What is 21st Century News?

Through development of technology, the ability to publicise news has increased dramatically. News now is more accessible to the general public as well as being more in the publics general interest. Throughout this blog post I will explore a diversity of meanings when it comes to something being newsworthy, in the public interest and furthermore how technology expands this. I will go back in time and refer to how news travelled and weather this was a reliable source or not, I similarly will talk about the dying trend of newsprint.



Being able to define what is newsworthy differs when it comes to the person reading the news. Similarly, a great deal of this involves the notions involved through the public. Different people may consider a variety of aspects of news as newsworthy, regardless of a personal opinion.

It has been suggested that new information about a subject should primarily be considered news, however there are many published articles where this is not the case. For example, with regards to the Beijing Olympics, we were all aware that they were going to take place, but when it came to publishing new stories on the events, they still will be considered "current news".



It is important to relate back in time when looking at the development of news and technology. What makes 21^st century news today has been greatly influenced by the events that took place in history. Back in the late Bronze ages, if you didn’t appear to own a horse, the fastest most reliable way if transferring news was to walk. Even though this may seem bizarre and far-fetched in today’s society, it was in fact a device used worldwide. Even though publications have developed in the UK and USA, this isn’t however the case in places such as Afghanistan. Regardless of their diverse technology in comparison to the new media aspects we use, it isn’t necessarily a bad way of delivering information.



There have been a lot of studies that have taken place in the outskirts of Africa which have proved that a slow, yet reliable way of transferring news is surprisingly affective. However, transferring information verbally does have its down sides. These could, in turn, be interoperated to out weigh the positives. There is a fine line between transferring messages in a direct way to create new stories and "gossip". There are many aspects which get in the way, such as new media devices; these allow the spreading of information to develop rapidly. This, as mentioned before, isn’t always beneficial as the facts could be inaccurate.



The final issue regarding the news development in the 21^st century, lies with the issue focussing on print journalism. News has in fact, always been about speed, but from analysing the position we are in currently, it is impossible to speed up the delivery time for news anymore than current. If the speed of transferring information speeds up more than it is at now, it will eventually turn into bad journalism. If the production of news stories is done too quickly, stories will soon become false and of a bad quality. 

In the 21^st century a lot of people can transmit messages relating to news, examples include Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other new media devices. In relation to this, furthermore this highlights the problem that print journalism is dying out, and will eventually be nonexistent.

All of these points reflect the development of both technology and news at current, in the 21^st century.

Media Change

Is there ever such thing as a "new media"? This is a question, which is often asked as media develops.

Is all new media just a development of old media? This isn’t the first time that this has been suggested, but for me it is coming more and more apparent. Before distinguishing what new media is, we have to establish what old media is and the context that comes with it. Old media is more specifically traditional print media; mainly newspapers, but it also includes network radio and television. Through my research it has become obvious that slowly old media is being transferred into new media to suit the needs of society. An easily identifiable example of this includes newspapers investing heavily in websites in order to keep their readership. With a drastic development in the internet, the buying and selling of newspapers is decreasing. Whilst they are trying to stake bigger claims online, one new publication is pulling material off the internet to be printed in ink.

John Wilpers, editor in chief of Boston Now, the publication which was only introduced last month, said he wanted to fill the paper with items that local bloggers submitted to the Boston Now Web site. This reiterates the fact that even though old media is still present in our everyday life, it is vital to use new media to continue with a high percentage of readership. People will still buy newspapers as they are convenient, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that someone running down the street with a camera and microphone will create the reports. Instead, it is likely that the information presented in the newspapers, will have originally been developed from the Internet, or other new media devices.

There is no escaping the development of technology and as I grow up this becomes more apparent. My whole life revolves around the use of technology and this is only going to get worse. My phone for example, isn’t a phone; it’s in fact a mini computer. It is capable of going on the Internet, accessing emails as well as capturing photographs.  The impact these pieces of technology have on society is mammoth and furthermore is the focus of current change. It seems impossible to imagine, but eventually everything I consider new media will be old media. In years to come, technology will develop even more and we will all be presented with new forms of new media. I believe that this will be forever the case, as society develops, so will technology.  

There are many questions about when does something stop being new media and transfers to old media... New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged into our everyday vocabulary in the latter part of the 20^th century. Usage and the discovery of the Internet is an example of new media, similarly when using the Internet to create podcasts and blogs, this also is an example of using new media in todays society. Primarily new media is web-based, but it also can include some television or radio sources. 

Technology is constantly developing and this will remain the way forever. There always are new inventions that beat a previous, all supplying the audience with something new and exciting. It is a common concept that we want our devices to have consistency, forgiveness and product stability.

Cyberspace..... So what?

The birth and death of Cyberspace!

Interestingly enough, unlike most computer terms, Cyberspace does not actually have a standard, object definition. Instead, it is used primarily to describe the virtual world of computers. Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication tends to take place. Examples of this include Email technology, Twitter, Facebook and many more. The term cyberspace was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson. 

It has been suggested that we are not free from the mass media. Furthermore, there are many attached myths that stem from the wold revolving around cyberspace. Many would propose the idea that the Internet is protected, as are its users. Evidently, this is not the case. Identifying people over the Internet is easily done, so could it be said that the Internet is not protected? IP addresses prove this, so surly this sufficient evidence justifies further that the internet is not protected. 

Many have suggested that cyberspace will die, or at least the cyberspace that we know. From what I understand, cyberspace revolves around the work and development of the Internet; therefore it is impossible for it to die out isn’t it? Technology is prominent in our lives; so surly the development of cyberspace is forever increasing? This is indeed a rhetorical question and its answer is only available through a matter of opinion. As mentioned before, in my mind I see the death of cyberspace being virtually impossible, instead the theory will develop along side technology.