Introduction
Historically, society has experienced several shifts in communication. Throughout the 20th century, the Internet has developed rapidly and has extended across the entire world. It has become a major influence in shaping society and serves as the main resource to spread knowledge around the globe. In fact, this network of information clearly shows the potential to trigger significant changes, especially in the news media landscape.The Internet includes several media technologies. It is an electronic version of newspapers, magazines, books, catalogs and other kinds of publication. It is a very flexible and powerful method for accessing information electronically. In fact, by the late 20th century the internet had become the main source of information exchange for both individuals and large companies. Moreover, the internet enables people to obtain an interactive mechanism to instantly communicate with each other. Besides, it has become a major means of leisure for various people around the globe. Everyday the internet expands by the social, political and economic activities of people all over the world, and its impact grows exponentially. Indeed, the number of Internet and World Wide Web users is growing steadily. Throughout the years, many governments tried to restrict Internet usage, however they failed in their attempt, because they didn't manage to stop the widespread popularity.
Sumary
News sites are the most visited category on the Internet because this technological innovation has an incredible potential for the distribution of news. As a result, the public is increasingly turning to online sources for news. Consequently, the Internet is serving as a big competitor and a threat to traditional news organizations. The latter do not own the news anymore; they no longer control or decide what the public should or should not know, therefore, public discourse is becoming unmediated. Furthermore, the availability of information and the pressure for transparency is raising new issues that we couldn't confront before. While some traditional news outlets are reacting with fear and uncertainty, many are adopting open publishing features to their online versions. For instance: The Guardian has added blogs to its site. CNN also wants its audience to interact with it. In addition, BBC encourages the audience to make itself heard. The banner of the Arabic news network Al Jazeera states 'Be part of our success', that is, they want the audience to be involved and be part of them. Besides, the Korean news organization Ohmy News is interested in the audience to send them a news story.The popularity of web-based diaries and writings (weblogs or blogs) has led to collections of images posted as photo journals. Although these are generally by amateurs, the Internet has become a major outlet for online photojournalism. The net speeds delivery of news and photographs, allowing freelancers and small groups to compete with large news agencies. This has broadened the spread of news photography, although some traditional photojournalists fear their skills are being displaced by low-resolution Internet images.
Non-traditional news is found in Internet 'publications' such as blogs, podcasts and chatrooms. Over 6 million people use such online 'message boards'. These are often created by citizen journalists or netizens, and serve as a means of communication whereby people share ideas and thoughts. This means that citizens have the right to report immediately on mainstream news outlets. This way, the public turns towards participatory forms of online journalism. As a result, the media environment is shifting away from the broadcast model where the few communicate to the many towards a fairer model, whereby the public also has a say. Hence, the role of media gatekeeper is diminishing. Information is breaking free and top-down flow of information is decreasing; giving way to a bottom-up approach of information. In fact, today, it is more likely to communicate horizontally, rather than vertically because whereas before communication was one-way; the sender sending information to the receiver, nowadays, communication is two-way because the sender is also the receiver and vice versa.
Social Media
Over the years new technologies such as the internet brought about new human environments and thoughts, ideas and activities have been determined by developments in our means of communication. Communication has space and time dimensions and aims to 'build bridges' over discontinuities and disconnections created by distance and time. It is able to extend and stretch out human activity and perception over distance and time. Bridges are built and distance seems to be reduced by ease of perception and reception. In fact, facilitates instant interactivity. It has made it possible for messages to be sent to various distant points. Besides, it reduces the time it takes to communicate with people in other parts of the world. Indeed, many people make use of social networking websites like hi5, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook in order to stay in touch and keep contact with other people from all over the world.It is strongly believed that the modern media age has enriched us with an ever expanding store of images, therefore people from every nation have become closer to each other. For example: the funeral of Lady Diana in 1997, or wars, or acts of terrorism or disasters such as the tsunami that occurred in Thailand in 2004 or lately the earthquake that struck L'Aquila in Italy serve as events when the power of the internet unites a large mass of people throughout the world. So, there are certain times when it seems as if everyone in the world is experiencing the same media events; events that are witnessed daily on the internet. This way, modern communication technology such as the internet gives the idea that cultural diversity and heterogeneity are generated throughout the world, however all the evidence indicates that technology has become the major means through which diversity is being destroyed and replaced by a single global culture. In fact, electronic media, particularly with the innovation of the Internet and satellite broadcasting, increasingly transcend all national boundaries. Consequently, nationalism is weakened and the restrictions of national identifications are undercut. Hence, such media serve as a powerful means to bring a more universal and worldwide culture; in other words, an imperialistic culture. The process of cultural implies that a particular type of cultural development in a country is persuasively being communicated to other countries and is subtly invading other countries by influencing and conditioning them in their language, lifestyle, beliefs, values etc. Therefore, communication is no longer tied to any one territory and as matter of fact, it is delocalized. As a matter of fact, cultural sovereignty has become difficult due to the borderless world, in fact nowadays it is very difficult to control and create barriers.
Conclusion
Marshall McLuhan strongly affirmed this, in fact in his book 'Understanding Media' he claimed that the media revolution of the electronic age was producing a decentralised community, which he termed 'global village'. According to McLuhan, this electronic village involves a new kind of social bond and a high degree of audience involvement. At the same time, one must bear in mind that many people in third world countries do not have access to the media, especially the modern electronic and technological media. Television, films, books and newspapers are still inaccessible to many people in Africa, Asia and latin America; let alone computers and the Internet. Finances and connectivity are the major problems for accessing the Internet in such countries. Besides, reading literacy, computer literacy and computer access are linked together.
Due to modern technological innovations, such as the Internet, there is no geographical separation and there are no borders. The Internet has caused and encouraged public participation and contribution to have deep roots nowadays. It is difficult to predict how the news media landscape is going to develop further, but one can easily conclude that the development is linked to the progress of the Internet technologies. In today's world, we're not national. We're global. We think global.
