IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON TRADITIONAL MASS MEDIA A CASE

STUDY OF NEW VISION NEWS PAPER

BY
NANSUMBA ROSETTE
BMC/34780/1 13/DU

A REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND

SOCIAL SCIENCE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF
BACHELORSDEGREE IN MASS COMMUNICATION OF
KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL
UNIVERSITY

JUNE 2014

1
 DECLARATION

I NANSUMBA ROSETTE declare that this proposal is a result of my knowledge and hard
work; I declare that to the best of my knowledge, this paper has never been submitted in any
institution of higher learning for any award.

Signature... .~

NANSUMBA ROSETTE

_~,fc fo~ J~-oi~

Date
 APPROVAL
This Proposal has been submitted to the College of humanities and social sciences of Kampala
International University under my supervision as a university supervisor.

Signature

(SUPERVISOR)

Date
 DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this piece to the Almighty God for the gifted Wisdom and Good health
that gave me a platform which led to the success of this study.

This work is dedicated to my mother Mrs. Barbra Kiwanuka and my father Mr. Godfrey
Kiwanuka for all the sacrifice, patience, commitment and love you have shown me through the
course of my study. I love u so much and I just want you to know how much am grateful for your
unending support. May the good Lord bless and watch over you, I pray.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I extend a vote of thanks to a number of people who unreservedly, contributed towards the
accomplishment of this research work. I also would like to acknowledge the assistance and role
played by the following personalities to the successful completion of this study.

I cannot say exactly how grateful I am to my supervisor, Mr .MOHAMED MATOVU. His

guidance in this study was beyond measure. Thank you also for providing me with professional
advice, encouragement and your time that has spurred me to success.

In the same way, I would like to thank the management and staff of VISION GROUP for the
time they gave me. They honestly filled the questionnaires, surely, without their input; this study
would not have come to fruition.

I cannot forget the efforts of the staff of Kampala International University especially the lecturers
at College of Humanities and Social Sciences for their input and effort that made me acquire the
invaluable knowledge. Your contribution can never be quantified but will always be reminiscent
whenever I look through this book.

Lastly, I thank my family and the good LORD for seeing me through the course of my study.

iv
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION .

APPROVAL ii
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
List of tables viii
LIST OF FIGURES ix
ABSTRACT x

ChAPTER ONE I
INTRODUCTION 1
I I Background to the Study
.

1 .3 Purpose of the Study 5

1.4 Objective of the Study 5
1 .5 Research Questions 6
1.6.0 The Scope of the Study 6
1.6.1 Study scope; 6
1 .6.2 Geographical scope; 6
1.7 Significance of the study 6

CIIAPHER TWO 8
LITERATURE REVIEW 8
2. I Introductions 8
2.2 Theoretical framework on changing technologies 8
2.3 Related literature 10
2.3.1 Technology 10
2.3.2 Traditional mass media 16
2.3.2.1 To Explore how technology has impacted the traditional mass media in regard to news
papers, television, radio, print media and advertising 26
2.3.2.2 To find out the effects of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda 27

V
CIIAPHER THREE .33
METHODOLOGY 33
3.1 Introductions 33
3.2 Research design 33
3.3 Sample design 33

3.4 Research Population 33

3.5 Sample Size 33
3.6 Sampling procedures 34
3.7 Research instrument 34
3.9 Validity and reliability of the instrument 36
3. Ii Data gathering procedure 37

3.12 Data Analysis procedure 38

3. 13 Ethical Consideration 39
3.14 Limitation of the study 39

CHAPTER FOUR 41
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 41
4.0 Introduction 41
4.1 Profile of the Respondents 41
4.2 To explore how technology has impacted the traditional mass media in regard to news
papers, television, radio, print media and advertising 43
4.3 To find out the effects of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as
gathering, packaging and dissemination is concerned 45
4.4 To determine if there is a relationship between technology and content consumption patterns
of audiences 46

ChAPTER FIVE 48
FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 48
5.1 Summary of findings 48
vi
5.2 Conclusions .50
5.3 Recommendations .53
5.4 Areas for further research 53

REFERENCES 55
(b)Interview Guide 61
APPENDIX II 62
TIME FRAME 62

VII
 LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Profile of the respondents 41

Table 2: To explore how technology has impacted the traditional mass media in regard to news
papers, television, radio, print media and advertising 43

Table 3: effects of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as gathering,
packaging and dissemination is concerned 45

Table 4; Pearson’s Linear Correlation Coefficient results for technology and content
consumption patterns of audiences 47

VIII
 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: The Technology applied in New vision group of companies 44

Figure 2: effects of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as gathering,
packaging and dissemination is concerned 45

ix
 ABSTRACT
The study was set to ascertain impact of technology on traditional mass media in, Uganda a case
study of New vision. It was followed by the following objectives, to explore how technology has
impacted the traditional mass media in regard to news papers, television, radio, print media and
ad\’ertising, to find out the effects of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as
gathering, packaging and dissemination is concerned, and lastiy to determine if there is a
relationship between technology and content consumption patterns of audiences. The study used
a cross sectional survey design. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection .The
researcher use a self administered questionnaire and interviews together for necessary data for
the research. The study used survey design because the research wants to get precise information
and make a conclusive result regarding the technology and traditional mass media. The
researcher will use the stratified random sampling methods and the purposive sampling methods
to collect the data from the respondent in New Vision.From the total population of 259
employees of new vision, the sample size will be 157 employees. The questionnaire were used to
collect both numerical and in depth data on the entire three research question using closed ended
questions .The researcher in this section gave conclusion to the study findings in relation to the
study objectives
Concerning major impact of technology on the traditional mass media in regard to news papers,
television, radio, print media and advertising,46% of the respondents said that It keeps us up to
date with current affairs was the major impact of technology on the traditional mass media in
regard to news papers, television, radio, print media and advertising, Concerning the effect oC
technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda, 46% of the respondents said that Net work
society was the major effects of Technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as
gathering, packaging and dissemination is concerned The researcher made the following
recommendations, The way forward for newspapers, mainstream as well as other conventional
media particularly in Uganda would be first of all, to improve their credibility. As it is now there
are segments of the society which see mainstream media as the mouthpiece and propaganda tool
of the ruling government. The researcher observed that, first and foremost, newspapers should
separate their new venture and their core business, the new venture being the online digital
newspapers and their core is their already existing newspaper business. These separate sites

x
dedicated to oniy online newspapers will be successful in building new markets with new
sources of revenue. The way out for newspapers and other media will always be on the revenue
side, creating new ideas, creating new value propositions, and creating new ways to engage with
customers. In other words, newspapers could work with search engines and Internet Service
Providers to provide and include in the ISPs package access to digital newspapers. Newspapers
could also charge a subscription fee for their online version where, upon payment of the fee, a
password is given to the subscribers. Online presence as well as print version of the newspaper
should be side by side.

xi
 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study.

The human species’ use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple
tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of
food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their
environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone,
and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to
interact freely on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful
purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed
throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons

Technology according to Julius Adams (2005), is the making, modification, usage, and
knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, and methods of organization, in order
to solve a problem, improve a pre-existing solution to a problem, achieve a goal, handle an
applied input/output relation or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of
such tools, including machinery, modifications, arrangements and procedures. Technologies
significantly affect human as well as other animal species’ ability to control and adapt to their
natural environments. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples
include construction technology, medical technology, and information technology.

According to Eric Schatzberg (2006), the human species’ use of technology began with the
conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to
control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans
in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including
the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to
communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all
technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing
destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.

1
The invention of the printing press made it possible for scientists and politicians to communicate
their ideas with ease, leading to the Age of Enlightenment; an example of technology as a
cultural force.
The use of the term technology” has changed significantly over the last 200 years. Before the
20th century, the term was uncommon in English, and usually referred to the description or study
of the useful arts. Borgmann, Albert (2006). The term was often connected to technical
education, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (chartered in 1861).

The term ‘technology’ rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection with the Second
Industrial Revolution. The term’s meanings changed in the early 20th century when American
social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of
Technik into “technology”. In German and other European languages, a distinction exists
between technik and technologie that is absent in English, which usually translates both terms as
“technology”. By the l930s, “technology” referred not only to the study of the industrial arts but
to the industrial arts themselves. Franklin, Ursula (2007)

In 1 937, the American sociologist Read Bain wrote that “technology includes all tools, machines,
utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and
the skills by which we produce and use them.” Guston, David H. (2000). Bain’s definition
remains common among scholars today, especially social scientists. But equally prominent is the
definition of technology as applied science, especially among scientists and engineers, although
most social scientists who study technology reject this definition. Wade, Nicholas (2003). More
recently, scholars have borrowed from European philosophers of “technique” to extend the
meaning of technology to various forms of instrumental reason, as in Foucault’s work on
technologies of the self.

