Competing Media

Report Outline
Printed Media vs. Electronic Media
Nature and Impact of Different Media
Emerging Trends in Communications
Special Focus

Printed Media vs. Electronic Media

The explosion of information that is engulfing the world has been accompanied by a revolution in communications technology. The present clear distinction between the printed mass media (newspapers and magazines) and electronic media (radio and television) is beginning to blur and may eventually disappear as hybrid or entirely new forms of communication are developed. Harry S. Ashmore, a former newspaper editor, has written: “It is not easy to take a detached view of the communications system and to consider its several parts. We have become enveloped in something like a seamless web of sight, sound, and print, and the media have trouble locating their own places in the endless expanse of words and images.”

The problem of media identity can only grow more difficult as time goes on because “Almost every day new means of communication become available as communication becomes the major activity of civilization.”

Before long, most homes will have their own duplicating equipment, and the day is probably not far off when school children will be making their own movies with cheap hand-held cameras as a regular part of their education.