THE EVOLUTION OF TRADITIONAL TO NEW MEDIA
 Traditional vs New Media
 Normative Theories
 Functions of Communication & Media
EVOLUTION OF MEDIA
PRE-INDUSTRIAL AGE (BEFORE 1700S) - People
discovered fire, developed paper from plants, and
forged weapons and tools with stone, bronze, copper
and iron
FORMAT/EQUIPMENT/TOOLS OF COMMUNICATION &
MEDIA DURING PRE-INDUSTRIAL AGE
CAVE PAINTINGS (also known as “parietal art“) are
painted drawings on cave walls or ceilings, mainly
of prehistoric origin, dated to some 40,000 years ago
(around 38,000 BCE) in Eurasia.
CLAY TABLETS IN MESOPOTAMIA. In the Ancient Near
East, clay tablets (Akkadian ṭuppu(m)) were used as a
writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform,
throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age.
Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay
tablet with a stylus often made of reed (reed pen). Once
written upon, many tablets were dried in the sun or air,
remaining fragile. Later, these unfired clay tablets could
be soaked in water and recycled into new clean tablets.
Other tablets, once written, were fired in hot kilns (or
inadvertently, when buildings were burnt down by
accident or during conflict) making them hard and
durable. Collections of these clay documents made up
the very first archives. They were at the root of
first libraries. Tens of thousands of written tablets,
including many fragments, have been found in the
Middle East.
PAPYRUS IN EGYPT (2500 BC). Papyrus was first
manufactured in Egypt as far back as the fourth
millennium BCE.The earliest archaeological evidence of
papyrus was excavated in 2012 and 2013 at Wadi al-
Jarf, an ancient Egyptian harbor located on the Red
Sea coast.
ACTA DIURNA IN ROME (130 BC). The first form of Acta
appeared around 131 BC during the Roman Republic.
Their original content included results of legal
proceedings and outcomes of trials. Later the content
was expanded to public notices and announcements
and other noteworthy information such as prominent
births, marriages and deaths.
DIBAO IN CHINA (2ND CENTURY). Dibao (ti-
pao), sometimes called headmen or constables, were
local officials in Qing and early Republican China,
typically selected from among the prominent
landowners. Working in communities of around
100 households, they were charged with overseeing
boundaries and land disputes. He notarized all real
estate deeds on a commission basis and collected the
land tax, as well as overseeing minor punishment such
as the cangue.
CODEX IN THE MAYAN REGION (5TH CENTURY). Maya
codices (singular codex) are folding books written by
the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in Maya
hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican bark cloth. The
folding books are the products of professional scribes
working under the patronage of deities such as
the Tonsured Maize God and the Howler Monkey Gods.
Conquistadors and Catholic priests destroyed most of
the codices in the 16th century. The codices have been
named for the cities where they eventually settled.
The Dresden codex is generally considered the most
important of the few that survive.
PRINTING PRESS USING WOOD BLOCKS (220-AD).
Woodblock printing is a technique
for printing text, images or patterns used widely
throughout East Asia and originating in China in
antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and
later paper. As a method of printing on cloth, the
earliest surviving examples from China date to before
220 AD, and woodblock printing remained the most
common East Asian method of printing books and other
texts, as well as images, until the 19th century.
INDUSTRIAL AGE (1700S-1930S) - People used the
power of steam, developed machine tools, established
iron production, and the manufacturing of various
products (including books through the printing press).
PRINTING PRESS FOR MASS PRODUCTION (19th
Century). A printing press is a device for applying
pressure to an inked surface resting upon
a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby
transferring the ink. Typically used for texts, the
invention and spread of the printing press was one of
the most influential events in the second millennium.
The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman
Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around
1440, based on existing screw presses.
NEWSPAPER – THE LONDON GAZETTE (1640). The
London Gazette was first published as The Oxford
Gazette on 7 November 1665. Charles II and the Royal
Court had moved to Oxford to escape the Great Plague
of London, and courtiers were unwilling to touch, let
alone hold to read, London newspapers for fear of
contagion. The Gazette was “Published by Authority”
by Henry Muddiman, and its first publication is noted
by Samuel Pepys in his diary.
