NEW MEDIA, COMMUNICATION POLICY
12.0. Objective of the lesson :
The objective of this lesson is to assist you in
- Understanding the concept of new media
- Understanding the characteristics of new media
- Learning about mass media and Political Ideology
- Deliberating upon the importance of communication policy
Structure of the lesson :
- New Media
- Characteristics of New Media
- Difference between Old Media and New Media
- Mass Media and Political Ideology
- Communication Policy
- Summary
- Technical Terms
- Model Questions
- Reference Books
New Media are often referred to as ‘digital media’, or ‘digital new media’. For most of us this is a shorthand for ‘media thatuse computers’. We need first of all to think about why new media are described as digital in the first place – what does ‘digital’ actually mean in this context?
The major media of the 19th and early 20th centuries (prints, photographs, films and newspapers) were the products, not only of analogue processes, but also technologies of mass production. For the reason, these traditional mass media took the form of industrially mass produced physical artefacts which circu- lated the world as copies and commodities. This electronic conversion and transmission (broadcast) of media like film which are physical analogues, suggests that digital media technologies do not represent a complete break with traditional analogue media. Rather, they can be seen as a continuation and extension of principal or technique already in place: the principle of conversion from physical artefact of signal.
However the scale and nature of this extension are so significant that we might well experience it not as a continuation but as a complete break.
Analogue media tend toward being fixed, where digital media tend toward a permanent state of flux. Analogue media exist as fixed physical objects in the world, their production being dependent upon transcriptions from one physical state to another. Digital media may exist as analogue hard copy, but when the content of an image or text is in digital form it is available as a mutable string of binary numbers stored in a computer’s memory.
New Media are Interactive. The term stands for: a more powerful sense of user engagement with media texts, a more independent relation to sources of knowledge, individualised media use, greater user choice.
Some examples of new media include computers, internet, satellite radio, satellite television, FM Radio, cellphone, etc.
The apparently unifying term ‘new media’ actually refers to a wide range of changes in media production, distribution and use. These are more than technological changes, they are also: textual – the type of work
that is produced conventional – the ways that work is produced and cultural – context – how they relative to the rest of society
Digitality
New media are often referred to as ‘digital media’, or ‘digital new media’. For most of us this is a shorthand for ‘media that use computers’. We need first of all to think about why new media are described as digital in the first place – what does ‘digital’ actually mean in this context?
Analogue media, mass production and broadcasting
The major media of the 19th and early 20th centuries (prints, photographs, films and newspapers) were the products, not only of analogue processes, but also technologies of mass production. For this reason, these traditional mass media took the form of industrially mass produced physical artefacts which circu- lated the world as copies and commodities. Digital media technologies do not represent a complete break with traditional analogue media.
Rather, they can be seen as a continuation and extension of a principle or technique already in place: the principle of conversion from physical artefact to signal. However the scale and nature of this extension are so significant that we might well experience it not as a continuation but as a complete break.
Fixity and Flux
Analogue media toward being fixed, where digital media tend toward a permanent state of flux. Analogue media exist as fixed physical objects in the world, their production being dependent upon transcriptions from one physical state to another. Digital media may exists as analogue hard copy, but when the content of an image or text is in digital form it is available as a mutable string of binary numbers stored in a computer’s memory.
Digital processes and the material world
So digital creates the conditions for inputting very high quantities of data, very fast access to that data and very high rates of change of that data. However this does not represent a complete transcendence of the physical world.
The Limits of physical science to miniaturise the silicon chip may have already been reached. Engineers cannot physically produce technology capable of miniaturising any further without working at the level of atomic measurement.
The bandwidth for transmission of the digital media that people have predicted doesn’t currently exist.
The constant negotiations that any computer based media producer has to make between memory and compression are testament to the continuing interface with the physical world that has always been at the centre of media processing.
For consumers worldwide, differences of wealth and poverty which underpin their access to other goods, services and technologies apply equally to digital media.
Interactivity
Interactivity has become a broad term which a carries cluster of associated meanings. At the ideological level, interactivity is understood as one of the key ‘value added’ characteristics of new media. Where ‘old’ media offers passive consumption new media offers interactivity. The term stands for – a more powerful sense of user engagement with media texts, a more independent relation to sources of knowledge, individualised media use, greater user choice.
These ideas about the value of ‘interactivity’ draw upon the popular discourse of neo liberalism which constructs the subject as, above all, a consumer.
