Custom «The Traditional Media» Essay Paper Sample

The paper is about research done to determine whether the traditional media is really being replaced by the internet, which is being used today in the modern world. This is a comprehensive report that based on the statistics from the secondary data concerning various field researches done on the topic by various authors in the articles used. The introduction of the paper will contain the thesis statement and the research problem. The body part or the literature review will cover the details of which the data was obtained with the sampling procedures, the type of measurements being used such as surveys, interviews and observations, and finally the approximate budget of the research. A reference list of all the sources used will be provided at the last page of the report.   

Beginning from the research question which states, “Is traditional media being superseded by the internet?” one is open to decide whether it is true or falls. I personally would like to agree that indeed truly it is being superseded, hence formulating a thesis statement that, “traditional media is truly being superseded by the internet”. The internet can be described as a form of new media that is meant to encompass some emergence of the digital, computerized, or some kind of networked information and the communication technology that began to sweep the market in the later part of the 20^th century. Most forms of technologies that are being described by the term “internet”, as form of new media is that they are in digital form, with the characteristics of it being manipulated, can be networked, dense, compressible, interactive, and also impartial.   Other examples of the new media forms are the websites, computer multimedia, some computer games, the CD-ROMS, and also the DVDs. The internet dos not feature in some television programs, some feature films, the magazines, books, or the paper-based publications (Festoon Media, 2010, p.2).

The research problem here is to real try and figure out how the internet is superseding the traditional media. In this case study, we are going to figure out the trend in the change through looking at various comparisons of both the traditional media and the internet in forms of the advantage they have to the people in general. This might also involve some responses from the people on how they have they pursue the traditional form of communication to the current media form, which is the internet.  In across many parts of the world, the journalists and the traditional forms of media organizations have indeed come to realize that the new form of media, which includes the blogs, the social networking sites, the cell phones messages, and some more new technology applications are having the profound on their work, since there is no more much interest in their forms of communication, such as the use of television in passing the massages, or even the use of radio for advertisement purposes. This really poses a great challenge to their work and the possible lack of employment in the future if they do not also encompass the new forms of media (Kalathil, 2008, p.6).

Right from the beginning of the earliest days, it was very clear that at one time, the internet would be at one point be different from other systems of communication breakthrough. This implies that the traditional forms of communication such as the printing press, the telegraph, and the broadcasting sector will have to do some dramatic improvements in their efficiency through their forms of information distribution. The internet was indeed created by the government-financed researchers for the purpose of allowing the easy sharing of the information and the resources among the academics. The idea of use of internet was designed to be kind of decentralized, but with its power and control being diffused. The same case was also to apply to the World Wide Web, which developed as a result of the Internet.

The two principles, decentralization and university, were meant to insure that both the internet and the web would at one time revolutionize the system of communication in general. Not only in the form of dissemination of the news and the information, but also on how it is being gathered and packed, and also by whom. With this, it would radically democratize the publishing, necessitate sharing as an essential fuel to the new media, and finally on its way, upend the traditional forms of business models that had initially sustained the journalism activities for very many years. It is also not very surprising that the news has indeed been one of the important parts of the internet since those earliest days, when the Usenet news-groups provided the people with a platform to come and share the news and the information. The small content websites did blossom in the early periods of 1990s, whereby towards the end of this decade, the venture capitalist decided to finance the creation and also the expansion of the wave in which the new business published its original content (Edmonds, 2008, p.24).     

This venture capital investment reported a growth in its earnings from $595 million in 1995 to a whole $15.6 billion in 2000, which is a growth beyond imagination. The content companies that were involved in the investment during those early days were the WebMd, the MarketWatch, Salon, Beliefnet, and Slate. Other major online communities included AOL, CompuServe, and Yahoo, who later decided to expand on their content findings. There was a challenge though in the business during the period of late 2000 and early 2001, whereby the internet bubble did burst. The venture capitalists then began to pull back their investments that they had put on the existing companies which were not profitable anymore leading to the less investment in the content firms in general. Despite the movement of the ad dollars from the print publications into the web, the new-media pioneers still found it very challenging to cover up all the costs of content creation using the traditional business and staffing models, hence forcing them to rethink twice about their move. A few years later, the web and internet use began to increase again, and as a result fueling the social media into the new forms of communication (4 Internet, p.116).

The new generation form of communication has two main economic advantages over the conventional traditional media namely; first, it is in the costs, whereby since the new generation media has its bulk source being created by the users themselves, it absolutely costs little to create them. Then secondly, in as much as the low rates of which the social media content were being produced, they could still generate the more page views in a much more efficient form than the content site could produce. With the current proliferation of the new formats and roles, it becomes very easy for anyone to perceive the online type of media environment as a form of chaotic free-for-all type of communication, since anyone is a potential journalist or commentator. The anticipated audience could be the unpredicted collection of the casual Googlers, or even the intensive active but closed community, since the computer programs do choose the top most stories of the day (Persephone, 2008, p.10).      

