CBC: The End (TV, Print, Radio)

When you think back to the early twentieth century, prior and post both World Wars, technologically was developing rapidly, as it is now. However, traditional forms of radio, tv, and print are emerging on a new landscape, cyberspace. "The End", a three part series broadcasted through CBC sheds light on the state of tv, radio, and print industries.

A dominant theme attributed to print, tv, and radio is the merger towards independant ownership.

Before the millenium, television was a device used to stimulate the family unit. introduced in the 1950s, it drew people together to watch around one single outlet, a big black box. Now, television can be viewed through multiple devices such as Ipods and cellphones. Websites like Ninja video and Project Free Tv offer video streaming that can be accessed at any time to a wide selection of TV shows and movies. Though the big box in our living room seems to be "out-dated", it holds too much value to become obsolete. viewing habits may be changing, but cable TV will not evaporate into nothingness, not just yet. Websites like YouTube, Rocket Boom, and podcasts are an alternative to conventional tv viewing; a way that emphasizes choice and ownership.

Radio is a platform of media that is suffering more so than television, mainly due to limited choices. With the introduction of XM Radio and Sirius, people do not want to tune into FM stations, let alone AM broadcasts. Half the time a person spends in their car they browse for the perfect song, now that problem has diminished. Ipods, satellite radio, and podcasts offer an alternative to commercial drenched radio stations that target broad audiences, rather than niche markets. The new form of radio is extremely personalized. Radio is loosing its power at creating and sustaining communities. Radio was introduced to consummate a nationalistic sense of community, but now it is moving on to encouraging individuality.

The print industry is suffering the most, especially in newspaper and magazine outlets. Online journalism, aka, citizen journalism provides a left wing partisan news room that encourages participatory discussions, followed by commentary. With traditional newspapers, the reader experiences a one-way conversation. Now, people want to engage with user-generated content. You can even see classified sections of newspaper being digitalized eg. Craigslist, which is free! However, when it comes to books, though web 2.0 has given us Google Book Search and the launching of e-readers, the traditional style of engaging with literature will not decay. A person can not bring an electronic reader or laptop places a book can easily go...