Media has invaded the society in a unprecedented way. It has become omnipresent. Its potency has increased exponentially. The newer versions of media is the agent behind it. The new additions to the media is elecectronic and digital in nature. The development of new media has taken the world to another dimension. News travels fast within seconds from one part of the world to another. Here one can remain connected to another for 24 hours and 7 days a week. Internet facilities and mobile connectivity have catapulted the development and reach of new media. The amalgamation of internet facilities and mobile phone facilities has brought a paradigm shift to new media.Correspondences are done on internet, friends are made on Facebook, brides are searched for in matrimonial portals, views are aired on blogs and the list goes on and on. New media spins around the pivot of speed. Not only the disemmination of news is fast but even the time duration for the feedback to reach the source has become minuscle.
To exploit the oppurtunities of the new media powered by internet the traditional media houses have initiated their own web portals to reach closer to the public.Web journals are the new kids in the journalism block. A new breed of journalists have come to the fore. The lesser limitations in the sphere of new media have made them to work in a free manner. Here expressions both photographic and textual are free flowing. Even citizens are able to take active part in the spread of the news.
Videos of incidents are uploaded in the net for all the world to witness. The latest examples of the power of the new media can be witnessed in popular unrests in the world. The states around the world are trying desperately to regulate and control the internet powered media. The unrests in China in the last year stood testimony to the fact that even the mighty Chinese Government had to run helter skelkter to control disemmination of information on the internet. The Chinese Government had to go to extensive damage control to save its face after jailed 2010 nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiobo was not allowed to attend the award ceremony in Stolkholm.
The latest example of the power of new media in airing suppressed public opinion can be seen in the unrest in the North east African and the middle eastern countries. There the traditional medium of print & television was under the thumb of the state. Here SMS s were sent on mobile phones and facebook was used to garner public support. They played a significant role in the popular uprisings of the west Asia. The toppled governments there speak volumes about the power of the new media . The videos of the unrest and government attrocities uploaded in the internet rallied the public support for the popular cause against the govenments.
Then came the incident which could not have really happened without the existene of the new media. The Wikileaks cables. The whistle blower website revealed many secret diplomatic cables between American embassies around the world. These documents would never had seen the day of light without the presence of new media.We can see that a new horizon of freedom of expression has been revealed to us. Here the power of the media has strengthed and channelised public opinion. It has divulged the doublespeak and hippocratic words of the so called dominant nations of the world.
Butr new media is still unregulated and amateurish. But with the passage of time we may find that it shall mature more and reach every corner of the public space in a constructive way.
