David Gauntlett's ideas

1. According to Gauntlett, what was "the media" like in the past and what changes have now occurred?

In the past, schedules were set by the media, which the media consumers had to respond to and shape their lives around these times. People were never given a choice as to how and when they were able to consume the media as this was dictated by the media institutions. Previously large, expensive equipment was required to create and distribute the media. Studios were also needed to create the media. David Gauntlett describes the big media institutions as 'The media Gods' distributing and creating media for consumers who he calls 'The little people'. The 'Gods' controlled how and when you could get the media. The 'Gods' were powerful. They sent messages down the 'the little people'. 

However nowadays, we do not need large expensive equipment to produce and share media, as we have small devices such as laptops and mobiles which enable us to do this. An example of a website that enables people to do this is YouTube. People typically talk about their lives or experiences and are able to gain a large audience. These websites such as YouTube, Myspace and Wikipedia enable content to be provided by the users to be distributed to other diverse users around the world. This creates competitions with the big media institutions such as the BBC and Sky News. 

These sites that enable consumers to create and distribute media are helped by Web 2.0 which allows people to share content and express their opinion on the material. This creates diversity in the content that is distributed. 

2. How far do you agree with Gauntlett?

I agree with Gauntlett as people are not controlled and restricted to the types of media they are able to consume. Wesbites such as YouTube, Facebook, Myspace and Twitter enable people to view content which may not be shown by media companies such as the BBC and also share their opinions by commenting on posts. As David Gauntlett said, this has created competitions between the big media companies who are not always able to share and produce the diverse material which is available on the the media sharing websites.