The growth of the new media has weakened the power of large corporations.

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As new media technology came about in the world, it brought opportunities for the consumer to be more
active in the process of spreading and obtaining information. With these new advances, consumer choice
became a large factor for businesses to take in account for success.
Characteristics such as compression was made for the consumer to have a “personalized media
experience”. This was done by introducing media content such as tv channels that target certain
audiences, showing how the focus of media companies has shifted from what the media owners want to
the consumer’s needs.
A more recent characteristic was introducing an interactive experience for consumers. By allowing the
users to select and choose their own content through touchscreens or a system of supply-led television, it
allows them to have more control over the media content as the constraints of television schedules or
restricted magazine content are no longer there.
Due to the increase choice of consumers to accept, reject, reinterpret or ignore media content in
accordance with their tastes and beliefs. This coupled with the new globalized digital media has also
allowed people to express their values through citizen journalism. More people, besides media owners are
now able to communicate with others and produce content that may be liked by other citizens. For
example, people can now write and publish any thought they have on social media sites like Twitter and
Facebook and expose information that media owners were trying their best to keep hidden. An example of
this, given by Murthy, is the Egyptian protests that led to President Mubarak being removed from power
in 2011. One of the major reasons the protests proved to be successful was due to Twitter as it helped
bring the mass movement of people onto the streets and it was regarded as so “threatening” by Egyptian
authorities in their ability to spread activist information that the internet was shut down for a weak during
that time. New media technology is helping revitalize democracy by giving people a voice, allowing them
to change or express their opinion on political matters. Anonymous is still one of the famous hacktivist
networks who has defaced corporate and government websites and has exposed many political parties.
Moreover, the introduction of the internet has brought about an e-commerce revolution. By making more
products available on the internet, consumers have more choice in what to buy, but especially from
where. Sites like Amazon and Play.com have great economic success because most people choose to buy
from there. This increased choice, leads to competition between e—retailers and companies, further
reducing the prices of products and as a result the consumers are now in control of the economic success
of large corporations.
However, techno-pessimists argue with the neo-philiac’s view and argue that characteristics like
interactivity in new media are just an illusion. The reality is that large corporations still have immense
power on new media technology and its content because there is not much development in the media
industry.

Comford and Robins argue that the media today is not as progresses as neo-philiacs claim it to be because
in reality, it is only an accommodation between the old and the new as devices now being produced need
something from the old media in order for it to work. Examples of this are that a gaming console, which
is a part of the new media, needs a television set which belongs in the traditional media for it to work.
Characteristics like interactivity are also not new because people have been interacting with the media, by
writing to the newspaper or telephoning the radio, for many years. 
Even the idea that the new media is increasing the potential for ordinary people to participate more in the
democratic process has been disapproved upon as political elite power holders like the government have
constructed sophisticated and elaborate websites to make sure their view of the world dominates the
internet, drowning out the public's opinion. To further maintain dominance, media superpowers have used
the advantages that they have over the citizen, like having the funding or branding, to own over three
quarters of the 31 most visited news and entertainment website, according to Curran.  So as the media
cooperation have successfully " colonized” most of the internet with their news, entertainment, business
and sport sites, political views and rebellious movements by citizens have pushed and hidden to the side.

Moreover, The E-Commerce Revolution does have its own serious side effects which only benefit the
bourgeoisie.  For example, companies that sell products and services on the Internet, like Amazon, engage
in consumer surveillance. Through the form of cookies, they can monitor and process the data generated
by consumers in order to target potential future audiences and as a result, enhance profits. As customers
will keep seeing products that they want, it is more likely that they will purchase them constantly,
encouraging materialism and false needs. This leads to commercialization of the internet and results in
further capitalist domination and control, as the customer who thinks he has more choice over what or
from where he wants to buy is actually being controlled by large corporations that are luring him to
purchase products from their sites so that their profits increase.
To conclude, even though both perspectives tend to exaggerate how far the media is being transformed,
postmodernists bring a unique view that power is not concentrated in a few hands; rather, power
circulates in a fluid way.  An example from Levene in 2007 showed that the public opinion triumphed
over corporate interest with the help of a media campaign which resulted in HSBC Bank backing down
on the introduction of overdraft fees for students. A viral campaign had started on Facebook and was then
also reported on The Guardian resulting in over 5,000 signatories, in a matter of days. The movement was
brought to the streets when students planned “flash queuing” blocking and disrupting certain branches of
the HSBC. This resulted in the bank backing down and entering into talks with the National Union of
Students. This shows that whenever any social issues arise, a range of groups become active and mobilize
their forces to fight back. since the outcome of these battles are not predetermined, such as shown in the
example, it cannot be concluded that power belongs and stays in one certain group.