Dictionaries and scholars have offered a variety of definitions. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
offers a definition of the term: “the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular
area” and “a capability given by the practical application of knowledge”. Wade, Nicholas (2003).
Ursula Franklin, in her 1989 “Real World of Technology” lecture, gave another definition of the

2
concept; it is practice, the way we do things around here”. Plummer, Thomas (2004). The term
is often used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology or just
consumer electronics, rather than technology as a whole. Haviland, William A. (2004). Bernard
Stiegler, in Technics and Time, 1, defines technology in two ways: as “the pursuit of life by
means other than life”, and as “organized inorganic matter.” Crump, Thomas (2001).

Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by
the application of mental and physical effort in order to achieve some value. In this usage,
technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems. It is a
far-reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more
complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not
be material; virtual technology, such as computer software and business methods, fall under this
definition of technology. Crump, Thomas (2001).

The word “technology” can also be used to refer to a collection of~echniques. In this context, it
is the current state of humanity’s knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired
products, to solve problems, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants; it includes technical methods, skills,
processes, techniques, tools and raw materials. When combined with another term, such as
“medical technology” or “space technology”, it refers to the state of the respective field’s
knowledge and tools. “State-of-the-art technology” refers to the high technology available to
humanity in any field. Stahl, Ann B. (1984).

The invention of integrated circuits and the microprocessor (here, an Intel 4004 chip from 1971)
led to the modern computer revolution.

Technology can be viewed as an activity that forms or changes culture. Additionally, technology
is the application of math, science, and the arts for the benefit of life as it is known. A modern
example is the rise of communication technology, which has lessened barriers to human
interaction and, as a result, has helped spawn new subcultures; the rise of cyberculture has, at its
basis, the development of the Internet and the computer. Not all technology enhances culture in a

3
creative way; technology can also help facilitate political oppression and war via tools such as
guns. As a cultural activity, technology predates both science and engineering, each of which
formalize some aspects of technological endeavor.

The mass media are diversified media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience
by mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place varies.
Broadcast media such as radio, recorded music, film and television transmit their information
electronically. Print media use a physical object such as a newspaper, book, pamphlet or comics,
to distribute their information. Outdoor media is a form of mass media that comprises billboards,
signs or placards placed inside and outside of commercial buildings, sports stadiums, shops and
buses. Other outdoor media include flying billboards (signs in tow of airplanes), blimps, and
skywriting. Morris, Dr. John L (2001) Public speaking and event organising can also be
considered as forms of mass media Brill, A (1999) The digital media comprises both Internet and
mobile mass communication. Internet media provides many mass media services, such as email,
websites, blogs, and internet based radio and television. Many other mass media outlets have a
presence on the web, by such things as having TV ads that link to a website, or distributing a QR
Code in print or outdoor media to direct a mobile user to a website. In this way, they can utilise
the easy accessibility that the Internet has, and the outreach that Ihternet affords, as information
can easily be broadcast to many different regions of the world simultaneously and cost-
efficiently.

1.2 Statement of the Problem.

Many research studies have been conducted to observe the impact of technology on traditional
mass media. Findings of previous researchers have made the researcher to conclude that
technology has some direct effects on traditional mass media but little, if any study has been
carried out in Uganda, regarding impact of technology on traditional mass media. Technology
has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has
helped develop more advanced economies (including today’s global economy) and has allowed
the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known
as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of Earth’s environment. Various

4
implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises
new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human
productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.
Postal services, print media, news papers and Advertising revenues are tumbling due to the
severe economic downturn, some major newspaper chains are burdened by heavy debt loads. As
in the past, major newspapers have declared bankruptcy as several big city papers shut down, lay
off reporters and editors, impose pay reductions, cut the size of the physical newspaper, or turn
to Web~only. Technology has also affected the way newspapers get and circulate their news.
Since 1999, almost 90% of daily newspapers in Uganda have been actively using online
technologies to search for articles and most of them also create their own news websites to reach
new markets (Garrison, 2001). Thus therefore, this research probed the researcher to gather
information on the effects of technology on traditional mass media in Uganda. The study will
confine use of ratio and television technology.

1.3 Purpose of the Study.

This study tried to investigate the impacts that technology has brought about on the traditional
mass media with particular emphasis on radio and television production.
The study tended to find out respondents’ preferred media as compare to the change in
technology.

1.3 Objective of the Study

General aim of this study was to ascertain impact of technology on traditional mass media in,
Uganda.

The specific objectives of the study were:

o To explore how technology has impacted the traditional mass media in regard to news
papers, television, radio, print media and advertising.
o To find out the effects of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as
gathering, packaging and dissemination is concerned.

5
 o To determine if there is a relationship between technology and content consumption
patterns of audiences

1.5 Research Questions

To achieve the above objectives, the study was guided by the following research questions.
I-low technology has impacted the traditional mass media in regard to news papers,
television, radio, print media and advertising.
o What are the effects of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as
gathering, packaging and dissemination is concerned.
o Is there a relationship between technology and content consumption patterns of audiences

1.6.0 The Scope of the Study

1.6.1 Study scope;
The study covered the impact of technology on traditional mass media a case study of New
Vision located along Jinja Road Industrial Area in Uganda.

1.6.2 Geographical scope;

The study focused on new vision news paper located along Jinja Road Industrial Area in Uganda

1.7 Significance of the study

The findings will enable the Management of Vision Group to identify the impact that technology
has caused whether negative or positive on the traditional mass media in Uganda.

Managers and directors of various TV Stations, especially those engaged in similar operations
will have the necessary information to improve on their broadcasting services in region and their
media services.

This study is expected to stimulate further academic interest and provided information for further
research on the topic and also to other decision makers.

6
To the public, the research and the findings collected would act as a source of motivation to
various managers and other persons in appreciating the need for what technology has brought
about on the media industry.

To the researchers; future researchers will use this work as a reference and a guide to their study.

To the student, this study is a partial academic requirement leading to the award of a degree in
Mass corn rn unication of Kampala International University.

7
 CHAPHER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introductions.
This chapter consists of the theoretical framework and the related literature. Therefore, the
researcher reviewed all the relevant literature available on internet and in major libraries across
Uganda. A logical and systematic review of the literature made the completion of this study
possible.

2.2 Theoretical framework on changing technologies

Virtually all Ugandan media have been impacted with the emergency of World Wide Web,
which has resulted into most of them having an internet presence. The Internet has the ability to
provide feedback quickly and easily from receivers to senders. The Internet has introduced mass
interaction to mass media through the use of chats, blogs and so many other applications which
arc being put to use in the mass communication field. The innovation has led to a visible change
in the way mass communication is being practiced in Uganda. The various aspects have
witnessed different technological innovations ranging from the print media to the broadcast
media. In chronological order, the print media was the first to witness this change before the
radio and the television medium. This study is however premised on certain technological
theories first of which is the Domestication theory
Domestication theory is an approach in media studies that describes the processes by which
innovations, especially new technology is tamed’ or appropriated by its users. First, technologies
are integrated into everyday life and adapted to daily practices. Secondly, the user and its
environment change and adapt accordingly. Thirdly, these adaptations feedback into innovation
processes in industry, shaping the next generation of technologies and services. The theory was
initially developed to help understand the adoption and use of new media technologies by
households (Silverstone et al. 1992), but has since been expanded in the innovation literature as a
tool to understand technologies and innovations entering any consuming unit (workplace,
country etc. e.g. Lie et a!., 1-labib, Punie, Sorenson) that can be analyzed economically, culturally
and sociologically. The domestication approach considers both the practical and the symbolic

8
aspects of the adoption and use of technologies, showing how these two elements- the meanings
of things, and their materiality, are equally important understanding how technologies become
part of everyday life. It is a foremost a social theory as it highlights the negotiations, challenges
to power and control, rule-making and breaking that accompany the introduction of technologies
into any social setting.

