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CHALLENGES OF COMMUNICATION IN THE DIGITAL ERA:
BUILDING A NEW PARADIGM
Lucian-Vasile Szabo, Assist. Prof., PhD, University of the West, Timişoara
Abstract: The generalization of interpersonal, but also of media communication, and the emergence of
multiple possibilities of assertion in the public sphere, in the context of a pronounced demassification
of the public, imposes rethinking the approach strategies employed in an analysis. Surpassing the
postmodern stage also requires reestablishing, if not a paradigm, then at least an interrogation
framework. Developing a philosophy of digital communication becomes imperative, out of the need to
rebuild and adapt the tools of investigation. From my point of view, we can identify at least three
fields of research. The first one targets the way information is gathered and edited. The second one
refers to the new features of the message in the global communication society. The third field imposes
a strong reflection on new media ethics. In what follows we will outline a few directions of analysis,
starting, however, from elements of traditional communication. The numerous approaches of present-
day cybermedia and cyberspace are oriented towards (1) Defining, mapping and investigating the
field in its general characteristics; (2) Establishing the specificity of each field. Media communication
is a manifestation framework of this type, bringing numerous challenges. In the analysis of changes
that have occurred in the field of media communication, on a traditional level, we notice the
prevalence of studies regarding the distribution of journalism products, i.e. public relations. In our
study, we mainly approach the more difficult and more specialized stage of information gathering. In
this activity as well, the technological offensive is powerful, though less obvious.
Keywords: digital media, information gathering, media platforms, cyberspace, media sphere, new
communication.
Over-mediatization and lack of ostentation
For almost two centuries, ever since the classics in this field began studying the
sociology of public opinion, the interaction between (mass) media and its public has been
investigated in its most diverse forms, with enormous benefits. However, little-researched
epistemological, sociological, and pragmatic matters are dealt with in this segment of
investigation into the path of information from source to communicator (journalist and
editor). The fact that research regarding this path of old and new media communication is
rather irregular and sporadic has a baffling effect. At least as compared to studies dedicated to
the other communication sector, stretching from the press institution to the recipients of media
products.
There is a conviction that digital media, in its current form, favors and imposes a focus
on the relationship between media institutions and the public. Koljonen, Raittila and
Väliverronen (2011) find that: „The burning question for all editorial offices is: how to
maximize one’s target audience on all publishing platforms without compromising any
individual platform’s performance?” Also, the economic crisis has brought heightened
competition among media institutions, putting additional pressure on journalists.
Nevertheless, the authors then focus on sources and the relationship between these and
journalists, thus contradicting, to a certain extent, the claim that exclusive attention is given to
mediation, to transmission of journalistic products to the public. With regard to information
gathering, Koljonen, Raittila and Väliverronen (2011) would show how some inconsistencies
have created negative reactions. They refer to an armed attack which took place in a school.
Authorities released precise data only hours later, a time interval during which, under the
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pressure of informing in the field of digital media, journalists called on different sources,
including minor students. The victims’ relatives and surrounding residents also criticized
authorities, for not allowing them to carry out the mortuary rituals and pray in peace.
The journalist’s good degree of information, as well as that of the public he/she serves,
is founded on a fair and efficient process of information gathering. The expansion of digital
media and a high degree of technological and media convergence stimulates researchers to
focus on this segment too, found at the beginning of the communication (information)
process. The effects (and shortcomings) noticed upon reception, when the journalistic
products reach the public, have direct causes in the unseen, i.e. in the process of finding,
acquiring and editing data. In order to revitalize the circuit of professional communication,
certain academic programs have emerged, capable of exploiting the particular field of
journalistic mediatization in the context of digital explosion (Diakopoulos 2010 and 2011). As
Pavlik explains (2013), we are standing in front of computational journalism or CAR
(Computer-Assisted Reporting), as technology is present along the entire path of
communication: information gathering, organization and sensemaking, communication and
presentation, and dissemination and public response to news information.
Involvement and needs in media space
The behavior of digital or cybermedia users, as we wish to name this complex field of
new communication in postmedia or in intermedia, is also very important. One can notice two
already underlined features: 1) the public, in a general sense, no longer exists; one speaks of
publics, some of which are often interested in highly specialized fields; 2) the studies are
mostly focused on the interrelationship between the media institution and the public, and less
on that between sources and journalists. However, an approach from a meta-communication
perspective, given by intermedia, allows new observations on user behavior. Each of us enters
the digital communication sphere with certain needs and specific purposes. Thus, we are part
of one or several large categories of users, whether we are placing contents or just accessing
already existing ones. I have already mentioned that my intention isn’t to focus my research
on the impact of data on the public and on its behavior; however, a few points of reference on
this information and entertainment section are important in order to understand the topic.
