Media of the future will echo our current media with accessibility and convenience being the key differences. We are already seeing a shift toward the desire for convenience with the advent of wireless, portable devices. News will not change that much. It will still bear a strong focus on war, celebrities, technology, violence and sex. These topics will be more audience specialized and taken to a further level as means to get viewers and listeners become more accessible. Celebrity news will overtake more important news subjects that tend to “bum people out” (especially younger generations).
Hand-held devices such as iPods, iPhones, and cell phones will become the media platform of the future. Once high tech hand-held devices become more affordable to everyone, news media will make a huge shift to putting out downloadable podcasts, “i-news” or “i-television.” These broadcasts will not be exclusive to just Macs and iPods, but include most technology company products. The future will certainly expand on the idea of media-to-go. You can get it anywhere, anytime with the push of a touch screen.
News is big business and it is only a matter of time before the business side takes over the news. There will be deals between major corporations to promote each other’s products. These deals will help with funding the media of the future. Advertisers will seek to get the younger audience interested in news through new technology similar to popular hand-held devices we see now. More product placement and short ads within downloadable newscast will dominate future advertising.
By Leah Thrasher and Jon Hermes