Social Media Vs Modern Media Analysis

1. Introduction I watch, read and listen to the news, therefore I am. Am I? Am I thinking or just passively absorbing the culture that is being in circulation? These are some of the questions any individual in touch with modern media might ask himself in the 21st century. It is still unclear what are the consequences of a world mediated by an unprecedented amount of information, noise and imagery. Contents that are expanding themselves and being enlarged by the nanosecond. Both by traditional media outlets and more recently by people who consume (and produce) media in the various forms it is offered (especially the digital). Established media organisations embed themselves into contemporary life in such ways that it is very difficult, if

The reasons may range from ideological practices, shareholders pressure, government policy, religious context and advertisers influence. (McQuail, p. 85) Firstly seen as a public service outlet, media has become a business, in the broadest sense of the word. “Although the media have grown up in response to the social and cultural needs of individuals and societies, they are largely run as business enterprises.” (McQuail, p.276) And as such, profit orients their practices, speaking louder than principles and ethic guidelines built upon generations of news makers in the field. Consequently, the journalistic code of conduct loses value and significance and becomes prone to monetary pressure. However, the biggest risk is having decades (sometimes centuries) of credibility being at stake, and in a worst case scenario, the news organisations’ very existence. Three years ago, the british tabloid ‘News of the World’ closed its doors after 168 years of activity, following a scandal involving phone hacking of celebrities and

These include pressures and demands from outside the boundaries of the organisation, the requirements of routine ‘mass production’ of news and culture, and the personal and professional tendencies of the ‘mass communicators’.” (McQuail, p.23, 2010) One perspective is to compare and look into the division of work inside (and outside) a media organisation with the target of getting a better understanding by what set of rules and norms they operate in order to achieve determined goals shared by the company’s vision. For example: exposing how media procedures and settings of news broadcast become ritualised when covering particular stories. With the internet at its current state, accessible to two thirds of the worlds entire population, there is no room for mistakes, unless deliberately perpetrated. Biased news coverage is common practice, because “most organisations have mixed goals, and rarely are they all openly stated. Mass media are no exception, and they may even be particularly ambiguous in this respect.” (McQuail, p.401, 2010) Ambiguity that, in a sense, helps news organisations disguise how much influence the chains of command have over reporters. This profoundly affects the democratic political process, since accountability may be disregarded in the name of press freedom, thus creating an intricate paradox within a concept that is seen as paramount to a