Gender And Media. The Change Of Media. Communications & Media Essay

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Change of Media
Introduction
Over the years the media has evolved based on the way it influences their audiences through dimensions through which content is created, information distribution, and access. Internet access has also become a major factor that contributes to information access. In the 21st century, information access has become appreciated as a human right as it consistently and continuously becomes indispensable as a tool for information dissemination across societies and advocates for human rights such as freedoms of expression and speech. The United Nations office on the Promotion and Protection of Rights and Opinion of Expression indicates that human rights regulations are applicable to new communication technologies such as the internet, in consonance to article 19 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
Freedom of expression imposes an obligation on state parties to promote universal access to technological innovation, including internet. Some governments already have put in place mechanisms to recognize access to internet as a core component of media freedom in the 21st century and as a human right (Church et al., p.266). Freedom of the media enables free movement of information and access to knowledge hence guaranteeing the strengthening of democracy and human rights. Free access to information on internet access networks enables populations’ access.
The commonwealth inter-parliamentary coalition of independent states modeled a law on the Principles of internet regulation which recognized the rights and freedoms of citizens including the right to internet access and use of information thereof. However, access to the internet access is not an end to itself as it offers many avenues of service delivery for communication, education, e-commerce, journalism and entertainment.
Social networks always craft new communication models which are not ordinarily possible. Innovation and technology apply already existing systems and features to create solutions which are informative and financially beneficial. Social handles like twitter and Facebook make it easy for information sharing and also serve to impart knowledge to participants as well as share ideas about development. The existence of bloggers and citizen journalism has expanded the media landscape into a whole new dimension.
Web based technologies that harness the use of the mobile communication (Bond p. 521) platforms for interaction form a group of applications that found the technologies that enable user generated content exchange and access to communication technologies that exploit social media for communication between organizations and communities using different forms such as internet blogs, wikis, forums, podcasts, video casting etc.
The distinction between social media and social networking is not precise as tools that serve personal and corporate communication are incorporated synchronously for information relay and research purposes (Moores, p.16). These networks which include popular brands such as Facebook, Google and twitter are effective for individual and corporate communication mostly serving the purpose of news distribution and research using crowd sourcing and other technology platforms.
Besides individual communication, social networks are used as tool for journalistic work. Through social media and existing networks, research, publication, distribution and collaboration of the media functions happens on social networks and people rely on the same networks to receive and relay news. This creates a multi dimensional application of shared media which eventually speaks to the expansion of freedom of the media as a human right. In either traditional media or any form of publicly distributed media, such as television, newspapers and the internet, there should not be discrimination of the subsets given that freedom of the media and freedom of expression are universally accepted regardless of whether they are online or offline, whether it is citizen or professional journalism, or whether it is social media or print media.
Media freedom includes the right to receive and seek for information regardless of the source. Social media and networks are protected by law and serve the sole purpose of producing news for consumption purposes (Moores p.24). Internet services are also protected through the freedom of expression and existing provisions on the freedom of expression of opinion on all platforms including social media and other platforms.
Traditional newspaper circulation continues to dwindle as social media and networks continue to flourish across the globe. Internet and mobile technologies have influenced to greater extent human interactions and relationships which have further impacted on the way people interact (Bond p.522). Social media news networks have flourished as they furnish consumers with news through their technologies.
In the developed world, use of internet technologies has surpassed traditional media as information platforms. For instance in America, the newspapers and television are rarely preferred as a source of information because almost sixty percent of Americans get their information from online sources. Most of the online news consumers receive their news through social networks and mobile phones. Tools such as Facebook, twitter, YouTube and MySpace lead in social media information platforms while phones and email follow closely. There is an increase in online news consumers who use social networks and many journalists as well have turned to social media as a platform to distribute or share their stories.
Social media and the Family
Communication plays a significant role in family relationships. A lack of household communication is detrimental on the family’s interaction and cohesion and therefore it is important to create a good relationship. New media is essential in running of modern households and helps to influence household or family culture and interaction patterns. Information communications technology has changed family dynamics because the new media has been imbedded in the domestic routines becoming an intrinsic part of contemporary life (McGrath p.46). Adapting to new media technologies has a direct impact on contemporary life in a number of ways. Use of the internet in the home effectively impacts on family relationships. Digital media such as video and computer games have become a fundamental part and parcel of daily family lives as access is made easy.
Technology as a tool uses media largely to influence social relationships. Children growing up in homes which are technologically savvy have access to a mobile phone, a television that has interactive features, access to laptops and game consoles. To add on to that, they enjoy a wide variety of leisure technologies including DVD players, MP3/4 players etc. as a result, technology has a direct influence in the way children are directed and forms a basis for future social behavior.
New media has caused a major shift in the way society interacts and individuals as well as households have adopted in a number of ways. Change brought about by this phenomenon is impactful on creating a digital divide. A digital divide is described as a generational gap between the people who use technology and those who do not (Aarsand 235). Basically this means that the difference between those who know how to act in a digital environment and those who do not know is the digital divide. It is conceived that children who use media technologies often have more knowledge on their usage and use this to their advantage (Aarsand 252) to influence activities which their elders who are not digitally affluent cannot decipher. Adults as well use this digital divide discourse to interact with their children in a bid to help nurture communication, although it is also likely to cause discord within the family. New media has facilitated social interaction and enhances social interaction, access to information and time allocation. Access to technology has created permeability between family and work time (Mesch 124).
Citizens and Media
Apart from getting information online, most internet users in the U.S play a part in creation of news items through active participation in commentaries, through social media platforms such as twitter and Facebook. They participate by either commenting on stories, posting links of stories on social media, tagging social media content, creating their own news content or tweet about news. A large percentage of online users get their news from social networks through sharing of links, blogging, video casting, and article sharing or syndicating content. Citizen journalism is revolutionary in the way it uses technology tools to create, check or augments media independently or through collaboration (Venkatesh p.32).
Professional journalism holds the view that only trained journalists are able to go through the rigorous processes of ethical reporting. Conversely, there are many trained journalists who have embraced citizen journalism, through personal blogs and online commentaries, which is traditionally outside the conventional practice in journalism. Participatory journalism involves acts of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating information by individual citizens or in groups. The participation is meant to provide reliable, accurate and relevant information. In other words, in citizen journalism, the audience uses te...