Taking a look at the Ugandan situation, it is evident that the domestication theory is applicable to
what is obtainable. Many of the traditional media had a conventional way of relaying
information however, over time, with the changing technology, media organizations began to
adapt to the various innovations to suit their mode of operation. Online versions of the traditional
media such as the face book, Google, yahoo, twitter what’s up have been created to match up
with the ever changing technology. Domestication theory highlights the role of users in
innovation - the work done by individuals and communities in order to make a technology from
the outside do practical work, and make sense within that community. This strand of work links
to the role of end users, lead users etc. in long term innovation process (Williams et al. 2004).
This indicates the role of the various individuals who have capitalized on this innovation by
creating news forums, blog sites, social networking sites for news and lots more.
However, the principal criticism of the domestication approach is its reliance of detailed case
studies, and its rather descriptive approach which is difficult to turn into prescriptive lessons of
the type required by business and policy makers. However, this rich-descriptive approach is also
its strength: it enables processes and the complex interplay of artifacts and cultural values to be
explore in much more depth than individualistic, quantitative methods. The Domestication
approach, describing the integration of technologies into social relationships and structures using
evidence obtained using qualitative methods, stands in sharp contrast to individualistic and
quantitative approaches. This theory, however, is relevant to this study due to the fact that it is
able to establish a relationship between the new innovations and how the media takes the form
and inculcate the various changing technologies into their mode of operation.

9
2.3 Related literature
2.3.1 Technology
According to Ambrose, Stanley H. (2001), Technology is the making, modification, usage, and
knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, and methods of organization, in order
to solve a problem, improve a pre-existing solution to a problem, achieve a goal, handle an
applied input/output relation or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of
such tools, including machinery, modifications, arrangements and procedures. Technologies
significantly affect human as well as other animal species’ ability to control and adapt to their
natural environments. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples
include construction technology, medical technology, and information technology.

Technology and mass communication have always been in a sort of competition. This is due to
the fact that for every new form of technology that evolves the mass media has a way of
inculcating it into mass communication practices. From Johann Gutenberg’s invention of the
printing press in the 15th century, via an abundance of technological advances in the fields of
communication, printing, database and computing technology, before finally arriving where
mass communication has gotten to today. Various technologies have created new forums and
avenues for the mass communication field which keeps evolving on a daily basis. Ambrose,
Stanley H. (2001).

The mass media are all those media technologies that are created to reach a large audience
through mass communication. Broadcast media (also known as electronic media) transmit their
information electronically and comprises of television, radio, film, movies, CDs, DVDs, and
other devices such as cameras and video consoles.
Alternatively, print media use a physical object as a means of sending their information, such as
a newspaper, magazines, comics, books, brochures, newsletters, leaflets, and pamphlets.

The organizations that control these technologies, such as television stations or publishing
companies, radio stations and even online stations are also known as the mass media or new
media.

10
The importance and role of technology in the media process cannot be over emphasized as since
the evolution of technology, visible changes have been recorded jn the success of the media. A
medium can come in various forms like print, broadcast or digital.
The last decade has brought some important new technologies for the mass media. In
1991, the first usable portable computers were developed. Around the same time, mobile
phones started to make their entry. In 1994, the internet became commercially available. Within
two years, ‘everybody” had heard about the internet, and after another two years the number of
available web sites had nine-doubled to more than 20 million different sites. From being a tool
for the American military and educational institutions, the Internet has become a commodity
service, freely available to anybody who wants to use it. Stanley H. (2001).

l-luesemann (2011) stated in his findings that the human species’ use of technology began with
the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehisto~ical discovery of the ability to
control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans
in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including
the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to
communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all
technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing
destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.
Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies,
technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today’s global economy)
and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by
products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of Earth’s
environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new
technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of
efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the
challenge of traditional norms. Huesemann (2011).

Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with
disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo

11
Ludd i sm, anarcho-prim itivism, and similar movements criticize the pervasiveness of technology
in the modern world, opining that it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents of
ideologies such as transhurnanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological
progress as beneficial to society and the human condition. Indeed, until recently, it was believed
that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific
studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools
and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations. Kremer, Michael (1993).

Mumford, Lewis. (2010) noted that the use of the term “technology” has changed significantly
over the last 200 years. Before the 20th century, the term was uncommon in English, and usually
referred to the description or study of the useful arts. The term was often connected to technical
education, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (chartered in ~861).

Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by
the application of mental and physical effort in order to achieve some value. In this usage,
technology refers to tools and machines that i-nay be used to solve real-world problems. It is a
far-reaching term that i-nay include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more
complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not
be material; virtual technology, such as computer software and business methods, fall under this
definition of technology. Mumford, Lewis. (2010).

The word “technology” can also be used to refer to a collection of techriques. In this context, it
is the current state of humanity’s knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired
products. to solve problems, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants; it includes technical methods, skills,
processes, techniques, tools and raw materials. When combined with another term, such as
“medical technology” or “space technology”, it refers to the state of the respective field’s
knowledge and tools. “State-of-the-art technology” refers to the high technology available to
humanity in any field.

12
In the modern world of today, technology plays a big part in the media industry. There are
advantages and disadvantages to this.

The advantages of new technology

The advantages of new technology is that it keeps us up to date with current affairs. Information
is more accessible especially with the internet and the use of WAP (Wireless Application
Protocol) technology and message alerts on mobile phones.

The disadvantage is that we depend in a way on technology like mobile phones for instance. A
mobile phone is like a piece of clothing; we put it on in the morning and take it off at night.
There are more new demolishes being introduced to the world so it influences everything. All
current technology is being improved and new technologies are being introduced with the older
technologies being introduced to poorer countries as the prices go down. New technologies are
usually expensive and so aren’t being distributed widely but as time goes by technology is going
down in price but then the result is the market loses out unless there is a huge number being sold
then the product will be took off the market. There are developments on how information gets to
us as broadband internet is spreading so there is things like IPTV (Internet Protocol Television)
which is a service used to transfer television programmed to subscribers via their internet
connection. This is expected to spread as more and more people are availing of broadband with
up to 100 million people using it nowadays. This is connected with the Video on demand (VOD)
systems which allow users to select and watch video content over a network as part of an
interactive television system. Cable, digital and satellite television has changed and improved
giving viewers more access and control over what they see. High Definition Television (HDTV)
is a new thing SKY is incorporating into their programmes with ñiore clarity in the picture and
sound with less distortion. There will be two new formats in the form of Sony Blu-Ray and
Toshiba l-ID-DVD These will use new High Definition technology as well as the old DVDs. A
lot of people like to upgrade so this will be the new upgrade to your current television and video
system producing better quality pictures. I think this will have a major impact on how we see
things again and will sooner or later will be just be another technology. I think it will have a big

13
impact on the gaming market as the Playstation will have this technology and so the gaming
world will have more of an audience.

Mobile television is a recent technology and changes the way we see television reducing it down
to something small and so it must be interesting as people’s attentions spans are smaller than
what they use to be, because of digital television as people have so much choice, we flick
through the channels to find something interesting so whatever is shown on a mobile must be
quick and snappy and to the point. The way we use phones in a way is affecting our
communicating techniques and with the introduction of mobile television, we will lose out and
the companies will cash in. The days of one on one discussion are becoming less and less due to
the fact we have phones to do it for us. Radio is developing and becoming more widespread due
to the internet. A new technology called Digital Radio (DAB) is being introduced and make
make sound waves more clearer eliminating interference as with AM/FM frequencies. This way
it will become more widespread not depending on strong signals to transfer data especially over
the internet on broadband in particular. People will find radio more accessible which will effect
the way people accept radio making it more worthwhile. Digital cinema is a another new
developing technology. Nowadays film comes in reels of 35mm which is projected onto to a
cinema screen using a film projector. In the future films will be transferred to a cinema by
getting a code and downloading the required film via broadband internet to a massive hard drive
storage where it will be played out from. This will be a quick process and will increase the
quality of the picture with clean sound and picture unlike the 35mm.

The development of the internet with the use of broadband nowadays will be essential to the
access of information. Monitoring of the internet will be more prevalent due to child
pornography sites and the easily accessible sites unsuitable for children. There will be a
smackdown on this but not a complete one because of the vastness of the internet. The internet
will still be a valuable commodity to people with more and more people using it as it is being
thought in schools all around the world.

Podcasting is another format that has come into usage. I pods have become more widespread

14
now so the use of I pods to advertise, etc is a useful way to get information across. I pods call
hold up to 40 GB (Gigabytes) of space so are a valuable commodity. There are universities and
colleges that can transfer a lecture to your i-pod which is useful to people who work outside
college.