TYPEWRITER (1800). A typewriter is
a mechanical or electromechanical machine for writing
characters similar to those produced by
printer’s movable type. A typewriter operates by means
ofkeys that strike a ribbon to transmit ink or carbon
impressions onto paper. Typically, a single character is
printed on each key press. The machine prints
characters by making ink impressions of type elements
similar to the sorts used in movable type letterpress
printing.
TELEPHONE (1876). Before the development of the
electric telephone, the term “telephone” was applied to
other inventions, and not all early researchers of the
electrical device called it “telephone”. A communication
device for sailing vessels The Telephone was the
invention of a captain John Taylor in 1844. This
instrument used four air horns to communicate with
vessels in foggy weather. Later, c. 1860, Johann Philipp
Reis used the term in reference to his Reis telephone,
his device appears to be the first such device based on
conversion of sound into electrical impulses, the term
telephone was adopted into the vocabulary of many
languages. It is derived from the Greek: tēle, “far” and
phōnē, “voice”, together meaning “distant voice”.
Credit for the invention of the electric telephone is
frequently disputed. As with other
influential inventions such as radio, television, the light
bulb, and the computer, several inventors pioneered
experimental work on voice transmission over a
wire and improved on each other’s ideas. New
controversies over the issue still arise from time to time.
Charles Bourseul, Antonio Meucci, Johann Philipp
Reis, Alexander Graham Bell, and Elisha Gray, amongst
others, have all been credited with the invention of the
telephone.
MOTION PICTURES PHOTOGRAPHY/ PROJECTION
(1890). Damoizeau built what has been suggested as
the first panoramic camera, which is untrue.
The Cyclographe (right) took photographs
encompassing a full 360º and was one of the
better panoramic cameras of the day. It was a
collapsible bellows-camera and contained a pointed
punch which would strike and thereby identify each
new exposure on the roll prior to its passing before a slit
at the shutter.
COMMERCIAL MOTION PICTURES (1913). Motion
pictures, movie-making as an art and an industry,
including its production techniques, its creative artists,
and the distribution and exhibition of its products
MOTION PICTURES WITH SOUND (1926). A sound
film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or
sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to
a silent film. The first known public exhibition of
projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but
decades passed before sound motion pictures were
made commercially practical.
TELEGRAPH. Telegraphy (from Greek: têle, “at a
distance” and gráphein, “to write”) is the long-distance
transmission of textual or symbolic (as opposed to
verbal or audio) messages without the physical
exchange of an object bearing the message.
Thus, semaphore is a method of telegraphy,
whereas pigeon post is not. Telegraphy requires that
the method used for encoding the message be known
to both sender and receiver.
PUNCH CARDS. A punched card or punch card is a piece
of stiff paper that can be used to contain digital
information represented by the presence or absence of
holes in predefined positions. The information might be
data for data processing applications or, in earlier
examples, used to directly control automated
machinery.
ELECTRONIC AGE (1930S-1980S) - The invention of the
transistor ushered in the electronic age. People
harnessed the power of transistors that led to the
transistor radio, electronic circuits, and the early
computers. In this age, long distance communication
became more efficient.
TRANSISTOR RADIO. A transistor radio is a small
portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based
circuitry. Following their development in 1954, made
possible by the invention of the transistor in 1947, they
became the most popular electronic communication
device in history, with billions manufactured during the
1960s and 1970s.
TELEVISION (1941). On July 1st, 1941,
commercial television broadcasting officially began. In
New York City, three stations (representing CBS, NBC
and DuMont) were on the air.
LARGE ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS. Short for Electronic
Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, EDSAC is an early
British computer considered to be the first stored
program electronic computer. It was created at the
University of Cambridge in England, performed its first
calculation on May 6, 1949, and was the computer that
ran the first graphical computer game nicknamed
"Baby." In the picture to the right, is an example of the
EDSAC computer.
The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer I) was
the first commercial computer produced in the United
States. It was designed principally by J. Presper
Eckert and John Mauchly, the inventors of the ENIAC.
Design work was started by their company, Eckert–
Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC), and was
completed after the company had been acquired
by Remington Rand (which later became part of Sperry,
now Unisys). In the years before successor models of
the UNIVAC I appeared, the machine was simply known
as "the UNIVAC".
