Neophiliac/ Cultural Optimist View of the Media

Greater Democracy

More Access to Information

Increased Choice and Participation

Global Village

Enhanced Social Life and Social Interaction

UK media audiences have a choice of over 500 TV channels and almost 200 million active websites. Also a wide range of choice for listening to music (CD, radio, iPod, mobile phone, apple music, Spotify)

Pluralist Neophiliacs: Competition between a diversity of media will improve quality of media output as they will introduce better qualities to outdo competition, benefitting the consumer.

E-commerce Revolution has created more choice for consumers: the growth of e-retailers e.g. eBay, Amazon has meant increased competition with high-street sellers, leading to lower prices of products/ services, thus increased choice and empowerment

Seaton: internet's interactivity and easy access allows "many to many" communication. This has rejuvenated civil society and generated political activism. There are no longer established centres of power/ monopolies of communication- mass media is no longer in total control, the people have more control and empowerment.

  • Protest and campaigning websites have promoted a culture of questioning and challenging governments and elite hierarchies, and holding them accountable for their actions.
  • This has put more power into the hands of ordinary people, allowing them to play an active role in democratic society.

Consumers can access information, complaints and reviews about anything that interests them, making them better informed and offering them greater choice than ever before in history.

Social media, online news sites, blogging, citizen journalism etc are all giving consumers more opportunities to participate in using and producing media content.

McNair: information, like knowledge, is power. The Internet is accessible to everyone and allows access to wide variety of information about almost anything, often for free. This gives people more power in society and in their daily lives, as they can gain access to information for themselves rather than relying on others for it

  • E.g. use of Wikipedia, tutorial videos on YouTube, blogs where many experts provide their expertise for free etc.
  • We can now gain more information about health conditions by checking symptoms online/ using an online patient group rather than being solely dependent on doctors= more empowerment.
  • Bloggers/ citizen journalists can use the internet and social media to report what mainstream media does not e.g. post their own reports, respond to biased/ distorted mainstream media output.
  • This allows for alternative view points that are unlikely to be found in mainstream media
  • Makes it increasingly difficult for mainstream media to ignore stories they might have dropped in the past.
  • New media is key in mobilising people to fight against oppressive and corrupt regimes across the world. Like-minded people can come together and take action which can lead to social change.
  • During the Arab Spring, social media played a key role as it facilitated communication and interaction among participants:
    • able to organise and publicise demonstrations
    • spread information on sites like Facebook ("Facebook Revolutions")
    • raise global awareness by sharing pictures/ videos showing evidence of violent acts of repression, torture, murder of protesters by the regimes.

24 hour news coverage from a variety of sources and the option to switch on instant notifications also makes it very easy to stay in touch with what’s occurring in the world.


Now possible to ‘hack’ an education online, as many colleges and universities post learning materials for free (e.g. lectures on YouTube) and there are blogs in which people have put together syllabuses which link to free information.


People are no longer restricted to geographical areas or immediate social connections. There are new opportunities for communication and interaction e.g. making online friends through social media or gaming, that can develop into face-to-face meetings and real life friendships.

  • Factors like gender, age, ethnicity, social class, geographical distance previously meant some conversations would have been impossible to have in the real world, but alternative identities can be constructed in the virtual world.
  • Individuals can experiment with new identities or be anonymous= greater freedom to express themselves than ever before.

McLuhan (1962): the digitised new media has collapsed space and time barriers in human communication, allowing users from around the world to connect and interact with each other instantaneously, making the world like one village/ community. In this global village, national barriers are reduced and the boundaries between the local and the global are blurred.

The new media promote cultural diversity as different peoples and cultures are brought together, promoting greater understanding between different cultures.

It is now easier for families and friends to stay in touch anywhere in the world which opens up the possibility for people to move to other places yet still stay connected.


As a result of social media sites like Facebook there are now thousands of new ‘tribes’ with millions of people interacting on a daily basis, forming online communities across the world.

Social media can enhance social networks e.g. ensure people stay in touch when they are far away, re-establish lost contacts between old friends, create online communities and bring people together from all over the world. Social net-working accounts for more than 1/5 of all time spent on the internet.

Itzoe (1995): the internet allows millions of users around the world to communicate in the freest form of speech in history. Activists can use it to:

  • monitor illegal/ immoral activities of big businesses
  • harness mass support for causes e.g. KONY 2012
  • coordinate protestors and activists

Hacktivism: rebellious use of technology and online networks to promote a political agenda or social change- often related to free speech, human rights or freedom of information movements e.g. Anonymous who carry out internet vigilantism, advocate for anti-cyber-censorship and anti-cyber-surveillance