The impact of the Internet on traditional news media (TV and print) Research Paper

The impact of the Internet on traditional news media (TV and print) - Research Paper Example The Internet commerce has become a multi-billion business competing with the oil industry and the likes. It has provided a platform for easier, real-time, accessible and cost effective way for information publishing. The influence of the Internet on traditional media has been massive and hard to ignore. It creates a research area on the various implication of the Internet to the mass media. Comparisons Between Internet and Traditional Media News in recent days has transformed into a shared, social experience. Half of Americans, for instance, have reported that they get news from people around them, and 44% of online news users are known to access news from the information they receive through e-mails or updates made on social networking sites (Sheffer & Schultz, 2012). Why Internet Over Traditional Media It would be apparent to assume that the Internet will one day replace traditional media. This may be true especially in the near future. Even though the Internet has a long way to go so as to replace the TV and the print media, those days are nigh (Salman et al., 2011). This is so since the rate of technology advancement in both hardware and software is high. Computer chips and transistors, building blocks of processor, get smaller and faster as time goes by. According to Moore’s law, this implies faster and smaller computers and processors. There is also improvement in the transmission media into faster and noise tolerant mediums such as fiber optics. This improves Internet access even on small devices such as smartphones. The Internet has various advantages that make it superior over the traditional media. It is easily accessible at any given time. The Internet is more discrete while the TV and Radio are continuous. This is in the sense that one can access information from the Internet anytime they want and any accessible way whereas in traditional media one has to time when to watch their favorite program or local news. The Internet supports hypermedi a, a collection of forms of information that allow users to use it for video, texts, audio and graphic forms of message communication. This provides the user with a pool of choices on the kind of information presentation the user requires (Sylvia, 2004). It also makes it entertaining to access information and share knowledge in various forms. The Internet becomes superior due to its high interactivity nature. Users can give feedback, opinions and ideas on various issues such as news, movies, and pictures. Unlike radio, it is cheap, effective and the client gets satisfactory answers or clarity. Unlike some of the traditional media, the Internet is highly accommodative. It accommodates people of all ages, races, religions with no discrimination of any at a go by providing parallel services. Wives can enjoy their favorite talk show as the guys watch the weekend game without a conflict of interest. Unlike the traditional media, the Internet provides the information we enquire or want to know rather than information provided to us. It provides information on a need to know basis. The Internet has improved access to information, and this is because it can be accessed from various gadgets of different sizes and functionality. One can access breaking news almost anywhere with Internet access, be it in their living room or during a walk with a friend as long as they have an Internet signal. Unlike TV and radio, the Internet