The Internet Is Neither Print Nor Broadcasting, But A Qualitatively New ...
The internet is neither print nor broadcasting, but a qualitatively new medium, to which conventional means of exerting control are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to apply. It still remains to be seen if the global community (and it would have to be a genuinely global effort) can agree on standards of taste and decency for the Internet which are both enforceable and acceptable to the growing population of users. According to the BBC (2004), new technologies and services are increasing the choice available to audiences and transferring power from schedulers and broadcasters. Public sector broadcasting (PSB) providers will have to work much harder in future to persuade audiences to access their material and build brands across a variety of platforms. They also add that fragmentation of audiences and the growth of digital television are posing new challenges for public service broadcasters. BBC (2004) do suggest that changes in technology are also creating new and potentially more effective ways of meeting the needs of audiences in the nations, regions and localities. The BBC also accepts a responsibility to explore partnerships with other broadcasters designed to sustain the wider PSB ecology. The BBC is currently engaged in discussions with Channel 4 about a number of potential areas of co-operation. These range from sharing R & D and technology advances in new media services, through co-operating on international distribution, to options for pooling technical infrastructure, back-office functions and training. In the same response by the BBC they argue that there is mounting evidence that regional television may be insufficiently local to meet the needs of some communities, having been hindered for decades by technology, topography and patterns of transmitters. This response by the BBC to Ofcoms review also states that many viewers would prefer more local news to the current model of regional provision. In their view, it is important to consider new ways of harnessing digital TV technology and broadband distribution, rather than simply replicating the traditional model of regional opt-outs. McQuail, Blumler and Brown (1972) published results of research into the goals served by media use, not for society, but for media users. They assumed media and content choice to be rational and directed to specific goals and satisfactions. Audience members are conscious of the fact that they make choices. In general these choices, or personal utility as McQuail calls it, are a more significant determinant of audience formation than aesthetic or cultural factors. All these factors they assumed could be measured.
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