Understanding New Media

“New media” has affected the way we think of news, for both consumers and producers of information.

I found the results of the Pew Internet and American Life Project in 2007, interesting: “72 percent of internet users, or about 108 million American adults obtain news from the Internet.” This statistic suggests two things: even though people are able to get information from a variety of sources on the Internet, they still value credited news organizations, and, even though the Internet allows the public to get involved in the news like never before, there are still millions of American’s who don’t have the Internet, and as the revolution continues, we must find a way to give a voice to those who are not literate with the technology.

Information gathering is easier than ever for consumers of news. Services like aggregators make it convenient for people to collect content from different sources. According to Logan, “Aggregators substantially improve upon the time and effort needed to regularly check websites of interest for updates as well as provide different sides of a story (5.9).” By providing different sides of the same story, these Internet services encourage people to think critically, which is something that the mainstream media has failed to promote over the past few decades.

For news producers, it is much easier to present the complete story on the Internet because there is no limit on publication space, and stories can be given depth by the addition of links, which can provide further background information, statistics, ect. News producers also face some challenges though. First, the new media must be able to generate income in order to pay writers and staff. The solution to this will probably involve a variety of strategies, including advertising and subscriptions to archives. Of course, there are also legal issues that come along with the changing news environment. Logan says, “Because newspapers were generating revenue from their archives a dispute arose between them and their freelancers over residuals. The newspaper owners tried to force their free lancers to give up their residual rights.”

One of the greatest changes with the Internet is that, as Logan writes, “a hypertexted news story can bring together newspaper, radio and television.” This is amazing and incredibly efficient for consumers. With New Media, producers of news are forming a different relationship with consumers. As Logan says, the gap between them is closing.