Check Point 1n2 + How much of a Marxist am i?

Checkpoint 1-
What is the difference between proletariat and the bourgeoisie?
A proletariat is the low class/working class, which values its Labour power for earning money, whereas bourgeoisie is the class where wealthy bourgeoisie employ the proletariat for labour and often dont work themselves, however petty bourgeoisie employ others and also work themselves.

Checkpoint 2-
What is the difference between the ISAs and the RSAs?
ISA-physical violence control, through such as Police.
RSA-phycological control, through such as Masjids, Church, Family, Education, Cultural

How much of a Marxist am i?

I believe in the ideologies that Marx has set, we live in a divided society of 2 social classes i.e. the bourgeoisie and the proletariat class. The proletariat class has always been exploited by the bourgeoisie, as they employ them and who value thier labour but at the same time they are maximising thier profit, coz the proletariat class would work for little money. The media does show us these ideologies but in a particaular form, which we take in and assume its true, this is just like the the hyperdemic needle model, where we as a audience act submissive.

MEDIA GUARDIAN H/W 4

Sky claims fastest broadband growth in UK

BSkyB's broadband service has signed up its one millionth customer, said the company today, claiming the fastest growth of any UK broadband provider in the 14 months since it launched.
Despite teething troubles with some customers, who complained of a slow service and problems with broadband routers, Sky says that nearly a third of customers are new to Sky TV, which comes as part of the broadband subscription package.
Packages range from £15 to £50 for broadband, phone and TV, on top of £11 BT line rental. Sky said 70% of broadband customers choose to sign up for more than the basic service.
"Sky entered the broadband marketplace because we saw an opportunity to challenge the established players and give customers something better," said James Murdoch, the BSkyB chief executive.
"Our aim is to meet the hunger for better quality, better service and better value, so to be the choice of one million customers after just 14 months is a real achievement."
Sky is aiming to make the transition from the £7bn TV sector to the £25bn communications market, but is locked in intense competition with rivals Virgin Media, Tiscali, BT and AOL.

This story was chosen because its really significant for us as we use the net daily, for work or leisure. These days we need the internet no matter what the reason is, it is becoming a need for most of us. Even the Library goers r turning down to the Net. Everyone has different ISPs, but Sky customers must be happy from the service they get, as we know Sky is UK's no.1 Broadband provider. This tells us the competition there is in the market, and SKY being very clever by entering this sector as it already had an established name. It can start overtaking other ISPs, which will be inferior to SKY as its started to be a Monopoly.

Globalisation Discussion

Bunty n Bilal are having a discussion if the issue globalistion is good or not!!!

Bunty- Well bilal, you know about INDIA's growing economy, don't you? It's developing ever since 1990, becoming the worlds second fastest growing major economy, marking itself on the map. It surprises me you know...

Bilal- So wots your point?

Bunty- Well Bilal, lets look at TESCO (every lil elps) It has opened its many branches in INDIA.

Bilal- What does it mean for us, or for the nation of India?

Bunty- Well the main thing is, people are employed and so people will be making money. They can improve thier standard of living, and reshape der lives. and for us ,well our British Supermarket is expanding itself.

Bilal- But Bunty dont you see, why the hell has TESCO opened its stores in India??? Cheap labour i guess, but most importantly its trying to act as a monoply.

Bunty- Nothing to do with Cheap Labour!!! TESCO only wants to reach an international market. by provding a good product or service

Bilal- i get you, but its wrong. TESCO here in the UK are breaking other competitors market, and making us go and consume TESCO's products, which doesnt leave us a choice man. Tesco's globalistion can affect the UK, so can affect India. As TESCO is a well known brand in the UK, the India's nation would start consuming from TESCO as they have heard the big name internationally. This would break the market of local grocery stores n supermarkets in india. and Bunty not only does Tesco sell groceries but everything you can think of, e.g. Electricals??? What would happend to other companies in India. Here in the UK while people buy thier groceries at tesco, they tend to look at non-food stuff..like clothes. What would happen to high street labels??? I think its bad of TESCO to globalise itself

Bunty- Bilal TESCO is growing, y? coz its in demand, people/consumers want TESCO to be there. So it will cater for international market

Bilal- But India for example will face the same issues we are facing today. TESCO feeds the market with ideologies, which the market accepts. This is wrong, the consumers dont have a variety of choices to make. Have you seen Tesco's Price Comparison feature, well isnt that wrong, i mean clearly if TESCO is selling its product or service cheaper than any other firm/supermarket, then who will the cusotmer go to? Tell me!!! Tesco can mark itself on the world map by providing the products and services it produces to the international market, but if we started seeing Tesco everywhere, then we wont see any new culture, new foods etc etc
What happend to our Pluralistic society, where we have choices to choose from. Like shopping at Sainsbury would never be possible unless they do the same or cheap deals. We are clearly becoming submissive Bunty...JUST GO HOME n sleep!!!

