The focus of this prompt is a contemporary event in media. The main event is the recent wiki leaks revelations and the manner in which the New York Times would have covered the stories in the 1970s as compared to today. There have been significant social cultural and political changes that have occurred in the field of mass communication that would have resulted to a change in the manner of reporting between the two periods.
The manner in which the contemporary media is reporting the instances of wiki leaks revelations on government competition is very different from how the reporting was done in the past. For instance, there was a low level of freedom of media in Europe and America in the 1970s. As a result, reporting on wiki leaks would have been censored by the government, which was highly involved in controlling media communication, limiting the ability of New York Times to expose such communication. This challenge is limited in modern times as many governments have embraced media freedom and independence. The laws in modern countries across the world demand respect of the freedom of expression, and hence not likely to interfere with mass media, even in cases where the information is sensitive. In traditional media, it was difficult to have access to classified information as released by the wiki leaks, and New York Times would thus not have reported on wiki leaks revelations.
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The emergence of technology has changed the approach to media. The existence of –platforms has enabled independent individuals and journalists to issue reports that are not censored by government agencies. Advancement in technology has enhanced wiki leaks revelations as compared to traditional media where access to such information was limited unlike past media platforms such as newspapers that were highly controlled. It has become easier to intercept information over the internet in contemporary media.
There have been significant changes in the modern media as compared to traditional media. In the 1970s, the success of communication by New York Times on wiki leaks on the spying behavior of the United States of America would likely have been measured by the number of people who read newspapers at the time. Modern media has adopted technology where the success of communication would have been shared through social media likes and shares among other modern metrics of measuring the efficacy of mass communication.
Change in culture has significantly changed media communication. For instance, in the 1970s, many individuals in the United States of America were more conservative than the modern population. It is thus likely that they would not have exposed any information criticizing their governments. As a result, much of what has been released by wiki leaks would have been highly censored and could not have come to the public domain. As wiki leaks indicated, the CIA can use the ‘weeping angle technology' where they can send malware to televisions and mobile sets so that even when switched off, the screen goes off, but the gadgets remain on hence able to record any communication and relay data on location.
Wiki leaks communication could have been very difficult in past media due to a high level of political interference. Unlike today, past media was highly politically controlled. Many journalists were jailed for revealing classified information. Adoption of the rule of law and freedom of expression has increased.
In conclusion, it is evident that there are changes in mass media today as compared to 1970s. The media was more conservative and lacked access to international markets. Freedom of the media was also limited resulting in a high level of censorship of information. This challenge has been addressed in modern media where data can be easily accessed and shared over the internet. The emergence of liberal media has also led to increased access to information in modern communication.
Annotations
The main purpose of the first paragraph is to introduce the topic on media changes between the 1970s and today
The second paragraph indicates how media was highly controlled in the past as compared to today
The third paragraph indicates how technology has changed media reporting
The fourth paragraph indicates changes in media metrics
The fifth paragraph indicates how change in culture has changed media reporting
The sixth paragraph indicates how changes in political landscape has enhanced media reporting
The sixth paragraph is a conclusion on the topic
References indicate material consulted
Reference brief
In answering the above questions, information on the freedom of media was accessed from the website of Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting and development. The website indicated the differences that exist between traditional media and contemporary media.
Reporting from the independent newspaper was also assessed indicating six of the biggest spying secrets of US by the wiki leaks.