Blogging is something being used a lot on the internet with even a specialised site for blogging.
The moderation of blogging will change with less and less blogs being posted due to only the
best blogs being posted due to consistency, the quality of them and their material. Journalists
may use their best blogs to sell themselves and get their point(s) across effectively.
Media Production will become more digital doing away with analogue equipment eventually.
Newspapers may be viewed through people’s phones if they subscribe. There may be less and
less equipment being used as the digital equipment could use infra red or some other technology
to transfer data. There are more digital cameras on the market at low prices as well so most
people own or will own a cam-corder or camera or both so there will be more and more amateur
fbotage shot just like during the September the 11th attacks in America in 2001.

The rapid rate at which technology is developing with new and improved technologies being
developed everyday will take it’s effect on society. We’re are in a very technical age with many
1~oducts we have to depend upon like mobile phones, the internet, television and radio, etc. Our
economy will improve to an extent but the consumer might fall out as the cost of making a
product will have to result in high prices for new technologies thus reducing the market for it
until it falls down in price depending on the quantity sold, the consumer will have his/her work
cut out for himself/herself. A lot of stuff can be bought over the internet and that will become
more apparent with companies cashing in on this advertising their products for cheaper on the
internet. The fact is, it is up to the media industries to keep up to date with new methods and
technologies to expand or keep going making a profit while doing this. As television is
improving with new technology like HDTV so will cinema have to improve finding new ways to
distribute films and attracting audiences as most people like the comfort of watching a film at

15
home, cinema may have to become more private with home cinema systems becoming more
attractable due to HDTV and the developing technology of HD-DVD and Sony Blu-Ray.

2.3.2 Traditional mass media

Marketing communication has evolved in recent years as communications between the
companies and their customers turn from one-way to interactive. New communications
technologies have widened opportunities for companies to contact their prospects or customers
more conveniently, creating a close relationship between the company and its customers. More
interactivity and frequency of contacts are expected to dominate the ways we reach our target
audience in the near future.

In this study, we will explore all major types of channels which marketers communicate with the
customers including mass media, the Internet and mobile phones. We will analyze and compare
the channel characteristics of each medium. In addition, we will compare mass media, the
Internet and mobile phones by analyzing the significant elements in the communication process
model by Schramm (1955). Moreover, implications for new opportunities in building brand
equity using these media will be provided, very low when we consider the number of target
audience reached. Mass media provide one-way, non-personal communication, where the
audience is unable to interact with the sender of the message and there is no real person to
communicate with them.

Traditional mass media can be broadly divided into three categories: print, broadcast and support
media (Belch & Belch 2009). Print media include newspapers and magazines. Broadcast media
include television and radio, the signals of which can be transmitted via wired or wireless
communication. Support media include the rest which are not broadcast or print such as out of
home media, promotional products, point of purchase materials, captive location medium and
entertainment program communication (Hongcharu, 2008).

We have witnessed the rapid penetration of the Internet since the late 1990’s. The Internet has
been utilized for marketing communications from its beginning. It is a more convenient and cost

16
efficient means for marketing communication. Besides, it provides a two-way interaction with
target customers. Websites are created to help customers understand more about the products or
services, to persuade and change their attitudes and to elicit purchase and repurchase. The
Internet can process all formats of information from number, text, still picture, voice and motion
picture, filling in defects of the traditional mass media, since all the mass media can only process
certain formats of information. For instance, print media cannot process voice and motion
picture, while radio cannot process both still and motion pictures, etc. Therefore, every mass
medium company must have a website to complement the content of its channel. However, the
Internet technologies are not prevalent as most people do not possess a computer or it is still
inconvenient for the audiences to turn on the Internet anywhere they want.
Mobile phones become the only interactive medium that is possible to reach the target audience
personally at all time. Evolved from the fixed line phone, the most familiar interactive medium,
mobile phone gains popularity very rapidly because it is a personal communication device.
Mobile phones have given an opportunity for marketers to communicate with their target market
interactively as mobile phones are gradually transferred all the features of computers and the
Internet such as the information processing capabilities. With its capability of reaching the target
customers individually and ubiquitously, mobile phones possess great marketing potential which
marketers need to explore. However, the display monitors and keyboards for mobile phones are
often too small for the users to see and type conveniently.

In many previous studies on traditional media, the interactive media was the term generally used
to include new media that depend on the World Wide Web or cyberspace, and the term
‘Interactive media” was typically applied to the Internet which may or may not include mobile
phones (Ilanssen, Jankowski & Etienne, 1996; Smethers, 1998; Huhtarno, 1999; McMillan &
Hwang, 2005; Hongcharu & Eiamkanchanalai, 2006). However, .in this study, we treat mobile
phones separately from the Internet, as mobile phones constitute many different features which
cannot be found in the Internet, The main one is its ubiquity since mobile phones can be with the
users at all time and at anywhere they want to take them to, while the Internet does not fully
possess this capability at the moment, as this difference distinctively affects the level of
interactivity and frequency of communications between the sender and the receiver. Thus, the

17
Internet in this study will be confined to any communication channel~ except mobile phones,
which can provide the Internet services to customers e.g. desktop and laptop computers.

In its earliest years, people knew radio by a different name and ~inderstood it as a very different
form of communication. What we now take for granted a model of broadcasting music, news, and
entertainment programming took two decades to evolve (Douglas 1987; McChesney 1994;
Schiffer 1991).

For 10 years after its invention by Marconi in 1895, people called radio the wireless. Early radio
was essentially the same technology we know today; it used the electromagnetic spectrum to
transmit audio signals from sender to receiver. However, the social forces that later shaped the
direction of radio technology had not yet coalesced, so the meaning of the technology was
different. Corporate consolidation of the radio industry had not yet occurred, the government had
not yet regulated the use of the electromagnetic spectrum, and investors had not yet recognized
the profitability of producing household radio receiving devices. The wireless had not yet become
radio.

Synchronicity. According to Lui and Shirum (2005), synchronicity is the degree that the sender
sends the message to the receiver and the receiver can respond to the message simultaneously.
The highest synchronicity can be found in mobile phones. Mobile phones offer the most
instantaneous responses among all of the interactive media. E-mails and other communications
through the Internet always take some time for us to wait for the responses from the
communication partners. However, synchronicity cannot be found in the traditional mass media
as they do not have the interactive capabilities. For mass media, the sender may not expect any
response from the receiver or it may take a very long time to depend on other interactive media
such as mail, e-mail or telephone to help them connect with their receivers.

Anonymity and Privacy. Anonymity is the ability for the participants in the media to conceal
their identity. For mass media, the senders must reveal themselves to the receiver. 1-Towever, this
is not possible vice versa, making it very difficult for the sender to get the responses from the

18
receiver. Since the Internet is two-way, non-personal communication, the level of anonymity is
high. Currently, it is possible for people who are interacting in the Internet to conceal their
identity. They feel more comfortable to provide sincere opinions about the products or services,
generating words of mouth to other prospects. (Hongcharu & Eiarnkanchanalai, 2007). With the
high level of privacy, the Internet is increasing utilized to sell products or services that cannot be
sold in the traditional outlets, such as private financial consulting, pornography, erectile
dysfunction medicines, etc. For mobile phones, the senders and receivers are expected to know
each other to a certain level, as the numbers of the receiver is shown and the sender can decide
not to pick up the call. Thus, the level of privacy in mobile phones is low. Even the SMS also
reveals the number or the identity of the callers which is different from e-mails which are more
difficult for the receivers to interact or trace the identity of the senders instantly.

Information Processing. We can classify traditional mass media based on the ways their
audience process the information: self-paced and externally paced (Belch & Belch, 2009).
Self-paced media allow their audience to take time to process the information. Generally, they
are print media such as newspapers or magazines. On the other hand, the information processing
of externally-paced media cannot be controlled by the audience. It is rather controlled by the
senders of the media. Externally paced media are electronic ones such as television and radio
where it is impossible for the audience to slow down or fasten the incoming messages.
Nevertheless, the traditional means to classify mass media by the ways the audience process the
information cannot be applied for interactive media. This is because most interactive media can
p~~ocess all formats of information from number, text, still picture, voice and motion picture.
Therefore, all of the interactive media including mobile phones are both self-paced and
externally paced at the same time.

