The Role of Old Media in New Communication Environment

This paper deals with the different aspects of old and new media in the present world. Disseminating knowledge and information is the sole purpose of media and in India, the importance of old media and its influence in new communication environment is amply evident. Enhanced technologies and innovative product development provide an ongoing barrage of new communications that join the ever growing list of existing media transforming rapidly into old media. Today, new media can be defined as media that are interactive and integrate computers with multimedia and they seem to greet us at every nook and corner of our life. However, new media would soon turn into old media, but media that has long lasting effects such as telephone, newspapers and television, would never run out of fashion or significance. Old media is also evolving over time, for example, party lines in telephony give way to private lines as technology continually evolves. This shows that old media will also interact with new media over time and in the process develop better mediums of disseminating information. Historical linkages between new and old media have been consciously attempted by several researchers in the past. In the following discussion we will get an overview of what old media and new media truly means and what they entail. Further, the importance of old media in India’s growth and development along with its continued value in new communication environment has been succinctly noted in this paper