Placing various media products on websites and altering existing ones can be carried
out by anyone, amateur or professional. Non-professionals’ access on many platforms is
limited to certain sections (comments, for instance) and provided under safety conditions.
Professionals can only access websites they work for or with which they have a collaboration
agreement. Under these circumstances, one can see that it is not that easy to post in the online
space information or products of higher complexity. There are sites that can host anything, but
trust in these is low. In serious organizations, any content from users is assessed and verified
before it can be mediatized. Numerous digital publications have sections where one can post
contents directly, with minimum filtering. Here we refer to comment sections, forums or what
is known as the Reader’s Corner. Here, interventions are made after data is introduced,
eliminating improper formulations.
The degree of user involvement is manifested between two extremes, which need
highlighting: 1) a remarkable degree of involvement, implying very active individuals. They
post often, join debates, provide information, make comments and offer suggestions; 2)
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individuals with minimum activity resumed mostly to observing. They introduce contents
quite rarely. Between these limits there are very many users with different degrees of
involvement. The users who lurk make up an interesting category. Schneider, von Krogh and
Jäger (2013) conducted a consistent study on what they named „lurking behavior”, the
behavior of those lurking in online communities. This is a less studied field, regarding people
with extremely varied interests. The authors seem to understand this behavior more as
observing and minimum socializing, and not necessarily in the sense of a hunter studying
his/her prey, of a predator.
Points of reference and meanings in postmedia
The term postmedia needs to be understood, in accordance with the evolution of terms
such as postmodernism, post-history or post-industrial, but not as a new stage following
media, but as part of a process of the transformation of media. It also signifies a stage of
reflection on what was before and present-day manner of configuration. The term metamedia
could also be useful, possessing the advantage that is suggests, by referring to metaphysics,
the establishment of a field of investigation capable of analyzing the evolution, the content
and the issues of mass communication. It also stands close to metalinguistics, a term which
Roman Jakobson uses to individualize one of the functions of language. The term metamedia
can be employed as an instrument of work in the context of the bulkiness and uncertainty of
postmodernism, which postmedia explicitly refers to. Ramsey E. Ramsey (2006: 685),
noticing this confusion generated by the semantics of postmodernism, would suggest the
concept of post-metaphysics, though this is not necessarily clearer... Jensen (2011) sets the
term metamedia apart for the technological part of communication, outlining the tools that
make it possible, such as the computer and the cellular phone. This terminological diversity is
a challenge for communication, as it threatens to restrict it and render it unclear through the
multitude of often contradicting terms.
Nevertheless, we stay with the concept of postmedia, precisely in order to avoid
increasing terminological and methodological confusions. Relating to it can be antithetical, in
the sense that one can relate to mass communication in a critical manner, in the way it was
discovered and harnessed in modern society. In this case, the critical analysis is fixated on the
evolution of mass media, investigating the field according to its components, to its inner
functioning (the type of organization developed), as well as its external efficiency, i.e. the
evolution in the social system served. There is also a type of relating to this in the direction of
actual media - postmedia continuity. Everything builds a history, in which the constituent
parts are integrated, nevertheless maintaining individual features. Thus, the paradoxical
situation is revealed, in which the emergence of radio, and, to some extent, of television,
would not undermine the activity of the printed press. The latter would have peak moments
(reflected in an increased circulation) during the inter-war period, as well as in the years
following World War II. The three media directions would have separate histories, but would
interfere with each other due to common procedures. Information seeking, editing from a
neutral point of view, as well as presenting quality entertainment would remain a priority. The
audiovisual, during its first decades of activity, would provide a dimension adequate to the
culturing function of the press, a function subsequently maintained, though less obvious
today, as it is outrun by the exacerbation of entertainment.
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New media is a term with a rather long history behind it. It would be used in order to
understand two relatively distinctive media contexts.
In a first sense, new media refers to those changes of paradigm through which
researchers in the field have made distinctions in the stages of press evolution. The criteria
were chosen according to evolutions in technology, science and society. One can identify old
and new media according to the role played by certain events that have brought about radical
changes. Thus, the status of the press would differ before and after the French Revolution
(1789-1791). The role of the telegraph in transmitting information (the first half of the 19th
century) would impose another periodization. People also spoke of new media after the
introduction of the rotary press and of the linotype machine with molten lead (second half of
the 19th century), as well as after the arrival of radio and television systems. After World War
II, they would even speak of new journalism, seen as a change in editing journalistic
materials, with a higher degree of subjective involvement on the authors’ part.
Currently, the term new media maintains its historically preserved meaning of
detachment from the old press, but also gains new features. Nonetheless, the main meaning
attributed today to new media is that of cyberspace communication, in the electronic
environment. Other terms suggested, less known and less used, but which are able to better
reflect the field of contemporary press, are online media, digital media or electronic media. In
a first sense, one can agree that among the three terms there is a very high degree of
overlapping, as they define the same domain. There are, however, significant differences.
