The media industry in this Global Communication Era is at a crossroad in terms of development in technology that allow new heights of journalistic excellence and the emergence of new trends and issues in journalism and mass communication. Communication ethics, codes, moral standards and values followed by media organizations and in human communication have acquired more significance than ever before. How media can be socially responsible and accountable to provide true, accurate, comprehensive and objective information and at the same time try to resolve the conflict between communication freedom, public interest and social impact is need to be explored.
With Globalisation and Democratisation of Information, media dimensions too have undergone phenomenal changes. With advancements in technology and global reach, media penetration is seeing enormous growth catering to a wide range of audience in terms of language, region, religion and content. A robust economic growth of developing countries, growing literacy rate and consumerism have contributed to ever increases of various forms of mass media like newspapers, radio, television, films and other traditional media. Right from the beginning of this millennium, new media formats such as internet and mobile phones have also made significant inroads. Smart Mobile Phones has entirely changed the society through mobility, immediacy, simplicity and context. Mobile phone has become an inseparable device of our lives. These phones are having a convergence of traditional interpersonal communication with a range of mass-media facilities like worldwide multi-person audio-video chatting, text messaging through various applications, internet, radio etc.
Current challenge is how to deal with huge data explosions viz. expanding universe of ‘digital influencers’; massive volume of social media conversations and real-time information transmission world over, especially those concerning the economic and social issues. With integration of ‘Social Media’, mass media fundamentals have undergone sea changes. With the advent of new technologies at very rapid pace, definitions of ‘Audiences’ and the ‘News’ are finding new meanings media organizations are no longer gatekeepers of information. Speed is the buzzword and ultimately the only answer at the current time horizon is real time, honest and transparent communication. Ever increasing Internet connectivity is driving new possibilities and expectations for real time information exchange.