The interference between new media and traditional media. Assessing the impact of new tools on conventional media content

Abstract

"The media industry has been disrupted by technological developments. In journalism, competition has emerged between traditional media such as television or radio and new media. It’s natural that people spend more time on these new platforms and journalists have to adapt to secure their profession. The theoretical objective is to assess how the basic function of agenda setting by journalists has changed in the new information ecosystem. Empirically, the paper aims to show how the content of news magazines in the media in Romania has changed over time with the expansion of new media. The paper examines the content of TV news bulletins according to the source of the images used. A content analysis to explain the current situation compared to 10 years ago, when the new media did not know such an amplitude. By analysing a series of 77 news programmes, 862 news items, the article assesses the audience’s participation in the production of news, but also the public institutions that use technology to impose their own messages. The results suggest that in 2021 the share of news with downloaded content (not the work of journalists) has increased 12-fold compared to the same period analysed ten years ago. This raises questions about who sets the agenda and what the identity of the traditional journalist is in the face of technological advances. Keywords: Mass-communication, New Media, Agenda Setting Theory, Mediatization"