A Comparative Analysis: Media Technologies' Impact on the Economy

This essay examines the impact of media technologies on the economy, focusing on the internet and news media. It discusses the evolution of the internet, its role in the neo-liberalization era, and the impact of state control. The essay analyzes two articles, one by Mansell (2011) on the internet's expansion and another by Fenton (2011) on the crisis in news media. It highlights the decline of traditional news sources, the rise of online media, and the challenges of pluralism. The essay also explores the impact of media technologies on society and culture, with a focus on pre- and post-liberalization periods. It identifies gaps in the research, particularly regarding the impact of the lack of state control on the online media sector and initiatives to reduce pluralism. The author concludes that further research is needed to address these issues and ensure the public's trust in online media as traditional news sources decline.

Running head: IMPACT OF MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES ON ECONOMY
Impact of Media Technologies on Economy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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IMPACT OF MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES ON ECONOMY
Media technologies are one of the most increasing topics in the market in today’s
world because of increasing modernization and globalization. Media technology is a theory
that considers various aspects covering all types of online media. The increasing presence of
the internet and the reduction of newspaper sector has facilitated the growth of media
technologies in the world. However, various authors have put forward various debates stating
the impact of internet and online media on the society, politics and culture. It helps to
facilitate the transfer of information from one place to other without physically travelling to
that place. The paper discusses about the effect of media technologies on various aspect f the
economy such as the society, politics and culture. In explaining this, the essay has discussed a
comparative analysis of two articles on the ground and offered a brief discussion of the points
that is covered and the gaps available in the research.
Mansell (2011) has discussed it in his paper about the evolution and expansion of
internet in the economy. According to him internet is not just a neutral configuration
involving various technologies. It has also discussed about the role of state in regulating the
use of internet in the society. The article discussed the role of internet in the neo liberalization
era as well as in post liberalization era. In neo liberalization, era market was considered as the
main means y which society can be organized. The welfare of the economy was given more
importance than the society. It was found that in the neo liberalization era internet was a state
regulated technology in order to allow the whole society take its advantage. Moreover, it was
seen that some monopoly power did exit in the telecommunication sector, which enabled
innovation in the internet sector. However, the article showed that the concept of introducing
free internet without any regulation was proposed in the post 1996. On the other hand, it was
seen that internet became free from any kind of state control in the post liberalization period.
However, the paper showed the initiative taken by the state to regulate the acceptance of
internet in the post liberalization state. In the post liberalization period, it was seen that the

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initiative helped in narrowing the space existing in the society regarding communicative
practices. Thus in this paper it is seen that whether in telecommunication, digital services,
internet is playing a crucial role and there has been an increasing individualization of the
online world. Private sector is adopting the use of internet for wealth creation and state is
using internet for security purpose of the society.
Fenton (2011) on the other hand focused the crisis faced in the news media domain,
which is having a negative effect on the society. This is because due to the crisis in the media
sector the industry is cutting down staffs and closing the use of paper. On the other hand, the
drop in the media sector is also reducing the quality of the news in the economy. This in turn
affects the society, as they remain uninformed for some of the important topic. However, in
the recent world the options to get news are increasing due to increasing internet presence.
The quality of internet news does not match with that of news service provided by channels.
It has been seen that the journalists were free from all kind of government interference on
their work. However, they were needs to act according to the needs of the public interest.
This is because any interference by the journalist should not affect the interest of the public or
their personal life. I the neo liberalization period a free news media has been introduces that
encourage plurality in the media. It was seen that even though the publishing the news and
any information became easy in the new era of media yet there was some kind of threat from
pluralism. Such threat from plurality has increased the need for protecting media and the
public interest in the real world.
According to my knowledge, the most interesting part of these two articles was the
threat of modern media on the society. Even though the introduction of modern media has
made it easy for the public or business to publish any news readily with the help of internet
and online sources, yet the validity and quality of such news are not as good as the traditional
newspapers. Online industry that is growing so fast in various sectors and leaving such a

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positive effect, it has not spread its utility in the news and media sector. Society still believes
that the quality of the news published by the traditional newspaper companies were better
than that published on the online website. Pluralism still exists in the media sector because of
two sided thought conceived in the mind of the people (Peruško 2013). In one hand, there is a
thought about the increasing presence of internet media and on the other hand, people are not
satisfied with the equality of the news presented in the online media. The acceptance of
online media also took a long time as people were of a view that it might affect the society
badly. These thoughts provoked me because even in such modern society and post a
liberalization person holds such thoughts about the validity and usefulness of internet in the
media industry.
The article that I read for this assignment has helped me know a lot of thought put
forward by various authors about growing media technologies in the economy and its impact
on the society and culture. It has put forward two types of views held by the public about
media technologies such as in pre liberalization period and another in post liberalization
period. The impact of the growing media technologies has put a lot of impact on the society
and the way they used to depend on it (Crowley and Heyer 2015). With the growing online
media or news, the public can now view the news of the society easily even with their busy
life. Such interesting transformation of the society in the media sector has evoked me take the
research on this field. This week’s material has facilitated me in a great way to learn a lot
about media technologies and its negative and positive impact. It will make me understand
my course in a better way in future.
The article has some scope for further research because the first article just
showed the control over internet in the pre and post liberalization phase. It failed to show the
impact of such control on media on the society and quality of news. On the oother hand the
second article can be used for further research on the ways in which the pluralism existing in

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the media sector among the public can be reduced. The two research question that I am
interested in pursuing are:
1. What is the impact of lack of state control on the online media sector?
2. What are the initiatives taken to reduce the pluralism in the media sector?
These two questions will cover all the thoughts and studies conducted on the field of
media technologies and the impact it put on the society. It will also help to indicate the ways
by which pluralism can be reduced from the media sector and public can have greater trust on
the online news compared to the newspapers. This is because as the newspaper sector is
declining it is important that people have trust on online media so that they are informed
about all the important news. This will in turn help in the development of the society as a
whole. Moreover, the gap in the research will also be covered by further research o this
ground.
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that the two articles chosen for the
assignment has shown the impact of growing media technologies on the society both in the
pre liberalization as well as neo liberalization phase. It has shown the control that the state
held on the internet sector in the pre liberalization phase. It has also explained the effect of
absence of state control on the internet sector in the neo liberalization period. Thus, the article
has shown a lot of information given by various authors. The second article that was chosen
showed that news media in the form of newspaper has been declining, while online media in
increasing. However, even with the benefit that online news gives to the people there are
some threats from pluralism. However, the article also has some gaps, which gave way for
further research. Further research can be done on the impact of lack of state control on the
internet sector in the neo liberalization period and on suggesting ways to reduce pluralism in
the online media sector.

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References
Crowley, D. and Heyer, P., 2015. Communication in history: Technology, culture, society.
Routledge.
Fenton, N., 2011. Deregulation or democracy? New media, news, neoliberalism and the
public interest. Continuum, 25(1), pp.63-72.
Mansell, R., 2011. New visions, old practices: Policy and regulation in the Internet
era. Continuum, 25(1), pp.19-32.
Peruško, Z., 2013. Media pluralism policy in a post-socialist Mediterranean media system:
The case of Croatia. Central European Journal of Communication, 6(2 (11)), pp.204-218.