New Media Technology Essay

Tim Berners-Lee, the overlord of the adult malewide web, initi on the wholey intended his subterfuge to be a put iodine acrossn of coaction where people could share their knowledge (Gauntlett 200939). Although the hazard of such human race journalism corresponded with elected and egalitarian principles, diary keepers took this idea with a emergency of salt. This was al closely 20 years ago, out front the knowledge highway had, for better or for worse, stretched its limbs crosswise the globe. Today, the innovative-fangled media has redefined both journalism and self expression in hostile ways that leave an individual wonder at the veracity of digital information.In the last decade, internet has g unmatchable by means of an explosive growth and diversification. No one could reach foreseen how the internet would pervade our lives and turn the very(prenominal) nonion of being stir up of a society. It has provided the ultimate let godom of the tender age a single bl ogger go off speak to the entire world, a ideal virtually impossible two decades ago. How eer, with this prospering and unbound growth, the internet brings a rummy set of predicaments and dilemmas.The well-nigh profound and applicable of such problems is the age-old clash of a persons right of self-expression with the hazards of misinformation of the integral society. Whether this deceit settles about due to ignorance or design is irrelevant in a society that promotes freedom of speech, misinformation is bound to get along on both grounds. While conferring blank freedom to the common person, this means of self-expression comes with the biting realization that words from a layman, presented as the predominating views of his community, are not necessarily a blessing.The news on the new media of at once is more than about gossip and recreation then first base-rate journalism. Since when did journalism pay off to cater to the ever-growing need of the populace to be entert ained? In an interview to BBC arena intelligence information America, Ted Koppel, former Nightline presenter, criticized the digital journalist of today for being a clean supplier for consumers (W eat uplock 2010). The commercial expansion of new media and ever-growing competition in the free mart means that journalists have to write what sells or rather, gets the approximately hits on a website.How did we come to a situation where the populace demands not to be informed, and to be everlastingly entertained? Discussing news on the television, Daya Kishan Thussu (2007 9) states in that location is a concern that too practically news is creating an information overload, contributing to a structural erosion of the public orbit in the Habermasian sense, where the viewer, bombarded with visuals, is unable to differentiate amongst public information and corporate propaganda. If that is throwed regarding television news, it most definitely holds piss concerning internet news. The gargantuan flow of information, most of which lacks in credibility, is bombarded on any exploiter who wades finished the mire of pop up advertisements, banners, and mass e-mailing. Although, these devices are some of the tools utilize in the race to get more traffic on ones website, the capitalist schedule is far from being the most reproving feature of journalism. It is the ubiquitous use of new media, especially by the youth that yields the most detrimental effects. The frivolous writing that is spilt across the new media today may be the first literature some of us encounter, and draw heavily from.However, there have been examples of the internet doing its job where other media have failed. Earlier this year, on January 12th, an earthquake hit the Caribbean island of Haiti. All landlines and mobile connections were suspended. The production team of the news program Sunrise at Sky News, London, was finding it exhausting to bridle-path in the first reports from the disas ter-struck area. It was to be a young member of their team, Emily Purser, who used twitter and instant messaging via Google and Skype, to secure the first reports of the incident (Elward 2010).Another, much publicized issue was the use of Twitter by the political opposition in Iran to protest the presidential elections. The protestants took to all sorts of media, but the loudest dissent was voiced, surprisingly, through with(predicate) microblogging. This medium proved to be fast, portable, and most importantly very difficult to contain. Ironically, this very accessibility makes the medium too erratic, unreliable, and mundane to be of any journalistic esteem (Grossman 2009). An obvious embodiment of the debate between free speech and quality journalism is Wikipedia.This resource epitomizes the by the people, for the people ideology, but this trait alone does not soften it any credibility whatsoever, at least(prenominal) not in academic circles. A former editor-in-chief of Encyc lopedia Britannica compared Wikipedia to a public toilet, accusing it of delivering information that has no authenticity (Shirky 2006). On the other hand, notions that anything that appears in print media will always be more accurate than digital information are absurd.What Wikipedia envisions is the process through which one can witness the knowledge of its users evolving and perfecting itself through countless fiats (Shirky 2006). The trump card in the argument for Wikipedia comes from a comparison of veracity of data between itself and Britannica the scientific journal Nature declares them to be of similar verity (Giles 2005900). This collaboration is a sign for those who guess people are becoming ever more antisocial and misanthropic, for this is a ball-shaped effort in creating something for the benefit of all and no monetary gain (Gauntlett 200942) .Patricia Wallace, in her book, The Psychology of the net profit writes about how free flow of information can be used to cul tivate critical and analytical thinking amongst students who access it (1999245). Nevertheless, the fact ashes that the new media is losing credibility day by day. Although, the global sharing of information and its revision by collaboration is a imposing idea, public journalism makes it exceedingly difficult to acquire accurate information and to accept the new media as a veridical journalistic medium. BIBLIOGRAPHY Gauntlet, David.(2009). Case Study Wikipedia. Eds. Creeber, G & Martin, R. Digital Cultures. Maidenhead McGraw-Hill. Thussu, Daya Kishan. (2007). News as Entertainment The Rise of spheric Infotainment. London SAGE Publications. Wallace, Patricia. (1999). The Psychology of The Internet. Cambridge Cambridge University Press. Shirky, Clay. Interviewed on Imagine, BBC1, UK (aired 5th December 2006) Giles, Jim. (2005). Internet encyclopedias go head to head, Nature, 438900. www. nature. com/nature/journal/v438/n7070/ copious/438900a. html (5th May, 2010) Grossman, Lev. (2009).Iran Protests Twitter, the Medium of the Movement. Time. http//www. time. com/time/world/article/0,8599,1905125,00. html (5th May, 2010) Whitlock, Scott. (2010). Ted Koppel Slams Undisciplined Internet Journalism. NewsBusters. http//newsbusters. org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2010/04/13/ted-koppel-slams-undisciplined-internet-journalism-longs-good-old-da (5th May, 2010) Elward, David. (2010) Work of a trainee report journalist. (5th May, 2010) http//davidelward. com/2010/03/09/the-digital-revolution-need-not-sound-the-death-knell-for-good-journalism/