Neo liberal societies aim to commodify all kinds of experience and offer more and more finely tuned
degrees of choice to the consumer. People are seen as being able to make individualized lifestyle choices from a never ending array of possibilities offered by the market.
This ideological context then feeds into the way we think about the idea of interactivity in digital media. It is seen as a method for maximising consumer choice in relation to media texts.
Instrumental (or functional) views of interactivity:
Being interactive signifies the users (the individual members of the new media ‘audience’) ability to directly intervene in and change the images and texts thay they access
The audience for new media becomes a ‘user’ rather than the ‘viewer’ of visual culture, film and TV or a ‘reader’ of literature.
In interactive multi-media texts
It is necessary for the user to actively intervene as well as viewing or reading in order to produce meaning.
This intervention actually subsumes other modes of engagement such as ‘playing’, ‘experimenting’, and ‘exploring’ under the idea of interaction.
DEFINING CHARACTERSITICS OF INTERACTIVITY: FIVE, PERSPECTIVES:
- Human Computer Interaction (HCI):
Scientific and industrial field:
Control – relationship between operator and machine – this is the basic definition of interaction ‘Batch processing’ to ‘interactive mode’ – line up processes and let them run through to use of dialogue boxes whilst processes carry on in background.
GUI – graphic user interface – led to windows based control of computers.
2. Communication Studies and the ‘face to face’ paradigm:
Interaction is identified as a core human paradigm: Mutual interruptibility
Limited look ahead (so that none of the partners in the interaction can foresee the future shape of the interaction)
No default (there is no pre programmed route to follow)
The impression of an infinite database (from the participants point of view).
3. The study of Artificial Intelligence:
Ideal human-computer interaction would approach as close as possible face to face communication, however computers obviously can’t do that yet since they are (still) unable to pass as human for any length of time; futuristic scenarios (scientific and science fictional) propose that this difficulty will be resolved as chips get cheaper, more powerful and AI becomes more effective.
4. Hypertextual Navigation :
Here the user must use the computer apparatus and software to make reading choices in a database:
Here the term database is used in a general rather than specifically technical sense – a database is any collection of memory stored information, text, image, sound etc.
In principle, this database could be anything from the entire World Web, to a particular learning package, an adventure game, or the hard drive on your own PC.
The result will be:
The user constructs and individualised text made up from all the segments of text which they call up through their navigation process. The larger the data base the greater the chance that each user will experience a unique text.
5. Registrational interactivity
Registrational interactivity refers to the opportunities that new media text afford their users to ‘write back into’ the text to add to the text by registering their own messages.
The defining factor of this kind of interactivity is the simple activity of registration. i.e. sending off details of contact information to a website, answering questions prompted in online transactions or typing in a credit card number.
Also extends to any opportunity that the user has to input to a text – original internet Bulletin Boards and News groups were a good example, not interactive in the sense of face to face communication, yet built up by successive inputs of users comments.
The ‘input’ or ‘writing back’ then becomes part of the text and may then be made available to other users of the database.
Interactive Communications
Computer mediated communications (CMC) appear to offer unprecedented opportunities for making connections between individuals, within organisations, and between individuals and organisations.
Much of this connectivity will be of the registrational interactivity mode defined above where individuals add to, change, or synthesise the texts received from others. However, when email, and chat sites are considered from the point of view of human communication, ideas about the degree of reciprocity between participants in an exchange are brought into play.
From a Communication Studies point of view-degrees of interactivity are further broken down on the basis of the kinds of communication that occurs within CMC:
Communicative behaviours are classified according to their similarity to, or different from, face to face dialogue, which is frequently taken as the examplary communicative situation which all forms of ‘mediated’ communication have to emulate.
On this basis, the question and response pattern of a bulletin board of instance, would be seen as ‘less’ interactive than the free flowing conversation of a chat site. This inflects the whole idea of interactivity by lending it a context of person to person connection.
Hypertext
- One history ties the term into academic literary and representational Here there has long been an interest in the way any particular literary work (or image) draws upon or refers out to the content of others, the process referred to as intertextuality.
- This places any text as comprehensible only within a web of association that is at once ‘above, beyond or outside’ the text
- At another level, the conventional means to footnoting, indexing, and providing glossaries and bibliographies, ie the navigational apparatus of the book, can be seen as antecedents of hypertexts, again guilding the reader beyond the immediate text to necessary contextualising
Defining hypertexts
- We may define a hypertext as a work which is made up from discrete units of material in which each one carries a number of pathways to other
- The work is a web of connection which the user explores using the navigational aids of the interface
Each discrete ‘node’ in the web has a number of entrances and exits or links.
