it. or that the advert gives the viewer a choice between competitors. This would then go against the hypodermic syringe needle.