New Media vs. Old Media, Essay Example

In the new generation of media, information has mainly developed into more controversial and gripping material, agreeing with the notion that ‘controversy sells’. The manner in which old news was done symbolized the goodness of the world, mainly touching upon the good nature of individuals and the manner in which the events seemed to make believe that the world really was a good place to live in once upon a time.

New media has become more controversial and this is because it is what the public would like to see. The ideology is based on the aspect of people are no longer interested in watching a good will story as it is no longer interesting, the need to watch something that will keep the public wanting to follow up on the developments of the related story; hence controversy (Brennen, 11). A good story is now considered to be ‘boring’ as the content is barely entertaining to the new generation individual.

News was harder to get in the old days, simply because of media houses having a limitation in funding to send individuals to areas that would have interesting stories. Another problem was the lack of the right connections in getting a story to put on the news or in a newspaper. These limitations meant that in some cases media houses would copy information from each other so as to have something to put on the news.

A major shortcoming that also existed in the archaic days was the primitive technology used to communicate as well as use to produce news (Brennen, 5). In several cases it would take a week to formulate a story for the news, and thus it was essential for reporters to get started as soon as possible so as to manage to have a newsworthy story. It was much harder to formulate a story based on the duration it took to make a story as well as get the relevant information. So in the case of the young age of parents, reporting was more of a challenge rather than a job.

The new generation has benefitted from the evolution of news reporting, that now it is simpler and easier to in getting, editing and reporting stories. The main catalyst for the convenience is the improvement on the technology used. In the old days, there was only the use of type writers and cameras that could only take photos from up close (Manovich, 2). This limited the ability of reporters getting a story done. Now with the use of cameras with zoom capabilities and the use of cameras that shoot high quality videos, reporting is now a simpler job description.

However there is major flaw with the present time reporting; reporting now seems to be more intrusive ad fairly controversial. In some cases it borders on the invasion of privacy. This is evident in the case of celebrities, who are not really able to go anywhere without the scrutiny or a journalist with a cameraman taking photos. In some cases celebrities result in violence in which they will hit a cameraman for his persistent camera-snapping. It is the sad reality of modern-day reporting as they tend to be a lack of boundaries regarding how private privacy really is. (Brennen, 15)

Aside from the minor negatives, reporting is fairly better and more interesting. Based on media in which a reporter will work, they get to enjoy the perks of having to travel to countries and provide live communication via the use of online streaming and the use of phone communication using signal boosting phones (can be used in areas without any or minimal signal for communication). The journalist’s job in this context was to rational interpreting many facts into narrative that was concise enough for everyone to understand including world leaders. (Lievrouw, p.3) Old media, however, did everything in a slower manner of developing sources over time and getting hard to get information.

The audience today is more media savvy and is more interested in being treated as a peer by news sources. The simple fact is that online writers and bloggers write because they want to. (Brennen, p.48) Journalists, however, are criticized that what they write has a fingerprint of sensationalism playing on the hubris of knowing what is important and what is not. Furthermore the editors have the pressure of sales numbers. Bloggers on the other hand have a definite sense of authenticity which makes up for the lack of literary swagger and sleekness. The news is presented as the gospel truth and readers trust bloggers more than the print publication. (Lievrouw, p.18)

In conclusion, old media is fast being seen as stale. (Manovich, p.17) New media is fresh young authentic. In the new media landscape, it’s possible for anyone to do the things that professional journalists do. The power of journalism is changing from the people who produce the news to the people who consume it. The journalists nowadays need to have better understanding of how to obtain information from different types of media: print, broadcast, internet and so on. They also should be able to rational interpreting the many facts and comments provided by witness and other audience into one grand narrative and report it to people who do not know about the story.

Work Cited

Lievrouw, Sonia Livingstone (ed.), ‘The Handbook of New Media,’ SAGE, 2002

Manovich, Lev. ‘The Language of New Media,’ Cambridge: MIT Press/Leonardo Books, 2001

Brennen, Bonnie and Hanno Hardt, eds. ‘Picturing the Past: Media, History and Photography’. Cambridge: MIT Press/Leonardo Books (1999)