Hypermediacy
More recently the very specific application of hypertext as an information management principle has ex- panded to suggest all kinds of non linear, networked paradigms.
- The term begins to overlap with the idea of hypermediacy
- The ideological investment in the idea of hypertext spills over into use of the term ‘hypermedia’ to describe the effects of hypertextual methods of organisation on all mediated
Old Media
The “old media” are newspapers & magazines, direct mail advertising, and radio & television. All are based on a number of assumptions:
- There are only a limited number of “players” in the The market entry cost is high. In some areas (TV & radio) there is a “natural” limit of the number of players.
- Along with this, Old Media are geographically Radio and TV stations can only broad cast so far. International mail is slow, expensive and often not reliable.
- Communication are strictly one way. The content provider sends information to the con sumer and the consumer sends money to the There is no mechanism for a flow of either information or money in the opposite direction. The consumer is strictly passive.
- Providers have detailed and exact control of what the consumer sees or
- Presentation is more important than Content and presentation cannot be sepa rated. “The medium is the message”.
New Media
When we look at the “new media” like the World Wide Web, we see the exact opposite of the “old media” assumptions:
- The number of players is Entry cost is no more than a computer, a modem, and an Internet connection. There are no “natural” limits to the number of players.
- No place in the world is appreciably further away then any other
- Communication is inherently two-way. The consumer is
- Providers not only do not, they can not control exactly what the consumer
- Content is more important than Content and presentation are separate. The medium is provided by the viewer; the message is provided by the creator.
The “old media” companies are, of course, trying to force the Web into the “old media” mold. They under- stand it and feel that, if the new looks enough like the old, that they can control it. Unfortunately, forcing “old media” assumption onto the Web is at best obnoxious and at work, totally nonfunctional.
An Ideology is an organized collection of ideas. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as
a way of looking at things (computer Weltanschaung), as in common sense (see Ideology in everyday soci- ety) and several philosophical tendencies (see Political ideologies), or a set of ideas proposed by the domi- nant class of a society to all members of this society. The main purpose behind an ideology is to offer change in society through a normative though process. Ideologies are systems of abstract thought (as opposed to mere ideation) applied to public matters and thus make this concept central of politics. Implicitly every politi- cal tendency entails an ideology whether or not it is propounded as explicit system of thought.
Political ideologies
Many political parties base their political action and programme on an ideology. In social studies, a political ideology is a certain ethical set of ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, class, or large group that explains how society should work, and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order. A political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate power and to what ends it should be used. Some parties follow a certain ideology very closely, while others may take broad inspiration from a group of related ideologies without specifically embracing any one of them.
Political ideologies have two dimensions:
Goals : How society should work (or be arranged).
Methods : The most appropriate ways to achieve the ideal arrangement.
An ideology is a collection of ideas. Typically, each ideology contains certain ideas on what it considers to be the best from of government (e.g. democracy, theocracy, etc), and the best economic system (e.g. capital- ism, socialism, etc). Sometimes the same word is used to identify, both an ideology and one of its main ideas. For instance, “socialism” may refer to an economic system, or it may refer to an ideology which supports that economic system.
Ideologies also identify themselves by their position on the political spectrum (such as the left, the centre or the right), though this is very often controversial. Finally, ideologies can be distinguished from political strat- egies (e.g. populism) and from single issues that a party may be built around (e.g. opposition to European integration or the legalisation of marijuana).
Studies of the concept of ideology itself (rather than specific ideologies) have been carried out under the name of systematic ideology.
Political ideologies are concerned with many different aspects of a society, some of which are: the economy, education, health care, labor law, criminal law, the justice system, the provision of social security and social welfare, trade, the environment, minors, immigration, race, use of the military, patriotism and established religion.
There are many proposed methods for the classification of political ideologies Political ideologies may be of many types. Given below is a list of political ideologies
Anarchism; Christian Democracy; Communism; Communitarianism; Conservatism; Fascism; Feminism; Green Politics; Islamism; Liberalism; Libertarianism; Masculism Nationalism; Progressivism; Social democracy and Socialism.
How does the mass media shape the political ideology of a person?