MAINFRAMES COMPUTERS. The IBM 704, introduced
by IBM in 1954, is the first mass-
produced computer with floating-point arithmetic
hardware.
PERSONAL COMPUTERS. The Hewlett-Packard
9100A (hp 9100A) is an early computer
(or programmable calculator), first appearing in
1968. HP called it a desktop calculator because, as Bill
Hewlett said, "If we had called it a computer, it would
have been rejected by our customers' computer gurus
because it didn't look like an IBM. We therefore decided
to call it a calculator and all such nonsense
disappeared."
PERSONAL COMPUTERS. Apple Computer 1, also known
later as the Apple I, or Apple-1, is a desktop
computer released by the Apple Computer Company
(now Apple Inc.) in 1976. It was designed and hand-
built by Steve Wozniak. Wozniak's friend Steve Jobs had
the idea of selling the computer.
OHP (OVERHEAD PROJECTOR), LCD PROJECTORS. In the
early 1980s–1990s, overhead projectors were used as
part of a classroom computer display/projection
system. A liquid-crystal panel mounted in a plastic
frame was placed on top of the overhead projector and
connected to the video output of the computer, often
splitting off the normal monitor output. A cooling fan in
the frame of the LCD panel would blow cooling air
across the LCD to prevent overheating that would fog
the image.
INFORMATION AGE (1900S-2000S) - The Internet paved
the way for faster communication and the creation of
the social network. People advanced the use of
microelectronics with the invention of personal
computers, mobile devices, and wearable technology.
Moreover, voice, image, sound and data are digitalized.
We are now living in the information age.
WEB BROWSERS: INTERNET EXPLORER (1995). Internet
Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and
Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or
MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed
by Microsoft and included in the Microsoft Windows
line of operating systems, starting in 1995.
BLOGS: WORDPRESS (2003). Wordpress is a free
publishing software and content management system
(CMS) that is popular in America. The software is open-
source allowing developers to create a wide array of
plug-ins, themes and widgets. Wordpress is widely
considered easy to use and is the CMS of choice for
almost 75 million websites.
SOCIAL NETWORKS. Friendster was founded
by Canadian computer programmer Jonathan Abrams in
2002, before the wider adoption of MySpace
(2003), Hi5 (2003), Facebook (2004) and other social
networking sites. Multiply (2003) was a social
networking service with an emphasis on allowing users
to share media – such as photos, videos and blog
entries – with their "real-world" network. Facebook is
an American for-profit corporation and an online social
media and social networking service based in Menlo
Park, California. The Facebook website was launched on
February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg, along with
fellow Harvard College students and roommates,
Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz
and Chris Hughes.
VIDEO: YOUTUBE (2005). YouTube is a free video-
hosting website that allows members to store and serve
video content. YouTube members and website visitors
can share YouTube videos on a variety of web platforms
by using a link or by embedding HTML code.
VIDEO CHAT. Skype is a telecommunications application
software product that specializes in providing video
chat and voice calls between computers, tablets, mobile
devices, the Xbox One console, and smartwatches via
the Internet and to regular telephones.
First released in August 2003, Skype was created by the
Swede Niklas Zennström and the Dane Janus Friis, in
cooperation with Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan
Tallinn, Estonians who developed the backend that was
also used in the music-sharing application Kazaa. In
September 2005, eBay acquired Skype for $2.6 billion.
SEARCH ENGINES. Yahoo! was started at Stanford
University. It was founded in January 1994 by Jerry
Yang and David Filo, who were Electrical Engineering
graduate students when they created a website named
"Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web".
Google began in January 1996 as a research project
by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD
students at Stanford University in Stanford, California
PORTABLE COMPUTERS. A portable computer is
a computer that is designed to be moved from one
place to another and includes a display and keyboard.
A laptop, often called a notebook or "notebook
computer", is a small, portable personal computer with
a "clamshell" form factor, an alphanumeric keyboard on
the lower part of the "clamshell" and a
thin LCD or LED computer screen on the upper part,
which is opened up to use the computer. Netbook is a
generic name given to a category of small,
lightweight, legacy-free, and
inexpensive laptop computers that were introduced in
2007. A tablet computer, commonly shortened
to tablet, is a portable PC, typically with a mobile
operating system and LCD touchscreen display
processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a
single thin, flat package. Tablets, being computers, do
what other personal computers do, but lack some I/O
capabilities that others have.
