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We have seen an explosion of innovation in the mass communication fields in recent years. New forms of media compete with the legacy newspapers and television. We also have had powerful lessons about the importance of public media with the news coverage of the bombings on 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, political wrong doing, National Security Agency (NSA) spying and protection for citizen rights. We have seen innovation in marketing and promotional strategies and the internationalization and globalization of communication. The idea that public media play a pivotal role in the public dialog remains unassailable.
At the same time, it is clear that the media are in a period of transition - of shifting - and that changes in the media present unique opportunities and challenges for communication scholars, researchers and mass communication theorists to create a model for a new kind of journalism for the 21st century. This review finds that current trends in media practice and scholarship suggest that this new model will be one founded upon concepts of innovation and empowerment - one that will change the way we think about media and their role in society
This review will examine three things: 1) challenges to dominant models of mass communication; 2) changes in communication theory in the first half of the 20th century, and 3) trends in theory and scholarship in the second half of the 20th century.
I. Current Challenges to Thinking About Mass Communication
On January 6, 2006, the search engine company Google made two important announcements: First, it said it would compete with Microsoft by offering software downloads from its pages. Second, it said it would compete with broadcast television by offering current television programs for download from its Web site.
The morning of the announcement, CNN's Daryn Kagan, host of "CNN Live Today" interviewed Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine. Ms. Kagan asked what television would look like in five years. Mr. Anderson argued that while nothing was certain, the lines between television and digital media would largely disappear. Laughing nervously, Ms. Kagan asked "Will I have a job in five years?" Yes, you will have a job, Anderson responded, but people may be watching you on their computers or their hand-held devices or some other new medium...