Almost everyone gets his or her information about world, national, and local affairs from the mass media. This fact gives both print and broadcast journalism important functions that include influencing public opin- ion, determining the political agenda, providing a link between the government and the people, acting as a government watchdog, and affecting socialization.
Public opinion
The mass media not only report the results of public opinion surveys conducted by outside organizations but also increasingly incorporate their own polls into their news coverage. More important, newspapers and
television help shape public opinion as well. Research has shown, that the positions Americans take on critical issues are influenced by the media, especially when the media air divergent views and provide indept analysis.
Political agenda
The term political agenda is broader in scope than the term “public opinion,” and it refers to the issues Americans think are the most important and that government needs to address. A person’s perception of such matters as crime, civil rights, the economy, immigration, and welfare are affected by the manner and extent of media coverage. Studies indicate that a correlation exists between the significance people assign a problem and the frequency and amount of space or time newspapers, magazines, and television give to it.
Link between the government and the people
The mass media is the vehicle through which the government informs, explains, and tries to win support for its programs and policies. President Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” used radio in this manner. Today, he major network do not always give the president desired airtime if they believe the purpose is essentially political. If they do grant the time, the opposition party usually has the opportunity to rebut what he president says or present its own views on a topic immediately after the president speaks.
Government watchdog
From muckraking early in the century to today’s investigative reporting, an important function of the mass media is to bring to the attention of the American people evidence of corruption, abuse of power, and ineffec- tive policies and programs. Watergate would have remained just another burglary buried in the back pages of the Washington Post had Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward not dug into the story. Although the media are often accused of having a “liberal bias,” and indeed surveys show most journalists to be liberal Democrats, all presidential administrations face close scrutiny from print and broadcast journalists.
The Power of the Media
The struggle over who gets what, when, and how is largely carried out in the mass media. Media power is concentrated in the leading television news networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN), national newspapers (Wash- ing on Post, New York Times, Wall St. Journal), and new smagazines (Newsweek, Time, U.S. News & World Report). Television is the first true mass communication medium because it is in virtually every home. The average home TV is turned on seven hours a day and shows such as 60 Minutes and 20/20 are among the most popular. Today the Internet is assuming the proportions of mass media, party under the auspices of existing media as in the case of www.cnn.com or www.newsweek.com.
Reporters and news editors usually deny that they are powerful political actors, claiming they only mirror society: but the “myth of the mirror” is that the media do play key roles in setting the American political agenda by determining what news is to be covered, how much, and in what context.
Sources of Media Power
Media power derives from five functions: newsmaking, agenda setting, interpreting, socializing, and per- suading:
Newsmaking. The media determines what will be news, thereby attaching importance to events and people. Investigative journalism can also pose a threat to politicians and bureaucrats, potentially uncovering scandal or ineffectiveness. Also, the media provide opportunities for political actors to gain the limelight through staging media events and providing “sound bytes.” By the same token, events which are not pictorial in nature may be relatively neglected by the media.
Agenda Setting. This is the real power of the media. The media do not just passively report the news. They select what is to be covered, thereby setting a political agenda. Conversely, media inattention can allow governments to continue ineffective policies or worse. The media can even propel a latent issue into a “crisis” with whichgovernment must deal.
Interpreting. The media interprets the news for us. often in the form of stories. Stories, in turn, often involve
good guys versus bad guys, little guys versus big guys, and contrasts of appearance versus reality, some- times showing government hypocrisy.
Socializing. Socialization, which is the learning of political values, is communicated not only in the news, but in entertainment, sports, and even advertising programming. Such programming coverage teaches how democracy works and legitimizes the electoral victors.
Persuading. Sometimes the media seeks to influence opinions directly. This occurs in editorial features, paid political advertisements, and other forms (for example, sometimes in investigative reports). PACs and corporations can use their funds to purches media coverage to promote their views on issues and candi- dates. Candidates, in turn, rely on media professionals to maximize their impact on public opinion. President can go “over the heads of Congress” to seek to persuade the public of the wisdom or propriety of their policies.
The Business of the Media
The business of the media is gathering mass audiences so as to sell time and space to interested advertis- ers. Nielsen boxes measure the proportion of homes that watch programs (the rating) and the proportion of homes with their television sets turned on that watch programs (the share). Mega-mergers in recent years have created corporate empires that spread across multiple media and dominate world/media and cultural interests.