SMARTPHONES. A smartphone is a handheld personal
computer with a mobile operating system and an
integrated mobile broadband cellular network
connection for voice, SMS, and Internet data
communication; most if not all smartphones also
support Wi-Fi. Smartphones are typically pocket-sized,
as opposed to tablets, which are much larger than a
pocket.
WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY. Wearable
technology, wearables, fashionable
technology, wearable devices, tech togs, or fashion
electronics are smart electronic devices (electronic
device with micro-controllers) that can be worn on the
body as implants or accessories.
AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) vs VIRTUAL REALITY (VR).
Augmented reality vs virtual reality, at the core we have
two similar techs but there are some key differences.
The easiest distinction to make between augmented
reality and virtual reality is that virtual reality immerses
you entirely into a virtual world, whereas augmented
reality simply overlays virtual elements onto the real
world. You know, real reality.
CLOUD AND BIG DATA. Big data refers to data that
would typically be too expensive to store, manage, and
analyze using traditional (relational and/or monolithic)
database systems. Usually, such systems are cost-
inefficient because of their inflexibility for storing
unstructured data (such as images, text, and video),
accommodating “high-velocity” (real-time) data, or
scaling to support very large (petabyte-scale) data
volumes. Cloud computing offers access to data
storage, processing, and analytics on a more scalable,
flexible, cost-effective, and even secure basis than can
be achieved with an on-premises deployment. These
characteristics are essential for customers when data
volumes are growing exponentially--to make storage
and processing resources available as needed, as well as
to get value from that data.
TRADITIONAL VS NEW MEDIA
Traditional
 Media experience is limited
 One-directional
 Sense receptors used are very specific (I.e. print
media – sense of sight, radio – sense of hearing,
TV and Film – sight and hearing)
New Media
 Media experience is more interactive
 Audiences are more involved and can send
feedback simultaneously
 Integrates all the aspects of old media
Normative Theories of the Press
Authoritarian
Soviet Media
Libertarian
Social Responsibility
Normative theories were first proposed by Fred
Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur Schramm in
their book called “Four Theories of the Press”. At first
the word “Normative Theory” was pronounced in USA
during the height of ‘cold war’ with communism and
soviet. Often it called as western theories of mass
media.
A Normative theory describes an ideal way for a media
system to be controlled and operated by the
government, authority, leader and public. These
theories are basically different from other
communication theories because normative theories of
press are not providing any scientific explanations or
prediction. At the same these “four theories of the
press” were came from many sources rather than a
single source. Sometimes media practitioners, social
critics and academics also involved to develop these
normative theories.
Normative theories are more focused in the relationship
between Press and the Government than press and the
audience. These theories are more concern about the
ownership of the media and who controls the press or
media in the country.
Few questions will helps to understand the needs of
the normative theories:
 Is media can published or broadcast any type’s
of content will earn more profits in a shortest
time? (think about Yellow journalism / Talbots )
 Is media can provide any public service even if
no immediate profits can be earned?
 Is media can participate in any issues and
solving the social problems?
 Is it essential for media to protect the
consumers from the culprits, business frauds
and corrupt bureaucrats by serving as a watch
dog?
 What people expect from media during the
time of crisis?
 Is media should broadcast the highly rated
content even if it has high level of violence?
 Is a news paper publishing the unethical
business content to encourage the company for
its higher advertisements pay?
 These questions are linked and concerned
about the media day-to-day activities.
AUTHORITARIAN THEORY. Authoritarian theory
describe that all forms of communications are under the
control of the governing elite or authorities or
influential bureaucrats.
Authoritarians are necessary to control the media to
protect and prevent the people from the national
threats through any form communication (information
or news). The press is an instrument to enhance the
ruler’s power in the country rather than any threats.
The authorities have all rights to permit any media and
control it by providing license to the media and make
certain censorship.
If any media violate the government policies against
license, then the authority has all right to cancel the
license and revoke it. The government have all right to
restrict any sensitive issues from press to maintain
peace and security in the nation.
