New technology and media freedom

Communication is one of those human activities that everyone recognizes. But few can define satisfactorily. Communication is talking to one another; it is spreading information. [1][1]

The successful launch of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-D2) on October 15, 1994, marks yet another milestone in India’s space program. The immediate task is to upgrade PSLV’s payload capability and to send up the more ambitious next generation Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). By joining the global satellite launch market, which includes the United States, Russia, France, Japan and China, India has given a fitting rebuff to those powers opposed to it acquiring the expertise in the field.[1][178]

Satellite Communication has many dimensions, and it will acquire even more as we begin to use this technology. There is a qualitative aspect of Satellite communication which is quite different from anything we have experienced in history, and this is that it enables people in different parts of country or the world, irrespective of distance to be brought into a communication network very quickly.[1][189]

In the developing countries the media are required to act as unifying and not a divisive force. They are to be instruments of information as also of social change and social justice. The media are meant to support a participatory system of communication. In this context it can happen that the viability of the nation may have precedence over freedom of the media.

The Last point is highly sensitive and controversial who is to decide about the viability factor and to what ulterior motive? It is difficult question to answer, but in a democratic set up it is assumed that the verdict should finally rise with the people. In another context of India’s first Prime Minister, a passionate defender of liberty, Jawaharlal Nehru has said “We cannot imperil the safety of the whole nation in the name of some fancied freedom which puts an end to all freedom.” But he also made an emphatic statement in favor of media freedom when he said “I do think that basically it is dangerous to suppress thought and the expression of thought in any way, because this may besides suppressing a particularly good thing produce many kinds of evil which stunt the growth of a social group.”[1][204, 205]

New media is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies that emerged in the later part of the twentieth century. Most technologies described as "new media" are digital, often having characteristics of being manipulatable, networkable, dense, compressible and impartial. [2]

Until the 1980s media relied primarily upon print and analog broadcast models, such as those of television and radio. The last twenty-five years have seen the rapid transformation of media which are predicated upon the use of digital computers, such as the Internet and computer games. However, these examples are only a small representation of new media. The use of digital computers has transformed the remaining 'old' media, as suggested by the advent of digital television and online publications. Even traditional media forms such as the printing press have been transformed through the application of technologies such as image manipulation software like Adobe Photoshop and desktop publishing tools.[2]

New media has also found a use with less radical social movements such as the Free Hugs Campaign. Using websites, blogs, and online videos to demonstrate the effectiveness of the movement itself along with this example the use of high-volume blogs has allowed numerous views and practices to be more widespread and gain more public attention. Another example is the on-going Free Tibet Campaign, which has been seen on numerous websites as well as having a slight tie-in with the band Gorillaz in their Gorillaz Bitez clip featuring the lead singer 2D sitting with protesters at a Free Tibet protest. Another social change seen coming from New Media is trends in fashion and the emergence of subcultures such as Text Speak, Cyberpunk, and various others.[2]

The exponential rate of technological change that has transformed media and communication structures globally is reflected in the degree of attention paid to the convergent media nexus by the international community. With the rapid growth of new media technology including the Internet, interactive television networks, and multimedia information services, many proponents emphasize their potential to increase interactive mass media, entertainment, commerce, and education.

Pundits and policy makers also predicting that free speech and privacy will be preserved, and our democratic institutions will be strengthened by new communication opportunities enhanced by digital media. This is because access to and use of digital media technologies such as PCs, the Internet, computer games, mobile telephones, etc., have become a normal aspect of everyday life in the world community.[3]

Media experts also recognize that there is a revolution in media industry everywhere in the world brought by new media technology or convergent media that changes the way of communication in society. What then is a convergent media? And what impact it has on our society?

The idea of technological convergence generally refers to shifts in the use of different technologies from diverse scientific and technical spheres that have been brought together to create new objects and new uses for those objects. The idea of digital convergence specifically refers to the movement of telecommunications, print, broadcast and computing into new domains for the purpose of creating products that tie together all of these elements to bring about new forms of communication and information storage.