The Politics of the News
The economic interests of the media in gaining and keeping viewers may bias it toward sensationalism, giving disproportionate coverage to events involving war, violence, conflict, scandal, sex, scares, and per- sonal lives of politicians and celebrities. In general, there is a negativism in the media, biasing it toward bad news as more newsworthy. “Good news” stories, such as the fact that drug use has declined, is less reported and as a result often is not part of the knowledge base citizens use in forming their opinions. The news profession itself holds investigative reporting in high esteem, creating media pressure toward muckraking. Reporters may see themselves as “watchdogs” of the public interest or even as adversaries of government. Journalistic activism, in turn, means that the personal values of reporters are more important than they would otherwise by. Surveys of reporters, editors, and other media executive reveal a liberal bias, with few (around 10 percent in typical surveys) classifying themselves conservative, right-leaning, or Republican. Conserva- tive commentators include George Will, William F. Buckley, and Patrick Buchanan. Fox News network has brought a conservative voice to television.
Mediated Elections
The media links candidates to the voters, which means that good candidates must be media-savvy and able to project an appealing image. Reagan, for instance, was perceived as “the Great Communicator” because he was able to project a warm, reassuring, likable personality. The media strongly influence the early selec- tion of candidates. Much media coverage concentrates on the horse race aspects (who’s ahead) and charac- ter issues (for example, the candidate’s sex life) rather than on the policy issues. In the 2000 election the tone of media coverage was negative for both Bush and Gore. Policy is typically less than one-quarter of television news coverage. The media see themselves as campaign watchdogs and the above-mentioned “bad news bias” arises in this context, with emphasis on weaknesses, blunders, and vulnerabilities of the candidates. Front-runners are particularly likely to be the object of scrutiny and media negativism. The personal liberal- leaning values of reporters are mitigated because the media seek to protect themselves against charges of media bias by giving equal coverage to both parties.
Freedom versus Fairness
The Constitution protects the freedom of the media but does not guarantee its fairness. Government may not place a prior restraint on the news, as it attempted to do in the famous Pentagon Papers case involving Vietnam-era documents. Broadcast media (radio,television) have a special legal status more subject to regu- lation than print media (newspapers, magazines) because their assignment of a broadcasting frequency by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is regarded as a public trust, The FCC imposes an equal- time rule which requires stations to give equal time to opposing candidates if free time is given to any candi- date, or to offer opposing candidates air time at an equal price in the case of paid political commercial. The
equal-time requirement does not apply to news, talk shows, or documentary coverage.
Libel and Slander
Libel involves written communications that wrongly damage an individual, while slander is the same for spoken communication. The injured party must prove actual damages existed and that the communication was false or defamatory (for example, calling someone a “son of bitch”). In the case of public officials, based on the case of New York Times v. Sullivan (1964), the injured party must also prove “malicious intent.” This is called the Sullivan rule and it means that the media may be biased, unfair, or even print damaging falsehoods as long as no malicious intent was involved.
Polities and the Internet
As a new form of media, the Internet is unruly and chaotic but has the potential to provide interactive mass participation for the first time. By 1995 Amercians were buying more computers than TV sets, and by 1999 there were an estimated 92 million users. Political websites abound, including government, party, ideological, interest-group, and candidate sites. Some argue that the Internet’s potential for “information overload” could lead to more voter apathy rather than the increased political participation that others predict.
The uncensored nature of the Internet has also raised issues of government regulation. Congress passed the Communications Decency Act of 1996, but the Supreme Court overturned it in Reno vs. American Civil Liberties Union in 1997 on the ground that the government may not limit the adult population to only what is fit for children. Likewise, the Internet has also raised issues of privacy rights by facilitating the easy accessi- bility of all forms of data. such as credit information, in principle or practice. The information has sought powerful encryption software to protect privacy, which is especially important to companies that need to protect proprietary secrets, but the FBI has prevailed in regualtions which require manufacturers to make “recovery keys” available for decrypting Internet traffic.
Media Effects: Shaping Political Life
The media have effects in setting the political agenda and in helping form new opinions, but they are less effective in changing existing opinions or in changing political behavior.
“Information overload” also diminishes the effects of the media, as does the relative disinterest of many Americans in political news. Moreover, the public exercises selective perception, mentally screening out information and opinions with which they disagree. And, the focus of network executives on government scandals has been found to produce feelings of general political distrust and cynicism toward government and the political system now called television malaise. The result of the media performing their self-declared watchdog role can be alienation rather than reform.
