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| Advances in the media has affected tremendously increased information access |
MEDIA AND MEDIA PRODUCTS:
We are all aware that the media
creates media products. However, on a closer look, the content created by media
is usually the ones created by the editors in general. Editors direct their
reporters to write specific media content every day in order to cater to the
audiences’ demands. For example, the media content created by an entertainment
industry is completely different to those created by the news industry. While
the entertainment industry would
concentrate with entertainment content—fashion, soap operas, music and
other infotainment subjects, news media, on the other hand, would opt
news—national and international current affairs, politics and analyze its
effects. Regardless of the products media give to the audience, initially, it
attempts to bring in some common elements between disparate and diverse
cultures; that is, some sort of a shared belief or way of life. It also
unconsciously shapes what audiences need and don’t need; a kind of filtration
process that the audience internalizes without knowing the effects.
MEDIA PRODUCTS AND THE AUDIENCE:
Eventually, media content are
directed to audience and the latter completes the communication process. While
the impacts may vary with regard to the content, the audience is where the
content ends. For example, a person, interested with movies is likely to be
affected by news. However, s/he gradually develops the way of life as reflected
in the movies. A person engrossed with Hollywood films, for example, might not
find it weird to see a couple kissing and is likely to accept it into his or
her life and, later, himself kiss a girl.
However, media products, while it
may seem a one way process is not so. In the first phase, media products
intrigue as well as shock audience. Yet, it later shapes the way of life of the
audience—their likes and dislikes, what they want and don’t want, their values
and so forth. In due course, audience develop their taste with the content and
therefore seek specific and improved subjects. In turn, we can therefore say
that media products and the audience are mutually related—each shaping the
other.
AUDIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:
As discussed earlier, media
contents are directed to the audience. In the process, technology is the key
factor. With advances in technology, the level of interaction between media and
the audience has increased significantly. In traditional media like print and
broadcast, messages were unidirectional. While the audience knew the person who
disseminated media content, it, however, was not the case with latter. As a
result, there was lesser number of participatory approaches by the audience.
With the upsurge of the “new media”, the internet, the level of interaction the
general public have with the media has skyrocketed. Convergence media like
Facebook, Twitter and blogs have further kindle fired the interaction. For
example, convergence media disseminate information as soon as it is at their
disposal. It signifies two things—one, the speed at which information is bought
into public has seen a dramatic rise. Second, since information travels almost
at the speed of light, so has the level of interaction—especially because of
the immense space that the “new media” has at its disposal. Billiions of
terabytes that can be made out of thin air.
MEDIA INDUSTRY AND TECHNOLOGY:
To a human eye, it might seem
that no technology is involved when media contents are being disseminated to
the audience, it is not the case. The media industry relies heavily on
technology and vice versa to cater to the audience. We would not have
newspapers if we had no printing press, and printing press would not survive if
there were print contents. Televisions would not exist if there were
breakthroughs in audio-visual means. As a result, the medium, rather than the
message, has become a driving force for change. However, each technological
limitation sets parameters of their use and effects. For example, an illiterate
person cannot read a newspaper or a book or any content published by the print
media. While s/he can listen to the radio or watch television, she, however,
cannot use the “new media” which requires literacy and computer skills required
to get the most out of it.
It therefore can be deduced that
while the new media is more interactive to than the tradition media, each has
its own set of barriers that needs to be bridged in order to reach to the
masses. Nevertheless, each media and its content can affect its daily audience,
and therefore, change their way of life, their values and beliefs. Such
changes, however, will take time to become a habit.
To sum up, in the social world,
each component of the media is interlinked with one another. Each shape the
other and thence, affect the society at large. In this course, while they help
to bring in shared values and beliefs across the world and to disparate
audiences, it, if not checked, could put a person’s traditions, rituals,
cultures and histories at stake.
