New media describes the arrival of digital media and technologies (as opposed to analog media--News papers and non-HD Television programs) in the latter part of the 20th century. The types of media and technologies include, but are not limited to: websites, video games, CDs, MP3s and DVDs.
The Internet plays a pivotal role in the distribution of the various types of new media. New media can be uploaded, hosted, downloaded, sold, and even promoted over the Internet. Most of the new media available on the Internet has the ability to be regularly updated, as well as, edited. The majority of old media forms did not have such capabilities.
Web logs, more commonly known as, Blogs, are a good example of a new media type that has taken the world by storm. Blogs serve as an open forum for people to voice their ideas, and as Kathy E Gill, author of "How can we measure the influence of the blogosphere?," notes, "Unlike newspapers or television news, blogging is not capital-intensive; there is no centralized registry, no editorial oversight. All a writer needs is access to a computer (free at public libraries). The only cost is time, as some hosting services are free" (Gill). Professional journalists have been stimulated to blog, vis-à-vis, reshaping the news media stories and methods (Gill). It has been suggested that Blogs will become the op-ed pages of the future, to further "feed mainstream print media –what’s new, what’s hot, what’s the buzz” (Gill). Blogs might just be the news sources and op-ed pages of the future, one day eliminating the need for printed news papers.
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