Glastonbury festival: Potential examination of how digital media was used by the Observer/Guardian and the BBC to report the festival.

The reporting of the Glastonbury Festival is of interest to all media students/teachers. The Observer/Guardian published an article by Paul Morley in the traditional Sunday broadsheet and provided a link at the bottom of the page [see image] that encouraged the reader to access further online material related to the festival. This is relevant when considering the impact of digital media as the Guardian now has the ability to post festival specific short films, podcasts, links to Flickr albums constructed and uploaded by people attending the festival and links to social networking sites. Furthermore, digital media provides the Guardian and the Guardian's readership with the ability to constantly update blogs and articles. Digital media has revolutionised how newspapers report news and transformed the role of the audience. Below is a link to the online material that was used to report the festival.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/glastonbury

The BBC also provided extensive online coverage of the festival to accompany their live broadcasts on BBC 3 and BBC 2. It may be useful to compare and contrast the online coverage of the Guardian with the online coverage presented by the BBC. Click on link below to access BBC online material:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbur
/2010/









The link below provides access to BBC News coverage of the festival:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10430391.stm


These resources are relevant for A2 study when considering MEST 3 Section B. An examination of the online content of the Guardian/BBC sites could be used to explore the role of Audience and Producer and provide material that encourages both student and teacher to consider how digital media is challenging the role of the traditional newspaper. This could lead to a consideration of Rupert Murdoch's opposition to the idea of 'Free News' and his attempts to charge subscription fees for online news linked to his own newspapers. James Murdoch's speech criticising the BBC is available elsewhere on Fishymedia.

Blur's Alex James explains in 'The Sun' why he loves Glastonbury. Click on link:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/music/3030809/Blurs-Alex-James-on-why-he-loves-Glastonbury.ht

And here is a link to 'The Daily Mail' who represent the Festival through their own unique institutional filter. Click on link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1288064/Festival-goers-warned-dangers-legal-highs.html

Wonderful poet Simon Armitage provides his festival memories and concludes the article with a poem titled 'Festival'. Click on link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/26/glastonbury-festival-40-simon-armitage