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Academic Paper from the year 2015 in the subject Communications - Mass Media, , course: Media/Journalism, language: English, abstract: The omnipotence of mass media was already felt in the beginning of the twentieth century even though the main media present were only newspapers, magazines and radio. Of course, media attained the status of a religion only with the arrival of television ¿ family altars were replaced with the ¿idiot box¿; television,¿the big medium¿, by the end of the twentieth century became the surrogate parent, teacher and god. And then the omnipresence of the media was felt with the launching ofthe internet enabling instant social networking. It should be noted here that in the age of media convergence information technology has to be considered integral to media operations. FB, Twitter, Whatsapp, Pintrest, Instagram ¿ would be rendered ineffective without the internet. FB has captured the imagination of more than 1.5 billion people, one hundred million and growing in India alone. Twitter and Whatsapp are catching up. In the early 21 century the world moved beyond the ¿global village¿ ending up as a ¿global living room¿. No wonder Alexander Bard, the prophet who calls for triumph of the ¿netocracy¿ in his latest book ¿Syntheism ¿ Creating God in the Internet Age¿, speaks of the internet as the new Holy Spirit. Indeed with the New Media a new culture, religion, sanctuary idols and priesthood are emerging.
About the author
Did his PG Diploma in Media studies from Griffith College, Dublin, Ireland, and Licence and Doctorate in Social Sciences, specializing in media, from Gregorian and St. Thomas Universities in Rome. Has a Master's Degree in Philosophy from Nagpur University. Licence in Philosophy from St. Thomas University, Rome. Taught Media, and Philosophy for 22 years at many Institutes and colleges. Was Director of Gyandhara, Institute of Philosophy, in Orlim, Goa. From 2012-15 he taught the Under Graduate and Post Graduate Programme in the Mass Communication Department, St. Joseph's College (Autonomous) Bangalore. He was also the Head Of the Department (HOD). Has published six books. Presented papers in national and international conferences and seminars. Published scientific papers in reputed journals. Written numerous articles in religious and secular magazines. Filed press reports and Letters to the Editor in secular magazines and newspapers. He has a significant presence in online media with a personal website, blogs, and social networking pages offering comments on economic, political, religious, and social matters. He has been a full Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at Amity University, Gurgaon, Haryana, India.
