Wednesday 22 February 2012

Are the media becoming more democratic?

As technology advances and the world develops, the impact of this has a great effect on mass media as the way we consume media and the range of choice has expanded due to the new web 2.0. Some may argue through this evolution media itself has become more democratic, others take a more cynical perspective and argue that our human rights are being breached.

The media could be argued more democratic due to freedom of speech and the range of  new technology available. Nowadays , technology has advanced so much that even the people can record, produce and share footage across the web within minutes. Whereas in the past only big media companies known as "media gods" could record and distribute media through the expensive technology and big towers. However now due to devices of digital convergance such as mobile phones makes it easy to record and share footage on the web and social sites at an affordable price known as citezen journalism. David Gauntlett argues that the media is becoming more democratic because of this and the discovery of web 2.0. This allows people to share on websites such as youtube and widens the amount of videos and opinions you can search for. Also people can check online to view media when they want rather than waiting on the traditional media like news papers or tv.

On the other hand some argue that the media is not becoming more democratic but however is becoming more hegemonic. This is due to a passive audience of the media which dominate a social context.

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