As the often quoted saying goes, "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it," drastic changes in media technology have forced the creative industries to adapt to survive numerous times in the 20th century alone, including legacy news organizations. While media barons tweak out over not having control over VCR and DVR recording, data and news mining and aggregation, progressive news organizations use new media technology to stay better connected with the interests of the public, through experimenting with mobile application support, crowd-sourcing methods and citizen journalism collaboration. Just as no one expected radio or cable news to give rise to the infotainment age dominated by John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, the true potential of the internet has yet to be discovered. Technology has made possible the transition from a "Type 0" method of communication to a "Type 1" method, where planetary communication has become infinitely possible at miniscule costs (refer to the attached video link for more information on this concept, thanks to the renown theoretical physicist Michio Kaku). This does not necessarily mean the death of financed journalism to the laissez-faire wilderness of citizen journalism, yet it demands the needs for aspiring professional journalists to adapt to the capabilities of new technologies, which citizen journalists and bloggers already have a head start with. As long as free speech and communication reigns free in modern civilization, there will always remain a need for people to record, disseminate and edit information into relevant and engaging journalism for an uninformed audience. Ten years from now, social media may not be dominated by a platform similar to Facebook, and the news may not be delivered in the same methods the New York Times utilizes today. Thus, the need to study the transition between news media remains a significant focus in the history of journalism.
References: Michio Kaku's musings on the modern transformation from a 'Type 0' to a 'Type 1' society.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7NPC47qMJVg
No comments:
Post a Comment