Methodology of Data Collection

The methodology used by the authors while doing this research was based on the survey, particularly through looking at the frequency of which the general population visited the internet sites. This data could be collected through viewing the traffic of which the people visited the online news sources. The sampling method was a comparison of four information sources namely; the television, the radio, the newspaper, and the internet. The sampling group age was divided into two groups, one between 18-29 years old and the other group, 65 years and older. This data was collected and recorded yearly, and since it is the measure to determine the population, there was no specific number of people to be chosen. It is all about finding out what is being preferred by many to others. This data was collected and tabulated yearly from the period of 2001-2010. As the internet based on the traffic monitoring while collecting the data, the newspaper users were surveyed as per the rate of reported sales by the sales agents of the various newspaper companies. The radio and television users were however surveyed through door-to-door field work.

The motive of doo-to-door field work was to get the accurate figures of the radio and television users from the personal interviews within a specific chosen locality.  While conducting the field research based on door-to-door basis, the researcher had to use a short and brief questionnaire, which would ask the participant of his or her age, then what means he or she gets the news and information from, and why he or she preferred such a mechanism. The types of questions asked were to be relevant as much as possible towards the field study, and also should not be biased or discriminative at all. Another checklist for the questionnaire was to ensure that the key questions are asked first, and later the opinions could come last. Another checklist for the questionnaire document was that it had to be as brief as possible, since many questions are tiresome and hence the participants might refuse to cooperate. In the case of uncooperative participant, a close relative would be substituted and also help in providing the data about his or her neighbor only if sure about the means of communication being used by the neighbor.       

Conduction a field research is generally involving. In the survey, there is need for computers and the qualified personnel had to be employed to monitor the internet traffic. Measures on determining the age was based on the sites being visited most by the traffic users, such as the entertainment sectors, the sports, and news. The rate of which the newspapers were being bought could depend entirely on the relationship between the research firm and the newspaper company for more accurate results. This data also had to be paid for due business reasons. Then on the door-to-door field research, it is generally the most demanding since transportation to various regions have to be catered for, materials used such as the photocopy printers, the papers, pens and hired personnel have to be paid. All these activities need an adequate budget to take care of these activities, of which usually runs to quite a huge amount of money, which is barely incurred by the research firm (The Associated Press and Context-Based Research Group, 2008, p.19).

The research procedure also needs to have a checklist of precautions. The first precaution to take was first to respect the culture are the interviewees so that no mixed reactions may be raised. The researchers also had to be of high ethical values, such as respect and honesty. The other checklist was that all the field researchers should be neat, and if possible always provide their identification to the participants before commencing the survey or field research. The participants should also be informed earlier on what the research is about and how their participation would be fruitful towards its success.  All these precautions are necessary for any research firm to ensure that integrity is maintained and that good relations are built with the society involved. This will definitely aid in the tabulation of good results since more honest opinions would be provided by the participants involves for the whole period of which the research is expected to cover (MacKinnon, 2005, p.34).   

Results Obtained

According to the Pew Research Center for the People and press, dated June 28^th August 2010, it indicates that the figures of the people using the television sets and other means of traditional communication was high by 2001, among the age bracket of 18-29 years. Television is the one topping the list as the most used ranging at over 70 percent, followed by the newspaper at around 40 percent and the radio users at an average of 20 percent. The graph for the internet is however volatile among the young generation since at the beginning of the research, it is ranging at around 20 percent, but towards the end of the ten year period, the graph is at around 65 percent. The other thing to not be that it is only the graph of the internet users is rising up while the other three are decreasing (Lenhart, 2006, p.17).

On the other hand, the survey done on the population older than 65 years indicates television users to be on the high, at an average of about 85 percent using this form of communication. This graph is however decreasing very slowly as compared to that of the age bracket between 18-29 years old. The second on the top of the list at this age bracket is the newspaper, which averages at around 55 percent. Radio users are third on the list with an average of 12 percent while the internet users at this age bracket are only about 7 percent on average at the end of the ten year research period.

Discussion of the Results

On the first study group, the graph of television users is decreasing at a very first rate while on the other hand; the graph of the internet users according to the traffic reported is increasing very first. Newspaper and radio users are few which indicate that the youth only use this forms of traditional communication to see the entertainment activities only. The big change on internet users as from 20 percent in 2001 to around 65 percent in 2010 is a great indicator that indeed, the internet is taking over and hence superseding the traditional forms of communication. On the other hand, the graph of the old generation has television users averaging above 85 percent. This graph is however not decreasing very first as to one might expect.

Also on top of the list are the remaining forms of traditional media, the newspaper and the radio. The internet use is very low in this age bracket, thus showing it is a new thing in market that requires some advanced king of knowledge of which the elderly are not conversant with. Since the elderly generation is the one using the traditional form of media at much rate, it therefore implies the traditional media is being superseded by the internet. This therefore poses a challenge to the communication industries that are still using the traditional media mechanisms to try and change to the new technology since as the elderly continue aging, they will soon be out of market. The challenge faced in the field research is that to some extent, there might be approximations of the results and that biasness might also be applied while tabulating the data. To avoid this, the unclear data should not be included while high integrity should be applied always to curb the issues of biasness.

Change is inevitable and everyone needs to adopt it for the purposes of survival in the modern world. It is therefore recommended that the media systems should be aware of the changes that occur frequently in the market in order to provide better, trusted and reliable services to the people worldwide. The research was a complete success since we were able to justify the thesis “traditional media is truly being superseded by the internet”.  We were able to indicate the percentages of the various form users between the young and the old generation, and since the interest is to focus on the new and the future generations, we should therefore back our support behind the young generation since it is the pillar that determines the future generation.