How has the Media changed over time (from ‘Old Media’ to ‘New Media) and to how has it affected freedom of speech in the Western World? What are the benefits and implications of this?
Freedom of Speech within the Media has progressed vastly over the recent years. National legislations restricted journalists, but as globalization began and spread quickly, along with technology, these national barriers disappeared, as did the legislations that go with them. The availability to a bigger and wider variety of information and news from all around the world has increased, and journalists have a larger freedom of expression. However, is absolute freedom of speech really desirable? This essay discusses changes in media over time and its influence on freedom of speech. Furthermore, it outweighs the benefits and implications that come with this freedom of speech. Old Media refers to the more traditional methods of communication and expression that have existed prior to the invention of the Internet, e.g newspapers, magazines and books. Alternatively, New Media refers to the access of information anytime, anywhere, and interactive user feedback and creative participation. Another characteristic is its unregulated content. (Schivinski et al., 2013, p. 5). The Old Media faced many constraints which new technology has aided to breakdown, making information today more accessible and easier to use. There are vast differences and progressions from the Old Media to the New Media. Briefly, information is easier to use and can reach wider audiences, it preserves and stores information more effectively, encourages copying, changing and growth of information, uses images and sounds instead of text and all in an instant, in faster ways, completely unimaginable before. Katsh (1988) points out 3 distinct qualities possessed by the New Media (electronic media) in transmitting, storing, organization and processing of information. The barriers of time and space that were obstacles in the past have been overcome through electric communication. The result now is the unimaginable increase in the speed of the transmission of information. The dependency on inefficient