Journalism and Social Media Research Essay

This research essay investigates the role of journalism in the context of new media, focusing on social media's impact on both journalism and society. It explores how the mass media industry has evolved in terms of accessibility and influence. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, utilizing surveys and interviews conducted in Bahrain and Iran with 86 participants aged 14-57. The data analysis reveals television as the most popular medium for engaging in political discussions, while the internet and mobile phones also play significant roles. The essay further discusses the technological changes affecting the media industry and predicts future transformations. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of adapting to technological advancements in education and other sectors, highlighting the need for integrating technology and social media effectively in learning environments.

Running head: Journalism
This essay will focus on the research questions like mentioned below: -
 What is the role of journalism with the new media?
 What is the impact of the social media on the society as well as on the journalism?
 What are the different factors affecting the social media changes and also analyzing the
more changes that may occur after five years.
This Research essay will include how the mass media industry has developed and improved in
terms of the accessibility, influence, and impact on the society. Surveys and interviews were
conducted to collect the information and database.
Introduction: This research essay talks about the role and the effects of journalism and social
media on society. These new media, journalism and society are interconnected with each other.
News is said to the important information that is conveyed to another individual through the
different mode of channels. Newspapers are the oldest mode of communication and it is
considered to be the best model for conveying the information. Looking at the previous data, in
the year of 1994, there are around more than 14,000 newspapers that distributed among the
population of 55 billion people. With the passage of time, the news is more accessible than ever
before through the medium of Television, internet and social sites. Talking about the journalists,
they basically use their power and status to emphasize on the perception of the society regarding
the benefits of the journalism (Thomas, 2013).
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Running head: Journalism
The journalism with a sense of some objective had only been seen in two professions- one is
teaching and other one is ministry.
Role of Media: Communication is the process of exchanging and sharing of ideas, views and
information from one person to another person. Whereas the mass media is defined as the
technological means of sharing information, ideas, views and opinions through the mass
communication devices for the different audience. A message can be transferred to the mass
audience by number of ways. The oldest media are newspapers, magazines, pamphlets and books
and this type of form is called as printed media. Another medium is the electronic medium which
offers an entertainment, opinions and information through the mode of Radio. One more form of
mass media is television that also comes under the electronic medium. Social media refers to
radio, newspapers, cinema, television, and the internet (Alejandro, 2010). It consists of a variety
of modes by which senders can record information and transmit them to a large number of
people quickly. The mass media play a tremendous role in our lives. We are showered by media
messages on daily basis. Today, most of the information that we get to know about our local,
national and international news is only through these mass media, which is very different from
the situation before 1999. As per the records, TV and the internet were introduced in 1999 and
mobile phones in 2003. The information and views shared through these channels have a great
impact on routine lifestyle (Newman, 2009).
Through the channel of media, people came to know about the country's five year plans,
development programs, and education systems, and this information encouraged people to
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Running head: Journalism
become part in the development of the country. Therefore, understanding the important role of
mass media and, its impacts on society and culture, and determining its future direction has
become very significant (NFCH, 2012).
The Ministry of Information and Communication, conducted media impact studies in the year
2008 and 2013, which shows the trends of media evolution, its impacts and challenges. This
research paper helps to provide information about how media accessibility, its influences, and its
impact have grown up over the years and provide policy recommendations. The outcomes and
findings presented are based on the observations, survey results and Questionnaires.
Data and Methodology: In order to check the influence and impact of media on society, we use
data gathered from our original interviews and surveys conducted in November. Regarding this
survey, we first selected two districts out of 20 randomly Behrain and Iran. Questionnaires were
distributed to 100 people, and we finally get responses from 86 people. The target population
includes all age levels, from 14 to 57 years old, and consisted of students, young people,
government employees, and retired civil servants.
The survey questionnaire contains 15 interview questions as follows.
Q1. How frequently do you make use of services provided through community resource centers?
1: Never, 2: Almost never, 3: Sometimes, 4: Almost always, 5: Always
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Running head: Journalism
Q2. What is the best medium of engaging people in discussions about politics and democracy?
1: TV, 2: Radio, 3: Newspapers, 4: Mobile Phones, 5: Social media
Q3. Does mass media changes your opinion? Yes or No
Q4. If yes, does it change your behavior and attitude towards particular subject?
1: Never, 2: Almost never, 3: Sometimes, 4: Almost always, 5: Always
Q5. Do you think your opinion is being considered by the media? Yes or No
Q6. What type of priority is rural and minority news given in news reports?
1: Not a priority, 2: Low priority, 3: Neutral, 5: High priority, 5: Essential priority
Q7. Do you have easy access to national news and public announcements? Yes or No
Please explain
Q8. Are you aware of the media policy in society?
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Running head: Journalism
1: Not at all aware, 2: Slightly aware, 3: Somewhat aware, 4: Moderately aware
5: Extremely aware
Q9. If you know the media policy, provide suggestions on how we can improve the policy.
Q10. Do reality TV shows such as singing competitions have any impact on Emirati culture?
Give reasons
Q11. Does the medium have any impact on singing and dancing culture? Give reasons
Q12. How frequently do you buy products advertised in the media? 1: Never, 2: Almost never, 3:
Occasionally/Sometimes, 4: Almost always, 5: Always
Q13. To what degree is your buying the products influenced by advertisements?
1: Never, 2: Almost never, 3: Occasionally/Sometimes, 4: Almost always, 5: Always
Q14. To what amount do the radio, newspapers, phones, and the internet influence your daily
lives?
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Running head: Journalism
1: No affect, 2: Minor affect, 3: Neutral, 4: Moderate affect, 5: Major affect
Q15. Who do you think decides what should be news?