Media Guardian H/W 3

Censorship of the internet in China is becoming more draconian, according to new details of Beijing's online restrictions published by human rights organisations.The claims come in a report from international journalism watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres and the China Human Rights Defenders group, which examines the way the Chinese government reacts to free speech on the internet.Written by an anonymous author who claims to work as a technician inside a Chinese web company, the report details the expanding influence of the country's censorious approach to the internet - and its "appalling" effect on freedom of speech."The government monitors the internet by means of a skillful mix of filtering technologies, cyber-police surveillance and propaganda, in all of which China invests massively," writes the technician, referred to only as "Mr Tao". "Draconian censorship hunts down anything to do with human rights, democracy and freedom of belief. It nips free expression in the bud."According to the report, censorship of the web has grown along with the increasing power of the Beijing Internet Information Administrative Bureau, the organisation that monitors internet content in China. Its hold over is particularly strong for companies based in or near the Chinese capital, warns the study."Either on their own initiative or on orders from above, the bureau's members remind websites of the importance of political and social stability in China as soon as a story grabs the attention of the online media or public opinion. They ask the websites to remove the story, or move it to a less prominent position, put a stop to comments and to hide or suppress any new developments in the story, or to posts an article written by the bureau."The ones that are not registered in Beijing are not subject to as much pressure. Tengxun, for example, which has China's biggest portal and the instant messaging service QQ, is based in Shenzhen and, as a result, enjoys more freedom."The report also said that the punishments meted out to those who are deemed to have transgressed Beijing's rules are becoming more drastic.China is now the world's second-largest online population, with more than 160 million web users, and pressure is building on the government to loosen its grip on the net ahead of next year's Olympic Games.But despite the controversial nature of the country's approach to the net, it is only one of a large number of countries that heavily censor online content.This week, Burma completed an almost total shutdown of communications inside the country following mass pro-democracy protests in and around the capital, Rangoon. After shutting down web access from inside Burma over the past week, the country's ruling junta also restricted access to mobile, landline and satellite phones in order to prevent images of the protests reaching the outside world.

...Research on Bertelsmann...

Media Guardian H/W 2

BBC Worldwide expands Indian operation

Leigh Holmwood in CannesTuesday October 9, 2007MediaGuardian.co.uk


BBC Worldwide: already has an established distribution business in India


BBC Worldwide has launched the third of its planned eight global production bases in India, with an office in Mumbai, that will make local versions of BBC formats as well as creating new shows.
The centre, which will be known as BBC Worldwide Productions India, will be led by former Tomorrow's World editor Saul Nasse, with ex-Nickelodeon India head of programming Sonia Chowdhry as creative director of development and special projects.
BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, already has an established distribution business in India, with local versions of The Weakest Link, Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, while it is also co-producing the second series of the local version of Dancing with the Stars for the SET channel.
The BBC as a brand is already well known in India, where it also operates three channels, BBC World, CBeebies and BBC Entertainment; has a magazines joint venture with the Times of India; and also operates a separate FM radio joint venture.
Colin Jarvis, the BBC Worldwide director of international formats, said the move into local Indian television production was the next logical step.
"India is an important TV market - it is immensely fast growing and has a very vibrant production base and it is a country where the BBC is a known brand," he added.
"It is going to be an important territory for us. If you are an owner of formats, your strength is being the producer of them as well. We want to move the business into a production business, not just a distribution business."
The BBC Worldwide managing director of content and production, Wayne Garvie, said: "India is one of the most important and successful territories for BBC Worldwide. This local production office underlines our commitment to Indian broadcasters and audiences and firmly positions BBC Worldwide as a leading global content network."
Mr Jarvis said no local commissions had yet been secured, but that the office was looking to work with local talent to create new ideas, as well as making local versions of the BBC's factual entertainment, lifestyle and entertainment formats.
BBC Worldwide has already opened a highly successful office in Los Angeles, where it produces Dancing with the Stars for ABC, and has a joint venture production arm in Australia called Freehand.
The BBC's commercial arm plans to open up to three more production bases before the end of 2007, with an eighth by the end of the corporation's financial year in April. Poland, France and Latin America have already identified as potential bases.


