Media and Communication Theories - Essay Example

Development of the internet and personal computing during the 70s, invention of Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) during the late 80s further stimulated a trend towards new media (Friedman 2006). Widespread usage of the internet in the early 90s, and a wide range of other related technological breakthroughs led to the creation of new media (Friedman 2006). New Media offered features that were practically unimaginable and unheard of just a decade ago (Friedman 2006). The hallmark of new media is that it has the potential and the capacity to bridge the seemingly incompatible features of the earlier communications media.

Many experts tend to convey that new media is inherently democratic in all its aspects, be it consumption or production. It has enabled the masses and the consumers to actively engage with media and has armed them with the power to alter and shape media. There is no denying the fact that new media has certain inbuilt traits and abilities, which make it inherently more open, free and accessible. Yet, to claim that new media is fool proof democratic and immune to manipulation and distortion would be asking for too much.

New media, like the previous media is sensitive and vulnerable to ideas and ideologies, and autocracy and totalitarianism are as rampant and existent ideas in the 21st century as democracy and liberty.2.0 Democracy in the Age of New Media New media became realistically became universally accessible, courtesy the spread of the internet aided communication in the 90s. Considering this, the expert and the popular opinion stood to be unanimous in the sense that it expected new media to usher in an era of affordable production and distribution of information (Turkle 1995).

Thereby new media tends to be essentially egalitarian and democratic in its scope (Turkle 1995). During the early stages of new media, a majority of the people were of the view that new media will demolish the monopoly of the established media houses and the restraining designs of the autocratic rgimes (Longford & Patten 2007). This will enable the people and the civil society groups to act and operate as independent broadcasters and publishers. Everybody expected that new media would usher in an era of interactive and democratic mass communication.

New media will enable the masses to