New Media vs Old Media

The growing importance of media today is undeniable as cutting-edge technologies are introduced to us day by day. This is largely due to modernization that has seen a massive improvement in the media throughout the years. Print-based media is no longer a dominant force as multimodal-based text is gradually replacing it as the main form of media communication due to the emergence of none other than - the Internet. Basically, new media is an important component of a new technoculture. (Lister, Dovey, 2009)



In recent years, we have embraced social networks such as Myspace, Facebook and Twitter besides the video sharing website - Youtube. Do you know that Twitter is a form of blog? According to Belardo (2010), Twitter is a microblogging site categorized under personal blog as I have mentioned in my previous post. Tom Foremski (2007) asserts that media companies today have to support many-media publishing: podcasts, vidcasts, sms, blogs, social networks--in addition to print, web sites, email, etc; all the conventional forms of media.




(Source: blogs.loc.gov)







In Malaysia, the media is highly influential as a democratic tool. Malaysia’s first online newspaper, Malaysiakini, is one of the websites that has grown in popularity among Malaysians as a medium to gather information, express personal views and get a deeper insight of obscure issues that the government dealt with lack of transparency. (Anuar, 2000) As a result, media companies such as The Star, News Straits Times etc , which are controlled by the government, created their own website to attract a wider audience.



New media has definitely become an important element in our lives. Studies show that the number of hours we spend consuming the mass media as ever increasing with the Internet being identified to be the catalyst to our reliance on media. (McChesney, 2008)







References:




Anuar, M. 2000, ‘Malaysian Media and Democracy’, Media Asia, vol.27, No. 4, pp 183- 190, <http://proquest.umi.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/pqdlink?Ver=1&Exp=05-07-2016&FMT=7&DID=71532088&RQT=309>



Belardo M, 2010, "The five type of blogs", last viewed at 28 September 2010,http://www.inkrebels.com/insp/the-5-types-of-blogs-which-one-suits-you-best/>



Foremski, T 2007, We live in a many-media world with new forms of media, DreamHost.com, viewed 1 May 2011, <http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2007/08/we_live_in_a_ma.php>




Lister et al, 2009, "New media: a critical introduction", last viewed 30 September 2010, http://books.google.com.my/books?id=gMx-AMRg3A0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=new+media&source=bl&ots=kTcqkEVOE7&sig=QOZTB87GDeMfvpNrLuNMtL34MwA&hl=en&ei=oUKkTJb9JYS8cav4lNoI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CEkQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q&f=false>



McChesney, RW 2008, The Political Economy of Media: enduring issues, emerging dilemmas, Monthly Review Press, New York.