The 2000s significantly affected most information and social information professions. The reason for this was the communication revolution, provided by new types of communication, data transmission, and content. The combination of technologies that people today call “digital” has made it possible to distribute any media content in real time at a reasonable cost. These same technologies dealt a severe blow to paid distribution, which held the mass media business for more than three centuries. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of mass media for the past several generations.
The beginning of the 21st century is characterized by unprecedented growth in targeted content supply. Instead of universal mass media, targeted at the broadest possible audience, publications, programs, and entire TV channels began to appear, addressing a narrower, select audience. Until the 1990s, targeted media was a luxury or professional interest. The share of journalists and other editorial staff employed in highly specialized media was a small part of the professional community. General interest media seldom needed editors or authors with narrow specializations.
However, the growth of targeted media has required the involvement of many “writing specialists” in journalism: authors and editors, who are primarily experts in the relevant narrow field. It could be fashion, technology, management, or other areas. These people turn out to be journalists only by the nature of their activity, without receiving any theoretical or ethical education. In 2009, the influx of such “journalists by occupation” was estimated at 30-35% of all working in the profession in the UK (Christians & Wilkins, 2020). This is a crucial stage for the media because people who have become journalists only due to a coincidence of working circumstances are not privy to the problems of journalistic ethics. They rely at best on common sense to resolve moral issues, which is not always correct.
A significant increase in the role of technology in media communication, associated both with the growth of consumption of “screen content” (not only television, but, for example, computer and video games), and with the development of networks, “digital” media and methods of their delivery, also influenced the composition of the professional community. Professional, “old school” journalists and editors had little interest in Internet media, leaving technologically advanced young colleagues with the right to establish and develop websites and Internet services, even without adequate ethical training in the profession.
In almost all countries, the “founding fathers” of Internet media are not professional journalists but “amateur computer scientists.” The initial ideas and values of the Internet media were based on intuitive, often extremely formal approaches: to ensure traffic growth at any cost, to ensure mention at any cost, and other needs. Professional ethical principles were dismissed as interfering with the promptness and “clarity” of the message.
Nowadays, anyone can become a content creator, and other people consume unthinkable amounts of such information. On the one hand, this is good because it gives people freedom of expression. On the other hand, this information rarely passes through even some kind of filter related to ethical issues or even the accuracy of facts (Kendall, 2016). Because of this, consumers receive superficial and low-quality information.
Thus, in recent decades, several critical processes have been taking place in the media business that affect and will influence the future of the society. These include a sharp increase in the share of “screen consumption” and targeted and specialized content. The amount of information available for any group of users has increased several times. The number of non-professional media representatives is growing, and online media are emerging, based on different values and professional principles than in the established print and broadcast media.
References
Christians, C. G., & Wilkins, L. (2020). The Routledge handbook of mass media ethics. Taylor & Francis.
Kendall, D. (2016). Sociology in Our Times, 11th ed. Wadsworth.