1: Media, 2: Politician, 3: Government, 4; Businessmen, 5: People, 6: Others
Analysis: After doing the survey, we are having responses of people and we use these
respondents’ replies to attempt to investigate the accessibility, influence, and impact of new
media. After analyzing the data we found that the maximum number of people is engaged in
Television and this assumed as the best medium to entertain the people of all age levels. With the
development of technology, people also show great interest in other mediums like internet and
mobile phones. This survey helps us to investigate the influence and impact of social media on
the society either positive or negative (Harcourt, 2016).
Figure: Best way to engage people in discussions about democracy and politics.
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Running head: Journalism
Note: TV-television, DIRCN-direct communication, NET-internet service, NEWS-newspaper,
MP-mobile phone, NR-no response
According to the Respondent replies we found that the 50% of people are inclined towards the
Television and approximately 20% people engage in discussions of democracy and politics by
the mode of internet and direct communication. News and mobile phones also influence people
and culture of the country to some extent (Young, 2011).
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Running head: Journalism
Changes affected the Media Industry: The media industry is highly affected by the
technological changes that occur and these changes will continue to affect the social media
industry in the coming five years also. According to the point of view of J.C.R Licklider who is
the grandfather of technology, people in our country likely to overestimate what can be done in
one year and estimate less that can be done in coming 5 years (Lareau, 2016). Changes In the
technologies affect the education system, political system and social media industries in positive
as well as in negative ways. In the present times, the media have highly influenced the teaching
and learning process. In the education industry the internet plays a massive and a very important
role. Nowadays the entire education system is highly dependent on the use of the internet, mainly
for communicating and transferring the knowledge. The use of electronic media has
tremendously increased over time. The concept of M-learning has highly flourished too. It refers
to the learning across multiple contexts, through social and content interactions by the use of
electronic devices like mobile phones, computers and laptops (Skinner, 2007).
This is the fact that technology continues to change as it's not static. The changes in the
technology take place beyond the expectations of the people. Technological changes also affect
the face of broadcast. Broadcast faced a variety of alterations with cable and satellite. Now
mobile phones also broadcast the news and all the tv channels on the mobile phone. In the
coming five or ten years, more changes in technology will give the different shape to the social
media industry. Different versions of mobile phones, computers will be introduced in the coming
years to meet the expectations of the people in the society. All these changes occur because of
the viewing habits of the individuals in society (Minas, 2013). In simple words, it is the duty of
the service provider to provide the best content and quality experience with their audience. By
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Running head: Journalism
doing their work in efficient way will give them surety that their business is ready to focus on the
consumers of the next generations within coming five to ten years.
Conclusion: It was a fun experience writing this research paper since it helped me a lot to learn
many new research techniques and how and what are the relevant and irrelevant sources of
collection of data. This paper helped me reach many new people and interact with them and I
came to know how perspective of one individual is totally different from the other person. This
paper has widened and broadened my way of thinking and now I know how technology and mass
media affects the society and its culture. The culture of various places and people is affected by
new advanced technological aspects and various branches of mass media. It has already been
proven than passive and stagnant education can't help anyone. In the present era, the children and
the students are becoming more and more tech savvy and the educators must adapt accordingly
realizing their needs. For the betterment of the children, teachers can always combine learning
with technology. It helps both students and teachers. The concept of SMART classroom is
relatively new. This technology means the collaboration of SMART board and the other devices
and workstations in the classroom that helps to boost the classroom activities. Students are
enabled to work individually as well as in groups. The technology not only contributes to the
advancement of the learning process, but also engages students in group activities and
educational activities as well. It also makes the teaching process much simpler and more
effective.
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Running head: Journalism
The most difficult part of the research was the survey done on various people and the
formulation of the questionnaire. It was difficult, but somewhere it was interesting because it
helped me know the opinions of so many people and now I know the advantages and
disadvantages of technology and social media on society. The culture is affected and in this
research paper I specifically covered the education sector where technology is very much
needed and social media to an extent should be incorporated as there are various useful
things about social media as it keeps us updated.
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Running head: Journalism
References
Alejandro, J. (2010). Journalism in the age of social media. Thomson Reuters Foundation .
Retrieved from https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Journalism
%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20Social%20Media.pdf
Harcourt, H. (2016). The Role and Influence of Mass Media. Retrieved from
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/sociology/contemporary-mass-media/the-role-
and-influence-of-mass-media
Lareau, L. (2016). The impact of digital technology on media workers: Life has completely
changed. Retrieved from http://www.ephemerajournal.org/contribution/impact-digital-
technology-media-workers-life-has-completely-changed
Minas, C. (2013, January 31). How mobile technology is changing the face of broadcast.
Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2013/
jan/31/mobile-changing-face-broadcast
Newman, N. (2009). The rise of social media and its impact on mainstream journalism.
Retrieved from https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/The%20rise
%20of%20social%20media%20and%20its%20impact%20on%20mainstream
%20journalism_0.pdf
NFCH. (2012). Role of Media in Promoting Communal Harmony. National Foundation for
Communal Harmony. Retrieved from
http://nfch.nic.in/sites/default/files/WORD_FILE/RoleMedia.pdf
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Running head: Journalism
Skinner, A. (2007). The Impact of Technology on the Media Industry. Accenture. Retrieved from
http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~psznhn/G53DDB/LectureNotes-2007/lecture06-
AndrewSkinner.pdf
Thomas, C. (2013). The development of journalism in the face of social media. University of
Gothenburg. Retrieved from
https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/33941/1/gupea_2077_33941_1.pdf
Young, E. &. (2011). The digitisation of everything: How organisations must adapt to changing
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EY_Digitisation_of_everything.pdf
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