A look at the future Mass Communications in Modern Society

General Trends  Convergence  Demassification  Media ownership conglomeration  E-commerce  Internationalization

Convergence  Media will resemble one another with overlapping content  What comes down one “pipe” will come from another  Push-pull dichotomy

Demassification  Audiences will continue to splinter into smaller and smaller slices  Fewer common experiences for the larger society

Conglomeration  Fewer corporate “voices”  Fewer top-level decision-makers  Diversity in commonality

E-commerce  Impact on media  Book purchases  Downloading music, movies, etc.  Replacement of advertising  Move to “pay-per-view” or subscription as a basis for economic support

Internationalization  Content “there” is “here” and vice versa  Iraqi war images  Impact on the concept of “nation”  We have anything anywhere anytime

Impact on specific media  Magazines  Evidence of loss of content, audiences to the Web  The Web may do better what magazines have done  Newspapers  Loosening of FCC rules on cross-ownership  Challenge to newspapers of immigrants  Language, culture, coverage  Homogenization vs. diversity of coverage

Impact on specific media  Recorded music  Greater diversity of offerings?  Downloading for a fee  I-pod and knockoffs/MP3  Piracy  Radio  Conglomeration = blandness?  Web & satellite radio  Wireless in general as a delivery system

Impact on specific media  Television  Further specialization  Web/TV integration  HDTV  Multiple screens provide for interactivity  Connection to on-line/computer access

Impact on specific media  Internet  The Web IS the future  No one knows what’s going to happen.  It is the most revolutionary medium, in some ways, since print.  Interactivity  Instant content  It’s everything rolled into one  The cell phone as an interface

Journalism  The “deadlineless” news environment  All the news all the time  Googleization of news

Advertising  Individualized, focused  Delivered via , cell phone, profiled television audiences  Viral marketing  Problem of audience measurement  Impact of PPV/subscription media content

Public Relations  Focused messages  To gatekeepers  To audiences

Legal Environment  Censorship  Ownership rules  National Security  Copyright extensions  File sharing