ABSTRACT

The news media—from the academic and scientific to the popular and entertaining—regularly confront us with stories about the rapid growth of technology in the information age. The concept of obsolescence, especially with mass media technologies, is actually the unavoidable outcome of the innovation process. Ideas, creativity and technological innovations ebb and flow in measurable, seemingly predictable patterns of dynamic change. Multiple innovations in communication have helped to catapult mass media into a yet unknown, but far-reaching future. Essentially, advances in mass media technology, the convergence of media platforms and the migration of news, education and entertainment content to cyberspace are driving media outlets to become more responsive to smaller and more tightly defined audience groups. The digital revolution in mass media is tearing down traditionally accepted boundaries between nations, cultures and classes—but simultaneously creating new social, economic and cultural challenges with global effects.