Two gradations are necessary here. Thus, digital or electronic media covers more than online
media, due to its storage capacity on mobile support devices and due to offline work options.
At the same time, online media bears connections to social media, which only partly behaves
as professional press in the classical sense. Electronic media also includes computer memory,
offering the possibility to work offline. The main feature of online media is its capacity to
instantaneously transmit in continuous connections, in permanent flows of data and
information. Therefore, online media can be seen as an important constituent part of
electronic media (Szabo 2013).
Editing and reception strategies
Based on a few criteria we can establish a few fields of defining and understanding
new and older media. Here, the adjective “new” is fundamental, because, depending on the
meaning given to novelty, one can establish a first criterion, i.e. the historical criterion.
From a historical point of view, any old media was at some point new. Diachronically,
we define a few areas of inclusion: 1) general relating to technique and technology. The press,
the telegraph, the photocopying instruments, the telephone, the possibility for long-distance
data transmission, all represent innovations of general social character, but with specificity in
mass-media; 2) the specific mass-media technical evolution. This is related to point 1),
however, certain elements can be identified regarding the revolution of the movable
letterpress, of the mechanical press, underlining the role played by the linotype machine with
molten lead or the rotary press. The emergence of radio and television constitutes another
feature of new media in relation to the classical media of the time; 3) the evolution of
journalistic genres and of the types of publications. Diversification was gradual, by separating
the informative elements from those pertaining to education, literature or entertainment.
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Specialization and diversification can be noticed in the occurrence of waves in the cheap
press, often associated with flows of tabloidization. The invasion of the specialized press
makes up a separate chapter; several magazine eras can be identified; 4) evolution in concept
and design. This translates into an enlargement of publication formats and an increase in the
number of pages, into the use of new paging techniques, into a change in the attitude towards
titling (titles would become larger). This would be followed by reducing article dimensions
and enlarging the font, in parallel with a much greater attention given to image. With radio
and TV, techniques of enhancing the dynamism in news broadcasts would be employed, and
with the increase of broadcasting time, a revolution in entertainment would be achieved.
Synchronically, from a present perspective, new media can be seen as separate from
the historical evolution described above. Communication in cyberspace is the mechanism that
defines new media in this sense, and the elements of conjunction are named internet (with
important components such as www or the e-mail) or digital media. One can quickly notice
that, although a synchronic approach, media communication in cyberspace already has a
history. The starting point can be traced back to 1989-1990, to the activation of the first
network links (www), but also back to the year 1994, of internet expansion, following the
creation of the Mosaic search engine. Naturally, there are voices claiming, based on certain
arguments, the existence of a new electronic media in 1969, beginning with the ARPANET
project. This calls for a discussion on what one understands by digital media, a collocation
identifying the synchronic new media. Our field of analysis is based on two meanings: 1)
digital media as a new model for press, as a specific domain along with the printed press,
radio and television. It does, however, use elements from the classical environments and
develops them in the electronic environment; 2) digital media as toolkit for classical media, in
which case it takes part in fulfilling the purposes of these organizations (newspapers,
magazines, radios and TV), outlining their specificity, without being separately outlined.
There is also a difference between new media seen as electronic media and online media. It is
obvious that electronic media has a much ampler history, beginning with the first magnetic
recordings. These were carried out more than a century ago, beginning with gramophone
records, and continuing with magnetic tapes for cassette players and magnetophones after
World War II. These were later followed by data storage devices for computers, from various
types of flexible disks, to the optical disk, and all the way to the increasingly sophisticated
memory sticks and hard disks that currently allow the storage of large amounts of data, in
parallel with an ample card industry.
Actors in the media sphere
New media also calls for a discussion from the perspective of the professional
criterion, i.e. who carries out a press activity and how, who communicates in media, and how.
Again, there are two possible approaches.
Who are the people who make journalism in the new media system? Apart from media
professionals, the field of mass communication is populated with people who manifest
themselves from a media point of view, sometimes quite powerfully (Szabo 2013). We
identify the large category of outsiders, individuals who have rather influential sites or blogs.
For few of these do the rules of journalism represent a priority in the activity carried out.
There is also a specialized category, represented by the diverse range of citizen journalism.
