The implications of the personalisation of the media www.ubuntu.co.za for democracy

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This body of work is a post modern analysis of how the shift from mass to me mediainfluences the role and structure of the media. Was McLuhan right, is the mediumincreasingly the message? Or is the post-modern media a totally different animal, amanifestation of popular culture and marketing rather than the socially responsibleinstitution responsible for safeguarding democracy that it was envisioned to be by theAmerican founding fathers?The underlying theme is the convergence of media and marketing and the resultingconglomeration and technological dependency forced on the reader and the writer.Who are the new mediators and how do they manage the media? In the mediatrix, thereaders become media managers and the writers become surfers.The analysis begins with an examination of the contrast between real and virtualcommunities and how the media bridges this information gap. How does reporting invirtuality reflect reality?The body of the study has three parts, the shift from mass to me media, the alternativemedia spheres it has engendered and the controlling forces behind this transition.Throughout the study, mass media and me media are contrasted.The study ends with a look at the impact of technology .andpopular culture on the SouthAfrican media and how the media will click through the future. Will the deeplyentrenched communal values of ubuntu stave off the individualisation cocooningbrings? That is, will the I before we focus of personalised media nurture the SouthAfrican democracy or will itfoster mediocracy?

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University