'The Last 20 years have been more significant in terms of media and its role in society than the whole of the previous 200 years.' TWEDYA

I don't think that the last 20 years have been more significant in terms of media and its role in society. In the past 200 years there was the invention of Gutenberg's printing press, the Renaissance, reformation and scientific revolutions. These are arguable more significant than the last 20 years as the main impact now would be the development and forced transition onto an online platform, whereas the revolutions constructed the development of the media. The most important period would have been during WW1 and WW2 where the medias role in society was the most important in terms of informing people what was going on and making sure that families had some knowledge of their relatives serving. The creation of the radio and cinematic news reel, allowed for news to be more up to date, which supports the importance within society as a fundamental part of day to day life.

There was also the development of investigative journalism, particularly with Watergate and the Nixon Scandal posted by the Washington Post, there is an argument to suggest that we need journalism to know the truth about larger organisations and powerful people, without journalism no one would have know about Nixon or many other issues for that matter. So without journalism the public would be oblivious to the abuse of powerful figures and those people would be able to continue doing certain things.

Despite these advantages institutions have benefited the least particularly recently which is why there is a valid argument to suggest that the Last 20 years has in fact been the most significant. The corporate management and the rise in people such as Rupert Murdoch has resulted in journalism following certain ideologies and has reduced the ability to investigate certain organisations out of fear of ruining corporate relationships.

Moreover there is certainly going to be a drastic change within the next five to ten years particularly for media companies who fail to use the online platforms efficiently and keep up with the trends, failure to keep up will cause audience numbers to fall and could even damage the reputation of the company. Thus causing a change in the path of  media.

Over all the past 200 years has been more significant in its role in society however the next five to ten years could be even more significant as it slightly mirrors the change in the early 1900s.