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These are people who militate for an idea or a cause, many of them coming to know the
techniques of the genre quite well. They are not journalists in the classical sense, where,
probably, few would cope, but they possess all the necessary skills to carry out their work in
their field. Naturally, they differ from the mainstream journalists, who act on the basis of
balance and impartiality (at least theoretically!), whereas, citizen journalists do not set out to
hide their militancy, the fact that they fight for a well-defined purpose, considered to be of
public interest. Citizen journalists can be professionals who have joined the fight with an aim,
using all the means available, even those rejected by journalists. The category of outsiders, of
non-professionals (Lasorsa 2012) is much wider and includes all those who are involved in
the media process, particularly in digital media, however, without possessing the skills of a
journalist, nor the necessary ethical points of reference.
What are the changes that have occurred in the way journalism is made from the
perspective of this profession’s standards? Here we refer to people qualified as journalists, in
the sense that they have an attribute or several attributes that define the profession: they have
specialized training, a certain professional experience, they work in an editorial office or have
a collaboration agreement for a longer period of time, or they possess a work badge issued by
a professional organization or by a media institution. An opinion which seems to gain
popularity among the public, as well as among specialists (media analysts) refers to lowering
standards. The reasons are several: 1) the poor training of the employees of media institutions;
2) fewer employees, meaning that those who remain have to cope with multiple tasks; 3)
errors occurring as a result of working under pressure, under conditions of fierce competition;
4) the large volume of data, which can no longer be efficiently managed; 5) the incapacity to
verify all available sources, particularly electronic ones; 6) the pressure put on by non-
professional competition (social media), that imposes rather raw, emotional subjects and
approaches; 7) the need to maintain and win over the public’s interest, by offering
information, and particularly entertainment, of a poorer quality.
The role of technology in new communication
Another dimension is represented by new media (often also digital media) as seen in
its relationship to and in its overlapping with multimedia. This latter term is characterized
here as a field of communication equipment, ranging form the mobile phone to the tablet, and
from the computer to the satellite. Here we also identify two categories, depending on the
location of the media institution. Transmitting messages by phone has undergone a
continuous process of perfecting ever since its invention, just as technical innovations have
enabled a better transmission of radio and TV signals. Then we stepped into the digital era
and witnessed the unprecedented development of internet communication. A closer look
reveals a different degree of visibility on the two parts of the path of information from the
source to the public.
Publishing, i.e. the activity describing selling the printed materials or broadcasting
journalistic products (radio or television), has always had a greater visibility in the public
sphere. The press has often been judged based on the way disseminated products (pertaining
to information, education or entertainment) are received, their quality often bearing different
meanings in the eyes of the public, of researchers and journalists. During the past decades,
new media, seen as technology, has offered the possibility to transmit journalistic products of
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higher technical quality. The signal is disseminated faster and without numerous and ample
distortions, therefore making it better. Media organizations have made outstanding efforts in
order to have access to such technologies. Beginning with the classical TV or computer
screen, today these are not only integrated, but also assimilated to other devices (already
mentioned: mobile phone, tablet). Yet, all of these are not specific to mass communication
alone, understood in the professional sense, but to other related human activities, such as
social media. The diversity of context was accurately captured by researchers in this field:
“Citizens of this information age are provided with a plethora of opportunities not only for
accessing information such as news, but also for producing and sharing such information
themselves” (Westlund 2013).
However, important changes have also occurred on the path of information from the
sources to the journalist and from the journalist to the editorial office. Another ingredient is
represented by technical innovations emerging in media organizations, in the process of
information editing and preparing final products for publishing. During the 1877-1878 war,
Romanian journalists copied the news written by hand and posted on the door of the Ministry
of War. Others they received by telegraph, but the stations were located quite far from the
battlefield. Things have evolved over time, but the paper and pencil have remained the
journalist’s basic tools. However, new (digital) media has also changed the manner of work
regarding information gathering and processing. Mobile phones, and later laptops, meant the
first stage in what Westlund (2013) coined mobile media. Internet access later followed,
allowing the diversification of the manner of work. Thus, journalists could transmit
increasingly elaborate journalistic products, i.e. text, sound and image. The images are photo
images, as well as video images, which are extremely dynamic, requiring an adequate
technology. Also, media communicators were exempted form certain trips, being able to
access sites belonging to various institutions from the editorial office or from the comfort of
other locations. In 2010, Groening described the way in which the mobile phone was evolving
toward the media platform status, becoming an efficient instrument for receiving TV
broadcast signals. Thus, an important mutation was occurring, as the TV was “taken out” of
the private space of home. This transfer into the public space was also noticed by the author in
the history of the cellular phone per se, initially used exclusively for private talks.
Subsequently, it reached the impressive development we see today. In this context: „The
adoption of cellular phones as television platforms presages a changing role for television in
the public/private divide” (Groening 2010). After only two years, the digital media explosion
would be extraordinary, and the cellular phone would become one of the instruments for
promotion, along with the others previously mentioned. Not only the role of television would
change, but the transfer of elements belonging to the private space into the public space would
also continue, with or without the assent of those involved.
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