The growing
use of digital media has changed the way we get news. Technology has not only
made travelling of words, pictures and videos faster but also has provided us
with multiple sources to get our daily dose of news. We read newspapers and
magazines, listen to radio, see TV bulletins, access news websites and get information
as updates or through social readers on social networking websites. Technology
is making information available everywhere with ease. Information is just a tap way. You tap your smart home and it
comes flowing.
Marshal McLuhan said: “The medium is the
message.” He said that a "message" is "the change of scale or
pace or pattern" that a new invention or innovation "introduces into
human affairs." McLuhan was a Canadian media analyst. He predicted the
invention of New Media in the 50’s, thirty years before Internet took a shape.
Fifty years ago, no one had thought of
getting news when travelling in bus or train or sending information anywhere in
the world from a remotest part of the country. It is possible now. We live in a
‘Global Village’ as referred by McLuhan and are always connected to the outside
world.
On the 100th birth
anniversary of McLuhan, his theories which were rebuffed by media critics those
days seem relevant today. Technology has bridged gaps between the informed and
the ill-informed. I remember a real story in which children and youngsters of a
village in Rajasthan got frightened when they saw rains for the first time.
They were ill-informed about this phenomenon of nature. They had no exposure to
the TV and newspapers. This incident draws a stark picture of the days when
there were people who were unaware of certain things which we find obvious
today.
The scenario has changed and people have
access to information from multiple sources. News dissemination has become
easier and quicker than the earlier times. We receive news at lightning speed. Even
a secret mission of US Navy Seals was known to the world a few minutes after
they stormed into a house in Abottabad to kill the deadliest terrorist Osama
Bin Laden. A minutes after their raid a man in the neighbourhood update
minute-by-minute update on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
The Internet hasn't become just another
medium for news consumption; it is changing how people interact with news. We
have seen people sharing news which interest them with others on social
networking sites. Such updates on popular sites have brought revolution such as
the Arab Spring. Everything has its flip side. Sometimes technology is used
with bad intentions too. London riots are one of the few examples where the rioters
used Blackberry Messenger (BBM) service for rioting. Anti-social elements use
it to spread hatred and hoaxes while academicians use to share their knowledge
with their students and colleagues.
So,
the medium has given its message but it is up to people how they interpret the
message or it will be right to say how do they handle the New Media?
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