What is Media Convergence ?

It is important here to consider the fact that much difficulty and disagreement had arisen in
defining the notion of media convergence. Most theorists agree that in general terms
convergence means ‘coming together of two or more things’, however a variety of different
arguments have been put forward in an attempt to define what exactly is coming together (Grant
and Wilkinson, 2009). On the one hand, convergence can be viewed as ‘coming together of
different equipment and tools for producing and distributing news’ (ibid.). Jenkins (2006:3), on
the other hand, defines convergence as ‘flow of content across multiple media platforms’,
suggesting that media audiences nowadays play a crucial role in creating and distributing
content, and convergence therefore has to be examined in terms of social, as well as
technological changes within the society. According to Jenkins, media convergence is an
ongoing process that should not be viewed as a displacement of the old media, but rather as
interaction between different media forms and platforms (Jenkins, 2006). Supporting this
argument, Deuze cited in Erdal (2011) suggests that media convergence should be viewed as
‘cooperation and collaboration’ between previously unconnected media forms and
platforms. Burnett and Marshall cited in Grant and Wilkinson (2008:5) explain convergence as
‘blending of the media, telecommunications and computer industries’ or, in other words, as the
process of blurring the boundaries between different media platforms and uniting them into one
digital form.

One question that needs to be asked, however, is whether or not these recent developments
are beneficial for the society and the industry itself. In other words, whether or not media
convergence presents more opportunities than challenges to both media producers and
consumers. One of the areas of particular concern when examining positive and negative
consequences of media convergence is media ownership (Jenkins, 2006). Nowadays the power
to control media industry is concentrated in the hands of private owners and relatively small
number of big media corporations. For example, companies, such as Warner Bros., which used
to focus on the film industry, nowadays have control over various aspects of entertainment
industry in general, such as computer games, books, magazines, web sites and toys, which is
all part of the process of media convergence (Jenkins, 2006). Consequences of this trend can
be viewed as both positive and negative. On the one hand, it may cause the decline in the
diversity of material offered and result in a tendency that voices of those lacking economic
power will not be taken into account (Branston et al., 2008:179). On the other hand, it is argued
that market driven media owned and controlled by big media corporations ‘can actually improve
the value of the service, the flexibility of topics and the competence of the contributers’ as well
as enable technological developments, change the elitism of media professionals and create
new general awareness (Grant, 2009). Another aspect of media convergence that can be seen
as its major drawback is what Jenkins (2006:23) calls the ‘participation gap’. This concept refers
to the fact that while media convergence in general has encouraged audiences to participate in
the process of content creation, it requires extended access to modern technologies, familiarity
with the new forms of media, as well as developing certain skills (ibid.). As a result, certain
segments of the audience arguably remain neglected and unable to fully participate in the new
media culture.

Drawing on the definitions of media convergence outlined above, it can be argued that one of
the ways of understanding media convergence is in terms of interaction between old and new
forms of media. This concept can be explained more clearly using the example of television
industry and its development over the years. The idea of transition from analogue media to
digital media stands at the core of media convergence debate. The term ‘analogue’ is used to
describe something ‘that resembles something else’ (Dewdney and Ride, 2006:227), therefore
signals transmitted through television can be seen as being analogous to the light and sound of
the actual scene (ibid.). In the case of analogue media, each form was separate and
independent from the others due to the need to use different ‘materials, properties and
apparatuses’ (ibid.). With the introduction of digital code however the situation changed rapidly
and opened new possibilities for media creation and convergence, for example, new forms of
interaction between producers and consumers

Source:
https://mconvergence.wordpress.com/about/