‘Revolution’ or rather evolution? Current television in the context of media history

International Conference on Broadcasting Media & Film Industry

October 20, 2014 DoubleTree by Hilton Baltimore-BWI Airport, USA

Jukka Kortti

Accepted Abstracts: J Mass Communicat Journalism

Abstract :

The current discussion on ?media change? and ?media revolution? mostly refers to the digitalization process of media technologies during the last two decades. Especially the internet has impacted on the press and broadcasting since the internet has become not only the challenger to the ?old media? but a kind of ?meta media?. However, the negative outcome of the development concerns mostly media institutions such as newspapers, which have got in to economic crises in recent years. Besides, the worldwide economic depression after 2008 has had an effect on the media economics. However, media users, consumers, are living in the world of opportunities than never before. The possibilities of media use has increased rapidly because of the new media platforms (tablets, mobile etc.) and the new media applications have also created new opportunities to participate media (especially social media). And, although journalism may have suffered the consequences of the media change to a certain degree, the production of media contents is going quite well in 2010s. It seems that television, for instance, live its heyday at the moment as far as the quality is concerned. But, after all, is this a ?revolution? at all? Is Netflix (and other VOD) just and updated version of video rental company with some content production? Has not television been always ?social?? Was not the coming of cables and satellites in the 1980s more drastic phase in the history of television institutions and media economics than digitalization of the 2000s? In the presentation, this sort of questions will be asked and the current television in the context of television history and wider media history will be discussed.

Biography :

Jukka Kortti has the title of docent (Adjunct Professor) in Economic and Social History at the University of Helsinki and in Television Studies at Aalto University, Finland. He is a media historian who has published two extensive studies on Finnish television history. Presently, he is writing a book on the history of the media.