In a converged media world, consumers increasingly call the shots. They use Apple iPods to make their own music playlists. Personal video recorders allow them to customize television schedules. Digital Audio Broadcasting or DAB Digital Radio pumps static-free music to their homes and cars. These consumers pull stock-market updates, text messages, wallpaper, ringtones, and short-form video into their mobile phones. They come together in online communities, generate their own content, mix it, and share it on a growing number of social networks. No longer a captive, mass media audience; today's media consumer is unique, demanding, and engaged. [4][62]

Broadband access and the Internet Protocol (IP) have made this new breed of consumer possible. Broadband Internet access is promoting major growth across all regions, with broadband reaching 448 million households globally by 2009. Telecommunications carriers are investing heavily in IP, laying fiber to homes and betting substantially on the promise of next-generation, content-based services. Broadband and IP will be the foundation through which consumers organize their work, leisure, and social time -- and they are also the solvent penetrating the walls of the until now separate video content, communications, and advertising industries. Now that video content is no longer tied to a specific access network or device the rules are radically changing for all value chain participants.

What is new is that young people today, and most people in future, will be happy to decide for themselves what is credible or worthwhile and what is not. They will have plenty of help. Sometimes they will rely on human editors of their choosing; at other times they will rely on collective intelligence in the form of new filtering and collaboration technologies that are now being developed. The old media model was there is one source of truth. The new media model is there are multiple sources of truth, and we will sort it out. [4][63]

The obvious benefit of this media revolution will be an explosion of creativity: a flowering of expressive diversity on the scale of the eponymous proliferation of biological species 530 million years ago. We are entering an age of cultural richness and abundant choice that we've never seen before in history. Peer production is the most powerful industrial force of our time.

At the same time revolutions tend to suck for ordinary people. Indeed, many people in the traditional media are pessimistic about the rise of a participatory culture, either because they believe it threatens the business model that they have grown used to, or because they feel it threatens public discourse, civility and even democracy.

In brief, one can say that convergent journalism is more powerful because it reaches more people at more levels, in more ways. Convergence is now an established industry trend, no longer just an experiment or a fad. Not all of today's journalists and editors will make the transition to working for converged media companies, to thinking in terms of multiple media rather than just their format of specialization. Media managers should be prepared for how they will deal with those who cannot adapt. Convergence should be integrated into hiring, job descriptions, performance evaluations and career incentives, including salary. Media companies should decide up front what their remuneration policies are for cross-media performance to forestall deadlock on this issue. Newsrooms are no more resistant to change than other departments of a news organization. However, it should be remembered that journalists were hired for their skeptical and questioning natures. So, it should be expected that they will continue to be skeptical about any change in their own environment that is not well explained and well implemented.

Maximizing free speech and the free flow of information in on-line and interactive media is emphasized in western democracy. Interactive media, unlike mass media, feature abundant bandwidth, diverse programming, and increased control by users over programming they receive and information with which they interact. These characteristics of new media increasingly undermine past rationales and future effectiveness of government speech content restrictions which have dominated the mass media. Interactive media requires alternative, less intrusive, means -- often relying on technology rather than content regulation -- for achieving public ends. [5]

New media is the general term given to the constantly changing way in which entertainment and information is being delivered to consumers. In many ways it is a moving target but, at present it encompasses the Internet, WAP phones, digital television and set top boxes; as opposed to our traditional means of communication like newspaper, analogue television, analogue radio, books etc.

In recent years the emergence of Email and Internet in the home as well as at work means that new media has come to play an ever-increasing part in our lives. Anywhere where the user has control over the content, and it is delivered in digital format.

In a way we are experiencing a second industrial revolution, with the development of the information society, are increasingly a common part of everyday life.

In many countries the freedom of press is nominally guaranteed by law, but this does not allow the conclusion that this liberty is really enjoyed.

The natural limits of the freedom of press provided for the protection of the people are chiefly laid down in the ordinary criminal law and concern among others, publications of obscene character, further instigations to commit crimes and so on.

But countries where a proper media law does not exist, certain offences committed by newspapers, e.g., libels, are tried according to special regulations. Also, the provisions concerning the formal requirements, to which newspapers are subjected, constitute a kind of special law. [6]

Computer Mediated Communication involves with increasing broadband, even ‘never’ media such as Internet radio, visual chat, webcams, voice chat, mobile telephony and text messaging are becoming standard for many people.

Of course, what’s new media in some regions of the world may already be widely adopted in others. Text messaging is one good case in point.

A recent trend in Computer Mediated Communication is the widespread adoption of ‘blogging’ or writing of web logs are usually comprised of short, frequently updated postings arranged chronologically like an online diary.

