Ddigital Media Technology and the Process of Feedback in Mass Communication - Essay Example

Mass Media How digital media technology has completely changed the traditional process of feedback in mass communication. Feedback in mass media is important in quality assessment and also to capture the attentiveness of the audience. A mass media outlet closely monitors the feedback from their audience to improve on their defects. Feedback from audience depicts the real opinion and the media houses can thus adjust accordingly. Feedback mechanisms have been present in both traditional and digital mass media. However, with increased adoption of digital media, traditional mean shave been slowly abandoned and people thus tender no replies or feedback on them. Internet penetration has enhanced digital media. Information sharing in digital platform has formed the newest trend in mass communication. Digital media, such as social sites and digital newspapers has enhanced the feedback process in terms of speed, accuracy and availability of specific information about respondents (Campbell 2012). Traditional mass media includes radio, televisions, newspapers and magazines. The feedback mechanism in these media is complex in nature due to lengthy manual process. Submitting a feedback to a media house regarding a program involves writing a letter to the program manager or a newspaper editor. This process is tedious in nature and can sometimes be futile. This is because the feedback letters may get misplaced or loss due to incorrect addresses. In addition, the process takes a lot of time and the feedback may lose its importance during transit. The cost of tendering a feedback is a hindrance in traditional mass media. This is because sending of feedback is requires posting letters that may not be beneficial to the audience. As such, traditional means of mass media receive less feedback. Digital feedback mechanisms have proven to be more efficient and are already phasing out traditional feedback mechanism. This is because many mass media platforms have gone online where respondents can post feedback at the click of a button. This makes the feedback process costless and thus more feedback is received. In addition to quick tendering of feedbacks, the editors of the news receive the feedbacks immediately and may respond accordingly. This enhances the relationship between the audience and the news media (Levine 2012). This has an overall advantage of expanding the audience base of the digital media platforms. Moreover, feedback in digital media has been boosted by the fact that the audience can chat and discuss over contentious issues. This creates royalty between the audience and the news vendor. From the feedbacks received, the number of customers and the overall sentiment among the audience can be obtained by skimming through their comments. This can enhance the modification of the contents to fit the need s of the audience. With improved digital communication processes such as social media and electronic mails, clients and mass media house can communicate faster thus boosting the usability of digital feedback . Digital media technology has also improved feedback through social media. Many news broadcast outlets have social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter where they post their hints on their news with direct links. This acts to harness more people into their sites. Moreover, allowing people to tender their feedback on the social sites improves the response in terms of numbers. This acts well in business news where a company considers the opinions or complaints of its clients. Instant feedbacks enhance timely actions. 3. “There is constant, unlimited information available to us, yet we are not better informed citizens. There really is no ‘mass media’ left in our culture.” Access to information has been simplified by technological advancement and virtually all persons can access the information they wish (Campbell, Martin and Fabos 2012). This is due to diversification of sources of information. Digital revolution has effectively out phased traditional means of information sharing. Though there is much information today, it does not imply that people have become more informed. Therefore, the statement “There is constant, unlimited information available to us, yet we are not better informed citizens. There really is no ‘mass media’ left in our culture. ” holds based on the following arguments. Competition in the broadcasting industry has made media houses to use all possible means to get the attention of the target population. This has led to biased reporting that include taking sides. Taking sides in various issues denies the people the right to know the real things that affect them. A good example is when a popular media house gains interest in politician or political party. This makes it biased to giving positive information about the candidate they favor. This denies the people the right to know what is best for them. The ideals of democracy are eroded since the people watchdogs are embedded in the undemocratic process. Mass media is under constant coercion from authorities to disseminate or not to disseminate some information. The influence may emanate from the government or economically powerful individuals to give specific information for free (Levine 2012). Since reporters and media houses are bound by law and other doctrines enforced by governments, the consequences are that skewed information will be availed. However, these materials are subjective and do not depict the reality of the matter. In some extreme situations, the authorities may censure the materials that the media houses air or write. This is common in nations under dictatorial or communism. In these scenarios, people are denied access to certain sources of information such as websites. Though they have access to more information, they are less informed about thorny issues which might affect their interests. Mass media is also affected by external factors such as audience, owners, advertisers and or sponsors. As such, the publications are meant to appease these groups. Since media centers derive revenues from advertisements, they tend to broadcast information that attracts many people. An example is that people do not get a chance to know the negative aspects of an item under advertisement. This implies that the motive of media will be to capture audience by informing the positive aspects. Mass media thus becomes a source of information that is not rue or is irrelevant to the people. Though people have the ability to access information, it cannot be concluded that they are well informed. This because the information is marred with intentional inaccuracies aimed at denying the public the truth (Levine 2012). Thus, diversity of mass media has acted only to increase information sources but not accurate information. References Levine, Robert (2012). Free Ride: How the Internet is destroying the Culture Business and how it can Fight Back. Random House Campbell,Richard Martin, Christopher, Fabos B. (2012). Media Essentials: A Brief Introduction. Bedford/St. Martins Mass media, Culture and Democracy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.inclusivedemocracy.org/dn/vol5/fotopoulos_media.htm Read More