Media Fragmentations Effects on Democracy - 2121 Words

Media Fragmentation’s Effect on Democracy The emergence of new media and the rise of different forms of media outlets have greatly changed global media, providing audiences with multiple novel options for news consumption. This extremely high choice environment undoubtedly has some major implications with respect to politically charged news. Before the advent of radio, cable news channels, and most recently, the Internet, local newspapers and evening news broadcasts served as the primary outlets for political news. Moreover, the dynamics of how audiences consume -and now, even produce- media are changing, in addition to the ways in which media industries define their audiences. New media technologies at the heart of all of these changes such as print, broadcast television, cable news and even the internet give audiences increased control and increased choice over when, where, and how they consume mass media that is slowly transforming the relationship between audiences and the media. Concurrently, new technologies for measu ring and monitoring audience behavior are revealing aspects of how and why audiences consume different forms of media that previously were unknown. As a result, there is a commonality to the news people consume regardless of their geographic location, issue positions, or ideological stance. It is clear that there are many more choices for media consumers to interact with in the present. Moreover, this drastic shift made more visible when one views