Examples of Authoritarian theory:
For right Nikolai Yezhov, standing near Stalin was
removed from this photograph after he shot dead in
1940. These types of censors are common during
Stalin’s reign.
• Here, Journalist or any media persons should
not have any rights to comment, discriminate or
stand against the government. Sometimes, an
authority gives considerable freedom to
minority thoughts and cultural issues to
promote them if it doesn’t make any threats to
authority or ruler.
• King – King is the authority, who has all rights to
control the communication and no one can
question against the king.
“The French king Louis XIV was concentrated in
his person parliamentary, law making and judicial
power. He was the authority of Supreme Court as well
as he can condemn a men to death penalty
without any rights appeal”.
• Dictatorship – During the world war II Hitler and
Mussolini are the two major authorities who
controlled the press in Germany and Italy. Press
was under the control of the authority and No
press can’t question against or publish against
these two dictators.
• Few countries blocked wiki leaks website from
its country to maintain the internal security
because the wiki leaks are not ready to
compromise with government censorship and
realising classified documents against the
government.
Censorship is a suppression of any communication
which may consider as harmful to the people, King,
government and its nation. Especially these censorship
methods are much familiar in press which against the
freedom of speech and freedom of expression. In some
other cases, the censorship helps to protect the rulers
and authorities from sensitive issues.
There are different types of censors like
• Political censor
• Moral censor
• Religious censor
• Military censor
• Corporate censor
How Media Censorship Affects the News You See
5 Ways Media Censorship Blocks Information from
Reaching You
By Glenn Halbrooks
1. Protecting a Person's Privacy
2. Avoiding Graphic Details and Images
3. Concealing Security Information
4. Advancing Corporate Interests
5. Hiding Political Bias
LIBERTARIAN THEORY. The Libertarian theory is one of
the “Normative theories of press”. The theory which is
originally came from libertarian thoughts from 16th
century in Europe. The libertarian theorists are against
the authoritarian thoughts. International trade and
urbanization undermine the power of a rural aristocracy
which leads various social movements raise includes the
Protestants reformation, that demands individual’s
freedom and their own lives and free thoughts.
Liberalism means information is knowledge and
knowledge is power. Libertarianism is free from any
authority or any control or censorship. The
libertarianism is an idea of individualism and limited
government which is not harmful to another.
Libertarian theory sees people are more enough to find
and judge good ideas from bad. The theory says people
are rational and their rational thoughts lead them to
find out what are good and bad. The press should not
restrict anything even a negative content may give
knowledge and can make better decision whilst worst
situation. The libertarian thoughts are exactly against or
opposite to the authoritarian theory which means the
authoritarian theory says “all forms of communication
works under the control of government or elite like
king”.
Strength and Weakness:
• Freedom of press will give more freedom to
media to reveal the real thing happening in the
society without any censorship or any authority
blockades.
• Is reliable with U.S media traditions.
• It gives more values for individuals to express
their thoughts in media.
• Theory excessively positive about media’s
willing to meet responsibilities which may leads
people into negative aspects.
• Is too positive about individual ethics and
rationality.
• Ignores need for reasonable control of media.
• Ignores dilemmas posed by conflicting
freedoms.
Example:
Wiki leaks website published all sorts of confidential or
restricted files in public space and especially classified
documents. These articles are providing brief
knowledge about the government and its activities
which helps people to identify what is happening in the
society and its gives great choices to elect a better
president in future.
Sometimes these documents may work against the
government and its authority that is why most of the
country is not willing to allow libertarian thoughts
because it may affect their power and kingdom.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORY. Social responsibility
theory allows free press without any censorship but at
the same time the content of the press should be
discussed in public panel and media should accept any
obligation from public interference or professional self
regulations or both. The theory lies between both
authoritarian theory and libertarian theory because it
gives total media freedom in one hand but the external
controls in other hand. Here, the press ownership is
private. The social responsibility theory moves beyond
the simple “Objective” reporting (facts reporting) to
“Interpretative” reporting (investigative reporting). The
total news is complete facts and truthful but the
commission of the freedom press stated that “No longer
giving facts truthfully rather than give a necessary
analyzed or interpretative report on facts with clear
explanations”.
The theory helped in creating professionalism in media
by setting up a high level of accuracy, truth, and
information. The commission of press council also
included some tasks based on social responsibility of
media, which are as follows:
• Formulate the code of conduct for the press.