Audience’s Control. Generally, the users of the Internet-based technologies have a full control
of what they want to receive (Hoffman & Novak, 1996). The users can decide whether to click
on a banner to view the ads, while the users of the traditional mass media do not have such an
alternative. They are forced to watch or hear the message they sometimes do not want, especially
for the broadcast media. With the power to receive the information shifted to the receivers,

19
marketers must design the message to capture the needs of their audience. This requires them to
pay

Characteristics of Traditional Mass Media, The Internet And Mobile Phones

Traditional mass media have been popular communication channels for building brands, since
they are capable of reaching a large number of audiences at one time. Therefore, the relative cost
of using these media is attention more to the customer data and to find out what their customers’
preferences are. The high level of audience’s control is also found in the mobile phones where
the audience may choose to ignore the message or not to accept the calls. Thus, the marketers
must design the message to attract the customers. This can be done through sales promotion
programs that the customers need to follow. The marketers must analyze the prior sales
promotion programs that worked in the past and try to offer the ones that they have shown
interest or interact with the company based on the target market’s past behaviors. Moreover,
marketers can offer their audience rebates, discounts or premiums if they permit the company to
send them news or promotional offers, etc. Carl R. (2007).

Self-delivery. The Internet enables the delivery of informational products or services to

customers directly. This makes it possible for marketers to deliver to their customers if their
products can be downloaded or sent to the customers directly. Products or services in picture,
voice, numbers, text can be delivered to customers. With this capability, some services can also
be provided through the Internet such as translation, accounting services, information search, etc.
Mobile phones are gradually mimicking this feature of the Internet and will finally be the device
that is closest to the customers. Traditional mass media cannot deliver products or services
directly to customers. Carl R. (2007).

Purpose-based Searching. The users of the Internet must know what they want to search since
the Internet is a place that is full of information (Rodgers & Thorson, 2000). Mobile phones also
allow their users to search for information in the same way as the Internet does, or the users can
receive calls or SMS’s without any intention to receive the information. However, if the display
technology of the mobile phones improves, it will function like the Internet, and receivers can

20
search for information. This will benefit the users even more because they can be with the users
at anywhere and any time. On the other hand, the users of the mass media do not necessarily
form an objective to search for information.

Contextual Availability. Contextual availability refers to the availability of the environment by

which the marketing communication messages are surrounded. It can be noted that different
types of media possess different amount of context surrounding their messages. For instance,
there are more opportunities for marketers to choose the environment in the mass media
appropriate for their messages to the target audience. Broadcast media depend on programs to
sell the airtime for advertising, while print media rely on different columns to attract readers for
advertising messages. The contextual availability is important because it allows marketers to
choose the right environment for their messages to create rational and emotional appeals. This
environment affects the way audience process the information of an ad. Aylesworth and
MacKenzie (1998) found that television ads that followed a negative mood program were
processed in a less systematic way than those that followed a positive one. In the Internet, even
though there are plenty of contexts available for marketers to insert their marketing
communication messages, the contexts are scattered and, most of the times, they are too specific
for certain types of audiences. Mobile phones still do not have enough space and time like the
mass media to create an environment for marketers to insert the marketing communication
messages.

Media technologies are structural constraints. Like all structures, they have been developed by
humans and, subsequently, both enable and limit human action. How they do this is at the center
of a sociological understanding of media technology.

According to Carl R. (2007), Media is derived from the Latin word for middle. This signifies that
the media are in the middle of a communication process, specifically, in between the sender and
the receiver of a message. The early use of the term media was as part of the phrase mass media
of communication. We long ago dropped the explicit reference to communication in everyday
language and talked of the mass media—and in some cases simply the media. But it is useful to

21
remember that media technologies of all sorts have social significance because they enable and
affect forms of human communication. As a result, they raise unique sociological issues.
Beyond their common role as a mechanism of communication, however, media technologies
vary. Two important phases of media development are what we might call traditional mass
media versus “new” media. Media, before the rise of the Internet, can be thought of as belonging
to the era of traditional mass media, which typically involved:
One—to—many communication
With anonymous receivers
Through one-way communication channels
With a clear distinction between producers and receivers.
Let’s consider these features more closely.

Third, traditional forms of mass media typically enable one-way communication that does not
allow direct feedback from receivers of the messages. That is, these media are not interactive.
When we read a book or a magazine, listen to the new CD we just bought, or turn on the
television, there is no way to use those media to directly respond to the messages we have
received. We could, if we wanted, take the time to write or call the distributor, producer, or
author to let them know how much we liked or disliked their book, music, or television program,
but that would be using another media form.

Finally, these one-way communication channels create a clear distinction between producers and
receivers of media content. With traditional mass media, the producers of nearly all content are
commercial companies, nonprofit media organizations, and governments, while ordinary people
are limited to being audience members. Galician, Mary-Lou (2004).
According to the study by Galician, Mary-Lou (2004), Digitization and the rise of the Internet
have blurred the boundaries between types of media and changed the broad parameters that used
to be associated with all mass media. As a result, it makes more sense to speak of “new” media
as breaking significantly with many of the features that characterize traditional mass media. We
place the term new in double quotes because the “new” media, of course, are no longer new; the
Internet is well into its third decade. However, no other single umbrella term has yet emerged to

22
encompass the variety of media that now exist and to flag their distinctiveness from traditional
mass media. For now, we’re stuck with the awkward term: “new” media.

“New” Media: Digitization, the Internet, and Mobile Devices

Any media content that is digital can be stored as the is and Os of computer code, including text,
audio, pictures, and video. This digital content can be delivered via different media, such as a
compact disk (CD), digital video disk (DVD), or digital radio or television broadcast signal. By
itself, the shift from analog (nondigital) to digital media content was significant. A music CD, for
example, has different properties than a phonograph record; CDs typically have lower audio
quality. but they are immune from the accumulation of scratches and pops that eventually plague
vinyl records. And identical copies of a CD’s content can be made easily on a computer.
However, much more significant changes developed when digital media content was united with
the Internet. Newhagen, J.E. (1999).

The Internet is the communications platform on which digital media content can be delivered to
a wide variety of devices, including desktop computers, wireless laptops, smartphones, and other
mobile devices. Over the past few decades, the growth of digital media, the rise of the Internet,
and the proliferation of mobile devices have combined to burst open the very meaning of mass
media in several ways (Bolter and Grusin 2000; Lister et al. 2009).

First, the Internet blurs the distinction between individual and mass audiences, and replaces the
one-to-many model of traditional mass media with the possibility of a many-to-many web of
communication. This can be seen as people use the Internet and digital content for individual
communication with single known recipients (e-mail, instant messaging), small group
communication with a limited number of recipients (forums, social networking sites,
microblogging like Twitter), and mass communication with an unlimited number of unknown
recipients (websites, blogs, streaming video). This blurring of the boundaries between
communication to individuals and communication to a large audience has led observers to often
replace the language of mass media with that simply of media (though we will see later that there
is still good reason to pay attention to distinctions in audience size).

23
Mass media is the means for delivering impersonal communications directed to a vast audience.
The term media comes from Latin meaning, ‘middle,” suggesting that the media’s function is to
connect people. Media bias refers to the bias of journalists and news producers within mass
media. Bias exists in the selection of events and stories that are reported and how they are
covered. A technique used to avoid bias is the “round table,” an adversarial format in which
representatives of opposing views comment on an issue.

Mass media is the means for delivering impersonal communications directed to a vast audience.
The term media comes from Latin meaning, “middle,” suggesting that the media’s function is to
connect people. Since mass media has enormous effects on our attitudes and behavior, notably in
regards to aggression, it contributes to the socialization process. Newhagen, J,E. (1999).
The history of mass media can be traced back to the days when dramas were performed in
various ancient cultures. This was the first time when a form of media was “broadcast” to a wider
audience. The first dated printed book known is the “Diamond Sutra”, printed in China in
868 AD, although it is clear that books were printed earlier. Movable clay type was invented in
1041 in China. However, due to the slow spread of literacy to the masses in China, and the
relatively high cost of paper there, the earliest printed mass-medium was probably European
popular prints from about 1400. Although these were produced in huge numbers, very few early
examples survive, and even most known to be printed before about 1600 have not survived. The
term “mass media” was coined with the creation of print media, which is notable for being the
first example of mass media, as we use the term today. This form of media started in Europe in
the Middle Ages. Nerone, John (2006).

Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press allowed the mass production of books to
sweep the nation. He printed the first book on a printing press with movable type in 1453. The
Gutenberg Bible, one of the books he published, was translated into many different languages
and printed throughout the continent. The invention of the printing press in the late 1 5th century
gave rise to some of the first forms of mass communication, by enabling the publication of books
and newspapers on a scale much larger than was previously possible. Galician, Mary-Lou

24
(2004). The invention also transformed the way the world received printed materials, although
books remained too expensive really to be called a mass-medium for at least a century after that.
Newspapers developed from about 1612, with the first example in English in 1620; Galician,
Mary-Lou (2004). but they took until the 19th century to reach a mass-audience directly. The
first high-circulation newspapers arose in London in the early 1800s, such as The Times, and
were made possible by the invention of high-speed rotary steam printing presses, and railroads
which allowed large-scale distribution over wide geographical areas. The increase in circulation,
however, led to a decline in feedback and interactivity from the readership, making newspapers a
more one-way medium. Newhagen, J.E. (1999).

