This week's readings deal with several fundamental issues which all interrelate. These issues include the mass media, the digitisation of modern mass media, neoliberalsim, and globalisation. The term mass media refers to print, broadcasting and telecommunication systems. There is now a new phenomenon taking place in today's very technologically advanced society; this is the digitisation of the modes of mass media which were mentioned previously. The theory which applies to this digitisation of the mass media is known as the convergence theory. In more general terms the convergence theory refers to the marriage of different technologies or industries. This convergence theory as it concerns the mass media encodes all types of information, whether voice, text, video, pictures and music into digital formats. According to Vincent Porter simply put digitisation is the merging of the mass media with information technology. Porter stated that there were two growing trends which are facilitating this digitization of the media.
Category:Wikipedians interested in the United Stat...
Map of the Caribbean Sea and its islands.
Lieutenant Reginald Barclay vs. Captain H.M. "Howl...Firstly, there is a trend towards transferring all types of information, voice, text, video, pictures and music into digital formats which can be manipulated by computers. Secondly, there is a development of high speed multi media communication networks over which digitised data can be transmitted, for example the internet. This digitisation of the media creates global media structures.
Digitisation of the mass media does not exist in isolation of neo-liberalism nor globalisation; they all intertwine in a very intricate manner. Neo-liberalism has led to an openness in foreign markets which makes access to public sectors as well as the privatisation of these public sectors, as easy as signing a contract. Examples of this privatisation as well as digitisation of the media sector, world wide have been given by Graham Murdock. Murdock gave the interesting example of the well known electronics Japanese company, Sony, performing a...