I chose this story because this is really significant for us, because BBC our National Broadcaster is opening its Base in India. India was 3rd of the 8th planned Countries for global production bases and already BBC have settled in India with a Office in Mumbai.
This is good becuase BBC thinks that Indian TV market is fast growing and that the BBC brand is already familiar within all indians, so progressing in India will be highly possible .
But as a nation we argue that our jobs are taken by overseas people, we all know that most of the Call Centres are now basing themselves in Asia for cheap labour, especially INDIA. So britons are being sacked by companies as they move out to other places. BBC has just opened a Base in Mumbai though, but in the near future can BBC start closing its Centres here in the UK and settle in INDIA?????Futhermore transmission can also be done from there too!!!! Could it be possible???

Media Guardian H/W 1

Is my Facebook profile really worth $238 to Microsoft?

Only if it were worth $237 (£117) - or even $237.99 - to Google. The Redmond giant was this week in talks to acquire part of the social networking site, which Nielsen/NetRatings said on Tuesday is the most popular in the UK, with 6.5 million users (up sixfold since December), ahead of MySpace with 6.3 million (up 20%) and Bebo (4.5 million, up 64%).What Microsoft is after is a slice of the hottest site online, and it is prepared to pay somewhere between $300m and $500m (£125m to £250m) for a 5% stake.

That would value the site as a whole at between $6bn and $10bn - and the site says it has 42m users worldwide. The upper valuation values each of them at a tidy $238.09 each. Slightly less, now that another dozen have joined while you read this sentence.

The question is: where exactly does that value reside? Facebook is profitable, expecting to turn a profit of $30m on revenues of $150m. But those numbers hardly put it among the leviathans of online commerce. That profit works out to 71 cents per user (slightly less now ... ); to realise that $238 figure, either everyone will have to go on using Facebook for the next 335 years, or the site will have to dramatically increase the profit it makes per user. Charlene Li, an analyst with Forrester, thinks the numbers could add up: "Ad spending is roughly $2,500 per adult in the US. $250-$333 represents between 6% and 10% of ad spend. If people spend as much time as they potentially could within Facebook, those numbers are feasible." But that does assume that ad spending holds up and that people don't tire of Facebook in the meantime.

Three theories are now swirling around the discussion: that Microsoft is deadly serious, and sees Facebook as its entry into the new world of web services which it has struggled against its ageing self to embrace through services like MSN Live; or that Microsoft is trying to get Google and, possibly, failed Facebook suitor Yahoo! (which had a billion-dollar offer turned down by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg last year) to pitch in with even more ridiculous offers for a tiny slice of the site; or that Zuckerberg is holding out for an offer that would value the site at $15bn.

The second theory is interesting because a 5% stake would offer no control, while the money paid would fund Facebook for a long time into the future, to a stock market flotation - said to be Zuckerberg's favoured path. And Microsoft already has a lucrative contract to serve ads on the site until at least 2011.

Yahoo!, though, is drawing in its horns from big acquisitions after ejecting Eric Semel as chief executive in June, replacing him with Jerry Yang, one of the founders. And Google's purchase of a 5% stake in AOL for $1bn in December 2005, narrowly beating off Microsoft, put a $769 price on every AOL user's head. Since then, AOL's value has plunged. Google might not get fooled. Will Microsoft?

I chose this story because the article title grabbed my attention. I recently joined Facebook myself due to its populairty and what it offers is completely different to other social-networking sites, and not to forget the lame emails from mates inviting you to join, so i came into the interest of reading this article.

Every Facebook member should know, what is happening when a new person joins, so $238.09 is made from every subscribed member. Facebook is number 1 in UK for online Social Networking, in which creates millions of profit in its turnovers. On the other hand Microsoft being known as a massive massive Industry, still wants a share in Facebooks profits, by investing between $300 to $500 million dollars for just 5% stake, but can it be an extra pocket money for Microsoft, well YESS!!!