Another trend that promotes a sense of community is what’s known as ‘wiki’ running on collaborative software. Wikis allow a virtual team to build a project. Like weblogs, they can be either public or private spaces for collaborative project development.[7]

There is obviously something very wrong about the democracy of a country, where the press always agrees with the government. The role of media in a democracy is to act as an opposition and a watchdog of public interests. So, it becomes the government’s greatest critic and biggest protector of the people’s right. For successfully carrying out this task, the press itself should be free. However, the media is not the permanent enemy of the government. It should not ignore the achievements and merits of the latter. Its biggest credibility is its impartiality.

Review of literature

• In ‘How to get into Television, Radio, and New Media’ the author Mike Hollingsworth defines new media as “New media is the general term given to the constantly changing way in which entertainment and information is being delivered to consumers. However, it does not discuss the freedom aspect much.
• S K Agarwal in his book freedom of the press has explained a few points. “Each profession is governed by a code of conduct written or unwritten. An unwritten code can be more violated than practiced.
• Jay Black and Jennings Bryant, in their book Introduction to Mass Communication have discussed the impact of new technology on media and say that ‘we speculate that the present and past hostility that established media have displayed towards television’s progress will ultimately success to a new state of integration, but not until several more technological, regulatory and economic have been brought.’
• M K Joseph says, in a way we are experiencing a second industrial revolution with the development of the information society. Mobile phones, Email, the Internet, cable TV, personal computers, and all the wonders of the information society are increasingly a common part of everyday life.
• Terry Flew in his book ‘New media – An Introduction’ says a paradox globalization is accentuated through its linkages to new media technologies that enable globalization. Also provide its critics with a means to communicate and organize on a global basis.
• Chitra Kanungo in her book ‘Freedom under Assault’ has written “There is obviously something very wrong about the democracy of a country, where the media always agrees with the government. The role of media in a democracy is to act as an opposition and a watch dog. So, it becomes the government’s greatest critic and biggest protector of people’s right.
• C S Rayudu explains in ‘Communication’ that technologies are not new, but remarkable transformations have taken place in their application for communication.
• The review of literature involves the study of various aspects of new technologies. It also aims to look into the various aspects of new technologies, their impact on the field of media and society and the ethical issues involved in it.

References

Goel, S.K: Communication Media and Information Technology.

Commonwealth Publishers

I edition: 1999, ISBN 81-7169-572-8, Page No: 1, 178, 189, 204, 205

Manovich, Lev. "New Media from Borges to HTML." The New Media Reader. Ed. Noah Wardrip-Fruin & Nick Montfort.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2003. Page No: 13-25

Rafaeli, Sheizaf (1988). "Interactivity: From new media to communication”.

Beverly Hills, CA. USA

Page No: 110

New media technology and the information superhighway

John Vernon Pavlik,

2006 edition

Page No: 62, 63

An essential reference to Communication & Technology

Encyclopedia of New Media

Steve Johns,

2003 edition, Page No: 12, 13, 31, 45, 98, 209

Communication technology: The new media in society

Everett M. Rogers

2002 edition

Page No: 192, 193

Computer Mediated Communication – social Interaction and The Internet

Cispin Thurlow, Laura lengel, Alice tomic

SAGE Publications, ISBN 07619 49534

Page No: 228 - 229

How to get into television, radio, and new media

Mike Hollingsworth.

2004 edition

Media Credibility

S. K Agarwal

2000 edition

Introduction to Mass Communication

Jay Black

Jennings Bryant

2000 edition

New media – An introduction

Terry Flew,

2002 Edition.

Freedom under Assault

Chitra Kunungo.

2004 Edition

Communication

C. S Rayudu

2003 Edition

New media technology: cultural and commercial perspectives

John Vernon Pavlik,

2007 edition,

Press and Social Change.

G. P. Pandya

India s Communication Revolution

Singhal.R

"Information Technology and Communication"

Rana R

'Information Technology and Dynamics Of Rural Development'

C. F. Singh, Balram and S. Ashutosh (eds)

Sunrise Publication, New Delhi.

The Muzzled Press

K. S Padhy.

Communication Technology update

August E Grant

Jennifer H Meadows

Communication in the digital age

A. N Rai.

Technologies of Freedom

Lloyd Morrisett

“Media freedom in Europe is in retreat”

Questions & Answers of Research work Presentation

William Horstley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media

On free speech in an electronic age – Technologies of Freedom

Itheil De Sola Pool

Media accountability and freedom of publication

Denis McQuail

Freedom of the press 2007 – A global survey of media independence

Karin Deutsch Karlekar, Eleanor Marchant

Information freedom and censorship: World report 1991

Article 19 (Organization), American Library Association

The new media book

Dan Harries

Youth Media

Bill Osgerby