• Improve the standards of journalism.
 • Safeguarding the interests of journalism and
journalist.
• Criticise and make some penalty for violating
the code of conduct.
The theory allows:
• Everyone to say something or express their
opinion about the media.
• Community opinion, Consumer action and
professional ethics.
• Serious invasion of recognized private rights and
vital social interests.
• Private ownership in media may give better
public service unless government has to take
over to assure the public to provide better
media service.
• Media must take care of social responsibility
and if they do not, government or other
organization will do.
Critics of Social Responsibility Theory:
• Avoids the conflict situation during war or
emergency by accepting the public opinion.
• Media will not play monopoly because the
audience and media scholars will rise questions
if media published or broadcast anything
wrongly or manipulate any story.
• Media Standards will improve.
• Media will concern all class audience rather
than focus on higher classes in the society.
• Media may work autonomously but certain
thing is controlled by the government and other
public organization.
THE SOVIET MEDIA THEORY. After the 1917th
revolution, the Soviet Union was restructured with new
political system based on the Marxist-Leninist
principles. The newly formed communist party by Lenin
shows much interest in the media which serves to the
working class in the country and their welfares. So the
Soviet originates a theory from Marxist, Leninist and
Stalinist thoughts, with mixture of Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel ideology is called “Soviet Media
Theory” is also known as “The Communist Media
Theory”. The same theory was developed and followed
by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi in Germany and Benito Mussolini
in Italy.
Soviet Media Theory:
Soviet media theory is imitative of Leninist principles
which based on the Carl Marx and Engel’s ideology. The
government undertake or controls the total media and
communication to serve working classes and their
interest. Theory says the state have absolute power to
control any media for the benefits of people. They put
end to the private ownership of the press and other
media. The government media provide positive
thoughts to create a strong socialized society as well as
providing information, education, entertainment,
motivation and mobilization. The theory describe the
whole purpose of the mass media is to educate the
greater masses of working class or workers. Here, the
public was encouraged to give feedback which would
able to create interests towards the media.
According to authoritarian theory, the media controlled
and censored by the ministries in the country but
libertarian is fully free without any intervention of any
authority or government, Social responsibility theory –
press freedom in one hand but other hand they
controlled the press by raising question and Soviet
media theory, the whole control of the media is under
the leader of the nation.
Critics of Soviet Media Theory:
• Soviet media theory looks similar like
authoritarian theory but the core part is
different from each other. In authoritarian
theory is a one way communication, there is no
feedback allowed from the public but in Soviet
media theory is a two way communication at
the same time the whole media is controlled or
works under the leadership.
• Private ownership is not allowed which leads
the press without any restriction and it can
serve people without any authoritative
blockades.
• Soviet media theory allows some restriction
based on the nation interest rather than
personal.
• Under communist theories like soviet media
theory, the journalist or press should support
the leadership rather than a watchdog.
• If the leadership is wrong the whole nation will
suffer a lot.
Example:
Pravda (Russian: "Truth") is
a Russian broadsheet newspaper, formerly the official
newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union,
when it was one of the most influential papers in the
country with a circulation of 11 million.
The newspaper began publication on 5 May 1912 in
the Russian Empire, but was already extant abroad in
January 1911. It emerged as a leading newspaper of
the Soviet Union after the October Revolution. The
newspaper was an organ of the Central Committee of
the CPSU between 1912 and 1991.
 FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA

1. Inform citizens of what is happening

(Monitoring Function)
2. Educate the audience (meaning and significance
of facts)
3. Provide a platform for public discourse (Public
Opinion and expression of Dissent)
a. Public opinion – views prevalent among
the general public
b. Dissent – strong difference of opinion;
disagreement esp. about the official
decisions
4. “Watchdog” role of journalism
a. Watchdog – is a person or organization
that makes sure that companies,
governments, etc., are not doing
anything illegal or wrong
5. Channel for advocacy for political viewpoints
a. Advocacy – the act of pleading or
arguing in favor of something, such as a
cause, policy, or interest; active support
of an idea

“Without a free and independent media, true

democracy is unattainable.”
- Warren Christopher
Former United States Deputy
Secretary of State