Still, television news anchors have high credibility and trust with the public and their opinions have the great- est media effect on mass opinion. Others who have been shown to have an effect on mass opinion through media exposure include independent experts and popular presidents, whereas interest groups often have little or even a counter-productive effect.
In the areas of media sex and violence, a common focus of study and debate, evidence suggests the media are more likely to reinforce than to change existing behavior patterns. Thus televised violence seems to trigger violent behavior in children predisposed to violence, but not in average children.
In the area of political advertising, ads are more successful in motivating supporters to actually go to the polls and vote. Ads are much less effective in winning converts. Name recognition and maintaining campaign momentum and enthusiasm are often the objectives of political advertising, not conversion.
Government and other institutions create policies to ensure coherence and to avoid contradictions in the actions of various public and private entities. Policy instruments also seek to solve social and technical problems and to legitmise the implementation of programs and projects.
Countries are not strangers to policy-making. Most countries already have policies in various sectors; some of them well articulated, for example, an economic policy, a health policy, an agricultural policy, an educa-
tional policy, an environmental policy and a foreign policy. In some countries these are merely cosmetic documents virtually moribund, with no living dynamic reality, and not much possibility of being implemented. In other countries these policies provide sectoral orientations that can contribute to the overall goals of national development. In that context, a communication policy may be seen as a further contribution to the national development environment through consolidating actions around issues that cut across several sec- tors.
As far as communication policies are concerned, they have been described as:
Sets of principles and norms established to guide the behaviour of communication systems. They are shaped over time in the context of society’s general approach to communication and to the media. Emanating from political ideologies, the social and economic conditions of the country and the values on which they are based, they strive to relate these to the real needs for and the prospective opportunities for communication.
In every society, public and private institutions and individuals undertake internal and external communica- tion for many reasons. There is often no over-arching idea or vision to help coordinates or rationalise these various actions, probably because policy-makers and planners do not see how they can be related. A na- tional policy on information and communication for development provides a necessary conceptual and insti- tutional framework for the coordinaton and integration of technical and social interventions undertaken by institutions ranging from agricultural extension to education and health ministries, from NGOs such as women’s resource groups and human rights activists, to private sector interests such as chambers of commerce or banks. The contribution of a national policy is to articulate principles, values and norms that are applicable to communication at all levels of government, to civil society and the private sector, within the context of the development goals of the nation. An approach that considers information and communication as a sector for development planning would also help to rationalize investments as well as provide a basis for integrating information and communication interventions within national development strategies.
A communication policy can, therefore, be an instrument for supporting the systematic planning, develop- ment and use of the communication system, and its resources and possibilities, and for ensuring that they function efficiently in enhancing national development.
Efficient, widespread and continuous public communication is an important prerequisite for democratic gov- ernance, In the developing or re-emerging democracies of Africa, social communication provides the cement that binds various communities and social groups together in their resolve to build new societies. It can create linkages between political, religious, traditional and community leaders and their followers, and can build bridges between rural and urban communities and across generations.
It is through communication that government agencies and NGOs attempt to provide technical information and social services for improving the quality of life of citizens, and that civil society seeks to broaden and sustain participation in governance. New agricultural practices and policies, health campaigns, literacy classes, adult political and civic education and other development efforts have succeeded largely through communi- cation support. In the context of current development challenges posed by the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, communication for social mobilization and social change to support preventive behaviour and to support the infected and affected is a crucial necessity.
But communication can also divide people along various socio-cultural lines, contributing to social cleavage marginalisation and even violence. These seemingly contradictory possibilities pose the challenge of choice of making deliberate decisions to ensure that communication plays a positive role in society. The results of such decisions can be articulated in a policy statement.
Within this general framework, strategies can be devised to facilitate organised and intensified use of inter- personal. group and mass media channels of communication that are sensitive to cultural resources and orientation, and that are decentralized as necessary, in support of development programs. There is increased need to encourage local organizations to make use of new communications technologies, such as the Internet, to promote social linkages and to ensure widespread support for development efforts; so that in a dynamic and organic sense, communication can become an instrument for building solidarity for the common national and community goals of good health, economic recovery, poverty eradication, empowerment of women and youth, and good governance. These outcomes can be facilitated through a deliberate communication policy linked to national development policy.
