Britain's Got Talent in trouble for exploiting children again

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2316452/Britains-Got-Talent-2013-Viewers-shocked-Asanda-Jeziles-sexualised-performance-Rihannas-Diamonds.html

An article discussing whether Britain's Got Talent was wrong to allow an 11 year old to perform a sexualised song on Saturday night.  Were they taking advantage of her for entertainment purposes?  Should there be rules in place to regulate how children appear on television?  Are Reality TV shows exploiting contestants?

Apple & ITunes - changing the music industry

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2316473/A-decade-iTunes-How-Apple-revolutionised-way-buy-music.html

An article discussing the way I-Tunes has changed the face of the music industry!

Is Facebook losing its popularity?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2316447/Facebook-loses-2m-UK-visitors-MONTH.html

An article which discusses the evidence this week that Facebook might be losing 2 million uk visitors a month..

Britain's Got Talent - contestants fake?

Controversy hits this week as Britain's Got Talent is accused of creating fake / different back stories for contestants to make them more popular..

For example

A pair of brothers are accused of making themselves out to be "just sandwich shop workers" to increase their likability and appeal to a working class audience.  In reality they only work in their family's shop when they are not touring the world singing on a cruise ship having already released an album that has been mentioned on TV (see article below)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2313739/Panini-Pavarottis-How-humble-singing-sandwich-makers-Britains-Got-Talent-actually-pair-slick-cruise-ship-crooners.html


Another contestant was seen shaking with nerves and saying she suffers from stage fright which makes her more likeable as the audience feels sorry for her.  She has been accused of faking this because she was also seen appearing on the BBC show The Voice showing no signs of these nerves, as well as appearing confident and sexy on her You Tube channel (see article below)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2311837/Britains-Got-Talent-contestant-Alice-Fredenham-accused-faking-stage-fright-shes-seen-looking-confident-bubbly-The-Voice.html

Might be good examples of how "reality tv" cannot be relied upon to be "real" anymore.  How tv institutions are creating these Propp style characters (the hero, the underdog, the victim etc) to improve ratings because their real life personalities are not enough to raise ratings.

The dangers of citizen journalism

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2311248/Sala-Barhoum-track-star-teenager-denies-involvement-Boston-Marathon-bombing-picture-widely-circulated.html

An article showing what the dangers can be when real people take news reporting into their own hands.  This man was incorrectly identified as a possible suspect of the Boston Bombings by users on social media websites.

Advert trivialises drug addiction?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2301770/TV-advert-E45-cream-parodies-interview-drug-abuse-addict-accused-trivialising-abuse.html

New advert for E45 moisturiser has been criticised and complained about for making a joke out of drug addiction.  What do you think?

Facebook to start charging for messaging celebs?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2305396/How-people-going-like-Facebook-starts-charging-UK-users-10-send-messages-celebrities.html

Why do you think Facebook are trialling this idea?  What advantages and disadvantages does it have for them?