d) New Forms of Media Publishing

A few years ago, the folks in Malaysia would wake up early in the morning just to grab the papers, but since the arrival of new technology, these sightings would slowly disappear and eventually linger our forgotten memories. The usage of old media such as the 'analog radio and TV and printed materials such as books and magazines' have been scrapped off since people these days would mostly rely on new forms of media such as 'CDs, DVDs and, most significantly, over the Internet' (PC Mag 2011). Research shows that we are slowly losing the need for old media as new media overshadows it by providing faster and better coverage. Pew Research Center Publications (2011) reported that '44% of online news users get news at least a few times a week through emails, automatic updates or posts from social networking sites'. 

What's more is that, new media today has changed the roles of traditional journalism and communication with sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Using sites like these, news reports would be more credible as some news on the papers would have been manipulated by the government as a cover up story. WantToKnow, a site that host many top journalists, who whole heatedly supports democracy can be one very good example of freedom of speech.

While addictive popular social-media related sites like Facebook and YouTube extends its empire, 'the world now spends over 110 billion minutes on social networks and blog sites...which equates to 22 percent of all time online or one in every four and half minutes' (Owyang 2010). Even though new media might give us lots to hope for, it also takes up our valuable time and health. It's no surprise that our society today is turning into zombies due to the the lack of physical interaction and exercise.

Reference

PC Mag 2011, 'Encyclopedia', PC Mag, viewed 25 August 2011, <http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=old+media&i=56879,00.asp>.  

Pew Research Center Publications 2011, 'New Media, Old Media', PewResearch.org, viewed 25 August 2011, <http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1602/new-media-review-differences-from-traditional-press>.

Owyang, J 2010, 'A Collection Of Social Network Stats for 2010', Web Strategist, viewed 25 August 2011, <http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2010/01/19/a-collection-of-social-network-stats-for-2010/>.