Media Convergence and the Media in Australia - Essay Example

Media Convergence Paper Name: Student’s Name: Date: The media in Australia is rapidly changing so as to incorporate the new ways of producing and giving out the information to the people (Australian Government, 2012). The media type to be covered in this paper is the changing technologies. This change has not led to elimination of the old media such as radio, television but has led to introduction of new methods which have made it so convenient to give out the information (Moran, 2009). This change has led the government to come up with the convergence review so as to guide on the issues that arise during these changes. This led to the establishment of the Convergence Review Committee in 2011 so as to monitor and regulate media and communication that go through these media. This body is charged with the role of assessing effectiveness and coming up with policy objectives that will guide the emergence of methods (Australian Government, 2012). The Review was also charged with issues such as media content, media ownership laws, content in the media and allocation of radio communication. This has been aimed at ensuring that the content found in the media is not harmful in any and can be accessed by everyone without affecting their welfare. The emergence of new media interlinks the old media such as television, radio and print so as to give them more accessibility and additional content (Tynan, 2011). The establishment review committee was aimed at solving the modern problems of privacy and piracy found in these media. This has resulted from new platforms such as high speed of the broadband and the use of mobile media (Australian Government, 2012). The changing of technology among the media has been very important in the current world. This has helped the review report to come up with policies to so as to monitor this convergence (Moran, 2009). The reason behind this is that there is fast growing digital technologies are giving a clear distinction between the old ways that could be used in broadcasting and telecommunicating. The reason behind this is that the old ways are becoming less important because they are limited in content. The radio and television media are limited in content and, therefore, the growing technology is helping in giving more content to the people. This has led to introduction of new audio-visual methods of giving the news and content to the people. In the current world people are accessing news and entertainment through the internet and in the social media (Moran, 2009). This has led to passing of convergence policies so as to monitor communication and regulate the connection between one mode of communication to the other. These policies must be put in place to ensure that the content is safe and not harmful to the people accessing it. This change in technology has led to introduction of media suitable to children and could not be harmful to them when they access such information. This call for regulations so as to ensure that content is safe for the users. The change in technology has helped in promoting content increase as compared to the old ways of content display (Tynan, 2011). The convergence means that this field keep on changing leading to the introduction new ways each and every day. There is growth of technology in every industry in the world; therefore, in media industry there is need to consider technological factors that will help in the improvement of giving out information without affecting the set policies (Tynan, 2011). In the media and information industry there is a lot of technology use and the companies keep on innovating new technologies so as to have a large market share because of increased competition. Therefore, the companies should highly invest in research and development so as to keep pace with the main players industry (Moran, 2009). This technological awareness in the countries will ensure that the companies do not lag behind in acquiring the market share. This should go into introducing new technology that will allow people to access information from different platforms as websites, phones and these will mean that people won’t have to incur printing expenses (Tynan, 2011). The owners of the media have to ensure that there is security, privacy monitoring and protection. The authorities have to utilize high quality video cameras to ensure that the content that is being broadcast is safe for all the people. This also has to be done to identify security threats during the event. Controlling the quality of information and content available to the people is aimed at ensuring the content is safe (Moran, 2009). The convergence has led to a lot of implications by putting policies in place about the media and content ownership. The reason behind this is that there is need to a range of content and information sources that are safe and reliable (Moran, 2009). This has called for interventions in the media ownership. The reason behind this interventions is to ensure that media services are not concentrated on the hands of chosen a few. This will limit the free flow of information that reaches the people (Moran, 2009). This would be an implication that the source of this information is not democratic and could not lead to a reliable content of information. Controlling the ownership of media is very important because it ensures that there diversity in the media content. The reason behind this is that convergence has increased the range at which people can access the news. Through this increased technology one can access information through the internet which is very cheap because it does not require any expenses to publish (Tynan, 2011). This has made it easy for people to access information using different platforms. The people can lead a newspaper on Facebook and even watch a video on You Tube. The origin of the information may not be known but it being on the internet it can be accessed by a lot of people. This produces a link between the social media and the mainstream sources of information such as the television and newspapers. There should be flexibility and diversity in the media so as to ensure that different views of the people are represented in the commentary (Moran, 2009). The change in technology has seen the emergence of other forms of media such as social networks are extremely vital in any process that requires dissemination of information to a lot of people living at different places (Tynan, 2011). Social networks can be defined as a mode of communication through building cycles in the community using the internet. This mode of communication allows people to share their thoughts, and their views with other people, who are, in the social network. The media content in the Australian media should ensure that certain standards are maintained and ensure that all the content is safe for the use of all the people (Moran, 2009). For example, children should be protected from accessing any inappropriate content. Therefore, the review content has ensured that there is no content that could be harmful to the people. This has also changed with the ways people can access the information in the modern world such as use of smartphones (Tynan, 2011). The rules that regulate content should be flexible so as to change as the technology is changing so as to widen the scope of the regulations. Convergence of media through the change in technology has changed the culture of receiving the information (Moran, 2009). The culture has been to wait for information to reach the people through the print and audiovisiual media but with the development of technology the culture has changed to the people finding and accessing the information through new media. This convergence of media has ensured that people do not become passive in accessing the information but has ensured they are very active by interacting with the source of information (Tynan, 2011). In conclusion, media convergence is very important to the modern world because it has allowed access to a lot of information and access. This has led to empowering people by making it easy for them to get the information when they want. The change of technology has widened the ways in which people can access the information and the information can be distributed (Moran, 2009). This also ensures that people take an active role as opposed to the past ways of being passive with some sources of media such as the radio and newspapers. With this media convergence there is need to regulate the content and how the media and information are owned. This is to ensure that the people are protected from any harmful content. The convergence of media has brought a lot of positive implications on the modern culture. The emergence of new media interlinks the old media such as television, radio and print so as to give them more accessibility and additional content. The establishment review committee was aimed at solving the modern problems of privacy and piracy found in these media (Tynan, 2011). This has led to passing of convergence policies so as to monitor communication and regulate the connection between modes of communication. These policies must be put in place to ensure that the content is safe and not harmful to the people accessing it. References Australian Government, (2012). Convergence Report. Sydney: Department of Broand band. Tynan, L. (2011). ‘Radio: The Tribal Drum’, in J. Bainbridge, N. Goc & L. Tynan, Media and Journalism, South Melbourne, Oxford University Press, pp. 91-100. Moran, A. (2009) ‘Reasserting the National: Programme Formats, International Television and Domestic Culture’, in G. Turner & J. Tay, Television Studies After TV, London, Routledge, pp. 149-158. Read More