Mass Communication and Journalism

Copyright: © 2012 El Tarabishi M. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The changing media landscape was the result of the transformation of media technology led to the so called” media morphosis”. Media morphosis is the normal transformation of communication media from the traditional media, such as the print media and electronic media to the nontraditional media, such as the computer, the direct to home satellite, cable TV, WWW web, and the social media, which sometimes identified with Web 2.0 such as wikis, podcasts, blogs, and the Internet forums or discussion boards. The social media do not actually arise spontaneously and independently, but they have emerged gradually from the metamorphosis of older media. The new electronic communication media will offer possibilities for greater change in society.

The social media function both as a forum in which important political, economic and social and cultural issues are debated, and as storytellers that carry people opinions, beliefs and aspirations across time and space. In this context the mass media places much responsibility on media and the consumers of the media. The new media technology, which is mainly embodied in the social media, asserts that audience members are an essential part of the mass communication process as are the media technology and the industries related to this communication process. Audience members have an obligation not only to participate in the process of mass communication but also to participate actively, appropriately, and effectively. This new media will enable actors to communicate directly and constantly across vast geographical distances, which increases the potential for cross-national diffusion of universal ideals, such as freedom, democracy and human rights. Now, a growing number of countries have been integrated into global civil society. As a result of the social media, many concepts related to human rights have become increasingly important to the audience members.
For example, the new social media has contributed to the uprising of some Arab countries, which generated a huge amount of discussion concerning political reform and regime change. The social media, particularly "Facebook, and "Twitter" are perceived to play a central role in changing many Arab countries outlook. The" Facebook" and "Twitter" which have even been described as "facebook revolution" and "Twitter revolution". Mass communication researchers have stated that the social media play important facilitation roles in terms of inter and intra-group communication as well as information dissemination.
Today mass communication researchers are continuously experimenting, the possible roles, responsibilities, impact and the actual positive and negative effects of the various forms of social media and cyber communication on individuals and society at large.
There are many major issues to be tackled in media studies and research such as the credibility, accuracy, reliability and adequacy of information of these new media technology, specially the social media. For example, focusing on chat rooms and multi -players games. The main purpose is to have an answer to the question of whether people are who they appear to be in this chat room. Also the concern of speed priority in the internet may cause unreliable and unverified news. Many sites that appear to be helpful and neutral sources of information are actually run by businesses whose main concern is to promote and sell, their products and services. Many online sites are now blurring the distinction between editorial content and advertising. Also Web users may not be thinking critically about what they are seeing and hearing. Any Web users need skills training for evaluating information disseminated through the Web.
Last but not least, the problem of knowledge gaps and media accessibility which is still debated. The have and have not. As we move forward into this new era transformed by global media, one might also consider dichotomies created by the reality of a relatively small cluster of nations with full access to the Internet, digital television, and wireless telephony, and at the other extreme millions of people on the other side of the "digital divide" who have yet to make a phone call, or read a newspaper. One cannot be certain how parts of a world so intrinsically linked to media will interact with the vast numbers of individuals who so for lived without it.
Finally, one can say that the transformation of the new media technology was benefiting most of the industrial, developed nations, but this media transformation is occurring at the same time in a large number of poor nations who are still attempting to come to grip with enormous social problems, ranging from illiteracy, poverty, subjugation, famine, civil wars, and poor health. Society in less developed and developing nations need to take major steps to assure ever-increasing knowledge gaps.