The phrase ‘the media” began to be used in the 1920s. Briggs, Asa & Burke, Peter (2010). The
notion of “mass media” was generally restricted to print media up until the post-Second World
War, when radio, television and video were introduced. The audio-visual facilities became very
popular, because they provided both information and entertainment, because the colour and
sound engaged the viewers/listeners and because it was easier for the general public to passively
watch TV or listen to the radio than to actively read. In recent times, the Internet become the
latest and most popular mass medium. Information has become readily available through
websites, and easily accessible through search engines. One can do many activities at the same
time, such as playing games, listening to music, and social networking, irrespective of location.
Whilst other forms of mass media are restricted in the type of information they can offer, the
internet comprises a large percentage of the sum of human knowledge through such things as
Google Books. Modern day mass media consists of the internet, mobile.phones, blogs, podcasts
and RSS feeds. Bhattacharyya, Ajanta (2011).

During the 20th century, the growth of mass media was driven by technology, including that
which allowed much duplication of material. Physical duplication technologies such as printing,
record pressing and film duplication allowed the duplication of books, newspapers and movies at
low prices to huge audiences. Radio and television allowed the electronic duplication of
information for the first time. Mass media had the economics of linear replication: a single work
could make money. An example of Riel and Neil’s theory. proportional to the number of copies

25
sold, and as volumes went up, unit costs went down, increasing profit margins further. Vast
fortunes were to be made in mass media. In a democratic society, the media can serve the
electorate about issues regarding government and corporate entities (see Media influence). Some
consider the concentration of media ownership to be a threat to democracy. Elliot D (2005)

2.3.2.1 To Explore how technology has impacted the traditionai mass media in regard to
news papers, television, radio, print media and advertising.

According to Burke, Peter (2010). Media technologies are structural constraints. Like all
structures, they have been developed by humans and, subsequently, both enable and limit human
action. How they do this is at the center of a sociological understanding of media technology.

As we noted, media is derived from the Latin word for middle. This signifies that the media are in
the middle of a communication process, specifically, in between the sender and the receiver of a
message. The early use of the term media was as part of the phrase mass media of communication.
We long ago dropped the explicit reference to communication in everyday language and talked of
the mass media——and in some cases simply the media. But it is useful to remember that media
technologies of all sorts have social significance because they enable and affect forms of human
communication. As a result, they raise unique sociological issues. Burke, Peter (2010).

Beyond their common role as a mechanism of communication, however, media technologies vary.
Two important phases of media development are what we might call traditional mass media versus
“new” media.

Traditional Mass Media

Media, before the rise of the Internet, can be thought of as belonging to the era of traditional mass
media, which typically involved:
~ One—to—many communication
• with anonymous receivers
• Through one-way communication channels

26
 with a clear distinction between producers and receivers.

Let’s consider these features more closely. Some forms of media, such as the traditional landline
telephone, connect one individual with another single individual; they have a one-to-one
orientation. Mass media, however, enable communication to be sent from one source and be
received by a large audience elsewhere; they have a one-to-many’ orientation. A newspaper, for
example, is produced by a particular news organization and is sold to a large group of readers.
There is one sender, the news organization, and there are many receivers, all of the readers.
Films. television, and music are similarly centrally produced, and they are distributed through
various channels to often large audiences. Burke, Peter (2010).

2.3.2.2 To find out the effects of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda
We usually take it for granted, but a live television image of an event that is hundreds or thousands
of miles away is an astonishing manipulation of time and space. We can “be there” without being
there, and we can experience the events instantaneously, joining in what Tomlinson (2007) calls a
“telemediated cultural experience” (p. 74). For example, Major League Baseball’s World Series
was under way in the San Francisco Bay area when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred.
Residents of Boston or Dallas who had their televisions turned on to the game received more and
faster information about the size and scope of the earthquake than did local San Francisco
residents, whose electricity and phone service were knocked out. Through media technology, those
further away learned more than those closer to the event, and they learned it almost
instantaneously.

This is just one of the ways that medium theorists say electronic media and new communications
technologies have changed the way people experience time and space. And this influence
extends beyond television.

A society’s dominant media help set the rhythm of social life. For a long time, the daily newspaper
and later the evening news broadcast—created a particular news cycle; essentially, news was
updated once a day. The introduction of specialized cable news channels, beginning with CNN in

27
1980, changed all that. Founder Ted Turner’s original vision for CNN was for it to be, in essence, a
televised newspaper that offered more serious and in-depth news than was found on television’s
brief 30-minute evening news (Turner and Burke 2008: 165). However, instead of depth, cable
news came to emphasize speed, spotlighting its unique ability to be the first to cover an event—
often live. This led to the now-familiar, never-ending news cycle where cable news, websites, and
other news sources are constantly updated throughout the day and news outlets compete to be the
first to report a story. Critics charge this approach leaves little time for reflection or in-depth
analysis, results in chaotic and unreliable news, and makes the news media more susceptible to
manipulation by sources (Kovach and Rosenstiel 1999, 2010). So the growth of cable television
technology, and cable news in particular, coupled with the more recent addition of web-based news
sites, has changed our sense of time in relation to the news. Waiting 24 hours for a news update
now seems like an eternity.

Time Shifting
Media technologies have also given users more control over time. To watch or listen to a particular
program, traditional broadcast media required audience members to tune in at a time determined
by the broadcaster. Time shifting refers to the practice of recording or downloading media content
to watch or listen at a later time that is more convenient for the audience. The VCR and audio
cassette tape player were the first widely available technologies to enable time shifting. Later
digital technologies such as the DVR and the MP3 player made time shifting much easier and
more popular. Now, viewers can record television programs for later viewing or watch them from
a website at times of their choosing. They can also download podcasts for later listening at their
convenience. Portable laptops and mobile devices such as smartphones and MP3 players also
enable place shifting enabling users to access media content anywhere as well as any time.

Crossing Social Boundaries

Meyrowitz (1985) recognized that television compressed distances and transcended physical
boundaries by allowing us to see things that were far away. However, he emphasized that
television transcended social boundaries as well. Before the development of electronic media, our
social roles and identities were closely tied to the physical places where we performed these roles.

28
Because electronic media enable us to transcend physical distances, they also allow us to
overcome boundaries. For example, Meyrowitz (1985) points out that, in earlier eras, children
would have to know how to read—and be sophisticated enough to understand—the content of
adult-oriented print media to access adult social life. But as a visual medium that does not require
literacy, television allows children to see parts of the social world that were previously hidden or
difficult to access, thus “blurring” childhood and adulthood. By showing children the “backstage”
behaviors of adults, television permits children to be “present” at “adult interactions”—socially, if
not physically. The result is that an important boundary between adults and children, which in the
past was reinforced by different levels of reading skill, no longer holds. (This may have a good
deal to do with the popular belief that children grow up faster today than they did in the past.) In
providing such access, television competes with the socializing role of parents, schools, and other
agents and provides children with ideas and images that often contradict the stories and myths
handed down in the family and at school.

Localism and Virtual Communities

Media technologies have altered our sense of space and place in other ways as well. For example,
traditional media tended to be rooted in a particular physical location. Newspapers were grounded
in particular cities, and radio stations produced their programs locally. Today, though, with
satellites and the Internet, many forms of media are placeless. USA Today, ungrounded in any
particular city, is the nation’s most-read newspaper, while the New York Times website is among
the most popular sites anywhere in the country. Meanwhile, radio stations that are programmed
remotely from corporate headquarters, satellite radio, and Internet radio streaming have largely
displaced “local” radio. Rocker Bruce Springsteen bemoaned this loss of place in his aptly named
song “Radio Nowhere.” Burke, Peter (2010).

By affecting our sense of place, media technologies have also altered our sense of community.
Birkerts (1994) notes that new media technologies created an entirely new social space,
cyberspace, which allows for new forms of interaction with little donnection to the physical world.
People can take on new identities in cyberspace, transcending the limits and the responsibilities of
their physical environments at least temporarily.