For a national communication policy to be effective, it must attempt to be comprehensive, covering the issues that are considered relevant for the particular society. It should embrace various fields and sectors of human communication, including: traditional and indigenous cultural forms, print media, electronic/broad- cast media film, cinema, video, theatre, advertising, language development, training and technologies. These are the areas of major action, as well as possible conflict of interest that are of concern to development actors and partners at different levels. Given the various socio-economic-cultural problems facing the conti- nent, public information and communication in India should increasingly become development-oriented, di- rected at promoting the health, and economic and social well-being of the people, educating them on their civic rights and responsibilities, as well as empowering them to understand and implement solutions to national and community problems related to food, water, economic and entrepreneurial activities, popultion, environment, civic education etc. Therefore, one of the major policy issues in the development agenda of India as we move forwards in the twenty-first century, must be: how to use information and communication to support development initiatives at national and local levels. One possible answer is through a national com- munication policy.
Objectives of a National Information and Communication Policy
Example : A national policy on information and communication for development in any country may have the following objectives:
To support national development initiatives and programs, and to improve the quality of life of the people, by facilitating systematic and effective use and coordination of communication and information strategies and activities.
To rationalize multi-sectoral investments in information and communication hardware and software through their consolidation and appropriate integration in national development plans and planning structures;
To enhance access to information and communication infrastructures and new technologies, especially in rural communities;
To promote national dialogue on development issues by all citizens, consistent with the emerging democratic culture and national constitutional provisions;
To preserve national cultural identity, promote the national cultural patrimony and enhance the development of cultural and artistic capabilities and institutions, while enabling productive regional and international inter- change.
To ensure the timely, orderly and effective growth of information and communication institutions and profes- sions through standard setting, capacity-building and human resources development.
New media are often referred to as ‘digital media’, or ‘digital new media’.
Digitality, Analogue media, mass production and broadcasting. Fixity and Flux, hypermediacy are some of the important characteristics of new media.
The differences between old media like newspapers & magazines, direct mail advertising, and radio & tele- vision, and new media like world wide web are many:
In old media there are only a limited number of “players” in the market. The market entry cost is high. In new media, the number of players is unlimited. Entry cost is no more than a computer, a modem, and an Internet connection. Old Media are geographically limited. For new media no place in the world is appreciably further away then any other place. In old media, communications are strictly one way. In new media communication is inherently two-way. In old media providers have detailed and exact control of what the consumer sees or hears. IN new media providers not only do not, they can not control exactly what the consumer sees. In old media, presentation is more important than content. Content is more important than presentation. in new media.
Any political parties base their political action and programme on an ideology. In social studies, a political ideology is a certain ethical set of ideas, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, class, or large group that explains how society should work, and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order. A political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate power and to what ends it should be used. Some parties follow a certain ideology very closely, while others may take broad inspiration from a group of related ideologies without specifically embracing any one of them.
Almost everyone gets his or her information about world, national, and local affairs from the mass media. This fact gives both print and broadcast journalism important functions that include influencing public opin- ion, determining the political agenda, providing a link between the government and the people, acting as a government watchdog, and affecting socialization.
Government and other institutions create policies to ensure coherence and to avoid contradictions in the actions of various public and private entities. Policy intruments also seek to solve social and technical prob- lems and to legitimise the implementation of programs and projects. Sets to principles and norms estab- lished to guide the behaviour of communication systems. They are shaped over time in the context of society’s general approach to communcation and to the media. Emanating from political ideologies, the social and economic conditions of the country and the value on which they are based, they strive to relate these to the real needs for and the prospective opportunities for communication.
For a national communication policy to be effective, it must attempt to be comprehensive, covering the issues that are considered relevant for the particular society. It should embrace various fields and sectors of human communication, including: traditional and indigenous cultural forms, print media, electronic/broad- cast media, film, cinema, video, theatre, advertising, language development, training and technologies. These are the areas of major action, as well as possible conflict of interest that are of concern to development actors and partners at different levels.
New media : ‘digital media’, or ‘digital new media’.
Analogue Media : old or traditional media.
HCI : Human Computer Interaction
Registrational interactivity : It refers to the opportunities that new media texts afford their users to ‘write back into’ the text to add to the text by registering their own messages.
Hypertextual navigation : Moving around a hypertext page/pages.
Hypertext : A work which is made up from discrete units of material in which each one carries a number of pathways to other units. Text used usually in creating web pages.
CMC : Computer mediated communications (CMC) offer unprecedent opportunities for making connections between individuals, within organisations, and between individuals and organisations.
- Define new Give examples.
- What are the important characteristics of new media?
- Differentiate between old media and new
- How do mass media shape political ideologies?
