Scaling a Changing Curve: Traditional Media Development and the New Media data sheet 3468 Views
Abstract:
Across the world, journalists and traditional
news media organizations have come
to realize that new media—including
blogs, social networking sites, cell phone
messaging, and other relatively new
technology applications—are having a
profound impact on their work. A recent
survey of U.S. journalists noted that for a
majority of respondents, the new media have
had a significant impact on the speed, tone,
and editorial direction of their reporting.1
Yet the field of independent media
development has been slow to fully realize
the potential of new information and
communication technology (ICT). Although
new technologies have fundamentally
altered the traditional media landscape,
many media-development donors,
practitioners, and scholars have only
recently begun to consider ICT seriously and
systematically in their traditional models of
media development. Many who do utilize
ICT tend to do so in the background, rather
than making new technologies the major
feature of programming.
To complicate matters further, new
technologies are not simply being
incorporated into the rules of the media
game; they are changing them completely.
New trends like citizen-based journalism,
spontaneous mass organization prompted by
new media communication, instantaneous
image transmission, and ubiquitous
computing have totally reshaped the way
people and institutions gather and process
information. During the recent presidential
primary contests in the United States,
for example, viewers were able to submit
questions via video networking sites such
as YouTube, and discuss candidates’ debate
performances on social networking sites
such as Facebook. The trend is not limited
to developed countries; from the Philippines
to Kenya to Korea, new information
technologies are transforming the modern
news media.
To be sure, incorporating and anticipating
new media technologies in traditional
independent media-development models
may be a more complicated process than
it appears. Particularly because use of
these technologies can be spontaneous,
user-driven, and relatively low-cost, it
would appear that making creative use of
them would be relatively easy for donors
and practitioners working on independent
media development. Nevertheless, there are
additional factors that must be considered,
including questions of access; patterns of
use; the “non-organic” quality of top-down,
donor-driven programs; technical literacy;
and other similar factors.
Through an examination of the use of ICT in
independent media development, this paper
seeks to shed light on the state of current
practice with respect to media development
and new technologies. It will also place these
developments within the context of a rapidly
changing global information industry, one
that is evolving faster than traditional media
programs have been able to adapt. Finally, it
will offer several recommendations on how
independent media-development programs
can take advantage of, and keep abreast of,
these new global trends.