29
The concept of virtual community (Rheingold 2000) suggests that communities no longer need to
be geographically based. People all over the globe can become “virtual” neighbors through the
space-bridging technology of the Internet. By “friending” others on Facebook, joining discussions
in chat rooms or online forums, and playing in virtual worlds, users can employ the Internet to
connect with others. According to Rheingold (2000), the Internet can constitute a powerful antidote
to the loss of traditional community values and can help reestablish social ties. However, a plethora
of research suggests that online networks have a more complex relationship to geographic
communities. Online networks, for example, sometimes supplement physical communities,
providing new means of communication that can facilitate interaction among neighbors, but such
online connections are not likely to replace the place-based bonds associated with
neighborhoodbased communities (Hampton and Wellman 2003; Van Dijk 1998; for an overview,
see Jankowski 2006).

Finally, the loss of media rooted in distinct physical places has been accompanied by the loss of
media content that is located in distinct social spaces. For example, with the Internet and mobile
media, the distinction between public and private has become blurry, and this process is
intensified by new forms of mobile media (Ling and Campbell 2009). Issues and topics once
thought to be private—belonging to a separate, backstage personal sphere of social life—are
increasingly discussed in and displayed on the public front stag~ of media. This shift of social
space ranges from the spectacle of television talk shows that expose the intimacies of
dysfunctional families to Facebook pages, tweets, and Tumblr posts through which individuals
reveal the often mundane details of their daily lives.

Network Society
With the rise of the Internet, Manuel Castells (2001) provocatively claimed that “the network is the
message.” For Castells, the Internet is the technological basis of a new organizational form, the
network. In his work, the boundaries between network as a form of social organization and
network as a technological infrastructure are blurred. Castells (2000) argues that, in the Internet
age, our “network society” is rooted in telecommunications and new media and has been reshaped

30
by the flow of information that is independent of physical proximity. In addition, our perception of
time is modified by the immediacy of communication technologies. Time is “dissolved,” and this
process has been accelerated by wireless and mobile technology (Castells et al. 2006).

But despite his invocation of McLuhan, Castells has a much more sophisticated analysis that
recognizes the role of human agency in shaping media technology. In fact, the Internet, says
Castells (2001), is “a particularly malleable technology, susceptible of being deeply modified by
its social practice” (p. 5). Three independent processes in the last quarter of the 20th century
contributed to the rise of the network as a new organizational form and its technological
counterpart. the Internet: (1) pressure from the corporate sector to globalize capital, production,
and trade; (2) citizen demands for individual freedom and open communication; and (3)
unprecedented advances in the telecommunication and computing fields, which paved the way for
the microelectronic revolution. Thus, unlike technological determinists, Castells highlights the
interaction between technological capacities and human agency. According to Castells, the Internet
works as a lever for the transition to a new form of society, one in which the power of information,
and therefore the possibilities of participation, are potentially distributed throughout the full range
of human activity.

According to Ajanta. (201 1), With all these developments that have affected our sense of time and
space, media technologies have enabled change to occur, but social forces ultimately have
determined the specific form of these changes. Competition and market forces influenced the rise
of the never-ending news cycle. Users chose to have more control over when and where they
watched and listened to media content often to the dismay of traditional media companies. A lax
regulatory environment that allowed growth in media conglomerates, coupled with cost-conscious
commercial media firms, helped produce the consolidation of media ownership that led to the
expansion of media without local roots. And many people voluntarily gave up their privacy on
Facebook pages and TV talk shows, while developers of social networking sites, television
producei~s, and advertisers encouraged these behaviors. Ultimately, it is how media technologies
are used. rather than the technologies themselves, that helps to shape our sense of time and place.

31
Postman’s close historical analysis connects the decline of serious substance in the media to the
impact of even earlier technologies, in particular, the role of the telegraph and the photograph, in
cultural change. By altering our sense of physical place specifically, by making it possible to
communicate with people who were physically distant the telegraph, according to Postman,
challenged the world defined by print in three fundamental ways. First, because they could get
information from faraway places, newspapers were full of stories that were largely irrelevant to
their readers. News no longer had to have any relationship to its audience, nor did information
have to be functional in any way it just had to be “new.” Daily news consisted of new things, and
novelty became more important than relevance. Second, because the telegraph made it easy to
transmit so much information, little of which was relevant to the lives of readers, news no longer
had any connection to action. People could not do anything about the things they read about in
the paper. Information may have been abundant, but events were happening so far away and
were so disconnected from people’s lives that the news encouraged feelings of powerlessness.
Third, in privileging speed and abundance of information, the telegraph sacrificed context. No
longer did news have to be linked to any broader, historical framework. There was no need to
connect one story to the next or one day’s headlines to the next day’s. The point was to keep the
information flowing to report the new things that happened rather than to contextualize messages
or events by linking them to prior messages or events. Quantity became more important than
either quality or depth.

32
 CHAPHER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introductions.
This chapter described the methodology, which employed in the study, provided descriptive
information on the methods and instruments of data collection, processing and analysis. It
specified the area in which the study would be conducted, described the research population,
research, procedures and the problems, which was encountered during the study.

3.2 Research design

The research used a cross sectional survey design. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of
data collection .The researcher used a self administered questionnaire and interviews together for
necessary data for the research. The study used the survey design because the research wanted to
get precise information and make a conclusive result regarding the technology and traditional
mass media. According to Mugenda and Mugenda (2003) the survey design was the best
methods available to social scientist who are interested in collecting original data for the purpose
of describing a population which is large to observe directly.

3.3 Sample design

The researcher used the stratified random sampling methods and the purposive sampling
methods to collect the data from the respondent in New Vision.

3.4 Research Population

The study focused on the employees of new vision, who comprise a total population of
over 259 employees.

3.5 Sample Size

From the total population of 259 employees of new vision, the sample size was 157
employees. The sample size was determined using the sloven’s formula; which states as follows:

33
 n N
I +N a2
Where n is the sample size, N stands for population and a2 is 0.05 level of significance.
ii = 259
I + 259 (0.05)2
n 259
1 + 259 (0.0025)
n 259
I + 0.6475
ii 259
1.6475
11 = 157

3.6 Sampling procedures

The sampling procedures to be used gave accurate and reliable samples that provided
quantitative and qualitative data on technology and traditional mass media simple random
techniques and purposive sampling was used to reduce bias of research and also ensure that the
respondent with required knowledge are interviewed respectively; this was in accordance to a
Arnin ,2005. The advantages was that this techniques ensures that information on technology and
traditional mass niedia was collected from the sample size composed of different staffs
categories which was in accordance with Amin ,(2005) ; Sekaran (2004) and Uganda and
mugenda ,1999 who contended that the selection of sample from different categories in the
population allows assessment of needs at each sub level of the population.

3.7 Research instrument

The research instrument to be used to collect accurate and reliable data on technology and
traditional mass media in new vision were questionnaire, interviews guide, observation and,
consultations. There was a need to test the research instruments with a few respondents to see
whether the information given by the respondent was relevant to the study. A pre-test for each

34
structured interview were conducted by administering it to a few respondents in order to ensure
that it solicits the information required by the researcher in addressing the problems.

3.8 Data collection methods

According to Krishnaswarni (2002:197) data are facts, figure and other relevant
materials, past and present that serve as bases for the study and analysis. He further states that
data may be classified into primary and secondary sources as discussed below.

Primary sources
These are original sources from which the researcher directly collects data that have not
been previously collected. Primary data sources are first hand information collected through
methods such as observation, interviewing, mailing and questionnaire. Krishna swami
(2002: 199) gives four advantages primary data as follows:
From the observation the researcher can study behavior as it occurs.
In participant observation, the observer can understand the emotional reactions of the observed
group and get a deeper insight of their experience.
The observer was be able to record the context which gives meaning to the observed behavior
and heard statements.

Secondary data
Krishna swami (2002) defines secondary data as sources which have been collected and
compiled for another purposes. It consistd of readily available documents already compiled
statistical statements and reports whose data may be used researcher for their studies, Example
includes census reports and annual reports.
Secondary data consists of published and unpublished records and reports (Krishnaswami,
2002:199). Advantages of secondary data are:
This data was available, can be secured quickly and easily.
It covered a wider geographical area and longer reference period without much cost. The use of
secondary data broadens the data base from which scientific generalization can be made.
In order to get data for this study, a combination of primary and secondary data was used.

