KCB201 WK12 “I Believe…” New Media, Beliefs and Politics

Does New Media play an influential role in the beliefs and values that exist within society?

Of course it does.

Like the books, newspapers, radio and television before it all media platforms have played a pivotal role is distributing the information that helps us determine our values and beliefs. New media is no different although it does have a twist. The democratised nature of the internet through open source software now allows people to not only consume this information but also to create and distribute it.

Citizen Journalism is one movement that exemplifies this more than most. In a time when the role of traditional journalists is being eroded more than ever before opportunities for individuals to share their beliefs and values with a wider audience have never been greater. The “MyMissourian project” is one example of a format that promotes citizen journalism as a supplement to traditional journalism via an umbrella model (Bentley et al, 2007). Unlike successful existing citizen journalism models such as OhMyNews, MyMissourian decided to function as an addition to traditional news operations rather than a competitor. Uniquely, it created opportunities for amateurs to share their views and be mentored by professionals at the same time.

Religion is another interesting area to view with respect to the use of new media. The acceptance of new technologies into a religious belief systems steeped in old world tradition seems to be somewhat of an oxymoron. “Believers tend to be older and hence less likely to take up CMC technologies, while younger, more Internet-savvy persons are less likely to affiliate themselves with traditional religions”(Ess, 2007). I believe generational change within religious power bases will have more effect on the use of new media than the religious movements themselves.

References:

Bentley, C., Hamman, B., Littau, J., Meyer, H., Watson, B. and Welsh, B. (2007). Citizen Journalism: a Case Study. In Blogging, Citizenship, and the Future of Media, Tremayne, Mark (ed.). New York: Taylor & Francis: 239-259.

Ess, C. (2007). Cross-cultural perspectives on religion and computer-mediated communication. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(3), article 9.