35
Questionnaire
The questionnaire will be used to collect both numerical and in depth data on the entire three
research question using closed ended questions .This is because questionnaire can generate
statistical data using closed ended questions and in depth data using semi structured and open-
ended questions Amin,2005.
The open ended and semi structured questions will collect qualitative ,in depth information on
all the three research questions ; this is the agreement with Mugenda and Mugenda ,1999 who
state semi structured and open ended questions provides for greater depths of response On the
.

other hand closed ended questions was also be used on the entire three questions to collect
quantitative data so as to measure and generalize finding on the population. The questionnaire
will be administered to the employees of new vision because they are the possible target for the
research study.

Interview guide
Interview guide were used to get in the depth understanding of technology and traditional
mass media. This was mainly provided in depth data for all the three research question .A list
pi~edeterinii~ed questions were prepared and used for the structured interviews.

3.9 Validity and reliability of the instrument

According to Moser and Kalton (1971), validity was the success of a scale in measuring
what it was set out to measure so that differences individual scores can be taken as representing
true differences in characteristic under study.
The researcher consulted with her supervisor who ensures the relevance and suitability of the
content in the questionnaire which provided coverage of the objectives of the study. The validity
of the question was checked by the response acquired and the content validity index (CVI). The
validity of the questionnaire acquired ensured by employing the formula suggested by Handy
(2007)

36
V= RQ
TQ
V~ 27 = 0.75
36
Where V = validity
RQ = Relevant Question
TQ =Total number of questions

The number of relevant question by the total number of question should be 0.75 for an
instrument to be valid.

3.10 Reliability of the instrument

Reliability was the measure of the degree to a research instrument yields consistent
results after repeated trials. According to Christensen (1988), reliability of the questionnaire, the
researcher employed the methods of expert judgment and pretest in order to test and improve the
reliability of the questionnaire.

3.11 Data gathering procedure

Before the administration of the questionnaire
An introduction letter was obtained from the college of humanities and social science for the
researcher to solicit approval to conduct the study from respective employee of New vision.
When approved, the researcher secured a list of the qualified respondent from the authorities in
charge and select through systematic random sampling from this list to arrive at the minimum
sample size. The respondent were explained about the study arid were requested to sign the
infbrmed consent Forms. The researcher reproduced more than enough questionnaires for
distribution, then Selected research assistant who were selected to assist in the data collection;
brief and orient them in order to be consistent in administering the questionnaire.

37
During the administration of the questionnaire
The respondents were requested to answer completely all the parts of the questionnaire. The
researcher and assistants emphasized the retrieval of the entire questionnaire from the respondent
after a period of five days from the distribution day. After the collection of the entire
questionnaire they were checked if all the questions had been answered by the respondent.

After the administration of the questionnaires

The data gathered was then be collated, encoded into the computer and statistically treated using
statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).

3.12 Data Analysis procedure

Data analysis means the computation of certain indices or measure along with searching for
patterns of relationships that exist among the data groups.
Analysis, particularly in the case of survey or experimental data, involves estimating the values
of unknown parameter of the population and testing hypotheses for drawing inference (Kothari,
1990:160). According to Kothari. data analysis takes place after the data have been collected.
Analysis of data requires a number of closely related operations such as estimation of categories
application of these categories to raw data through coding, tabulation and then drawing statistical
inference. Collected data was condensed in a few manageable groups and table for further
analysis. Thus the researcher classified the raw data into purposeful and useable categories.

Tabulation was part of the technical procedure where classified data were put unto tables. The
analysis was based on the computation of various percentages and coefficients by applying
various well defined statistical formulae (SPSS). In the process of analysis relationships of
difference supporting or conflicting with the original or new hypotheses were subjected to test of
significant to determine their validity.

Types of data analysis

According to Kothari (1990-160), analysis may be categorized into descriptive analysis
and inferential statistical analysis. Descriptive was largely the study of distributions of one

38
variable. This study provided profile of instructions, work groups, person and other subjects on
any of a multitude of characteristics such as size, composition, efficiency and preference. This
sort of analysis may be in respect of one variable (describe as one dimensional analysis), or in
respect of two variable or more than two variables (described as multivariate analysis).
Data collected was both quantitative and qualitative in nature. Research objective one was
analyzed using frequencies and percentage,

3.13 Ethical Consideration

To ensure that ethics was practiced in the course of the study as well as utmost
confidentiality for the respondent and the data provided by them, the following will be done, (1)
Coding of questionnaire (2) The respondent were requested to sign the informed consent ;(3)
Authors mentions in the study were acknowledge within the text;(4) finding were presented in a
generalized manner.

3.14 Limitation of the study

Intervening or confounding variables were beyond the researcher control such honesty of the
respondent and personal biases. To minimize such conditions, the researcher requested the
respondent to be as honest as possible and to be impartial! unbiased when answering the
quonnaire.

The research environments was classified and controlled since setting where there. Extraneous
variables influenced on the data gathered such as comments from other respondent, anxiety,
stress, motivation on the part of respondent while on the process of answering the questionnaire.
Although these were beyond the researcher control, effort was made to request the respondent to
be as subjective as possible in answering the questionnaire.

There can be inconsistency in the time when the data obtained from respondent. This was
minimized by orienting the data and briefing the research assistants on the data gathering
procedures.

39
Instrumental the research tool were not standardized hence validility and reliability test was
conducted to arrive at a reasonable measuring tool.

Attrition ; A representative sample might not be reached as cdmputed due to circumstances

within the respondents and beyond the control of the researcher however beyond the minimum
size was done by the researcher to avoid such a situation.

The problem might be of respondent taking long with the questionnaire but however this was
minimized by contently remaindering the respondent about the urgency of the questionnaire

40
 CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

4.0 Introduction.
This chapter analyzed data collected from the field based on the research questions in chapter
one. This chapter dealt with data presentations, interpretations and analysis and it was done
objective by objective.

4.1 Profile of the Respondents

In this study, respondents were described according to gender, age, level of education,
type of employment and years of service. In each case, respondents were asked to declare their
respective profile information in order to enable the researcher classify and compare them
accordingly. The researcher employed a close ended questionnaire in ascertaining information
about their personal profiles and analyzed their responses using frequencies and percentage
distributions as summarized in table 1 below.

Table 1: Profile of the respondents

Main category Sub category Frequency Percentage

Gender Male 92 52.6
Female 83 47.4
Total 175 100
Age 20-25 48 27.4
26-29 72 41.1
30-35 35 20.0
36-39 14 8.0
40 and above 6 3.4
Total 175 100 -_______

Level of Education Diploma 4 2.3

~______________________ Degree 69 39.4

41
 Masters 95 54.3
PhD 7 4.0
Others - -

Total 175 100

Type of Employment Users 125 71.4
Journalists 23 13,1
Editors 3 1.7
Sales representatives 3 1.7
Others 21 12
Total 175 100

Years of Service 1-2 67 38.3

3-4 61 34~
5-6 32 18.3
7-8 9 5.1
Others 6 3.4
Total 175 1100

Results in table 2 reveal that majority of the respondents were male that is to say 92 (or
52.6%) and minority respondents were females 83 (or 47.4%). These two figures therefore
justify almost gender balance in this study.

Pertaining age, 72 (or 41.1%) respondents were in the age bracket of 26-29, 48(or 27.4) in the
age bracket of 20-25, 35 (or 20.1%) in the age bracket of 30-35, 14(8.0%) in the age bracket of
36-39 and 6 (3.4%) respondents are above 40 years of age. It can therefore be deduced that
though all age categories were represented, the youth respondents almost monopolized the study.

Regarding level of education, Masters’ respondents were the majority with 95 (or
54.3%), followed by Degree holders 69 (or39.4 %), 7 (or 4%) were PhD holders and 4 (or 2.3%)
were diploma holders. Results indicate that this study reveals high degree of professionalism

42
since all levels of education were represented and better still masters holders respondents who in
most cases have got good reasoning capacity were the majority.

Concerning type of employment, users dominated the sample with 125 (or 71.4%),
followed by journalists with 23 (or 13%), editors and sales representatives with 6 (or 3.4%) and
lastly other were 21 (or 12%) respondents from other disciplines.

Concerning experience 67 (or 38.3%) respondents had served for a period of 1-2 years,
61 (or 34.9%) had served for a period of 3-4 years, 32 (or 18.3%) had worked for a period of 5-6
years and 9 (or 5.1%) had served for 7-8 year. This indicates that all respondents had Knowledge
and experience about the study since they had all served for at least a period of one year.

4.2 To explore how technology has impacted the traditional mass media in regard to news
papers, television, radio, print media and advertising.

The respondents were asked questions on these objectives 1 and the responses are shown in table

Table 2: To explore how technology has impacted the traditional mass media in regard to news
papers, television, radio, print media and advertising

how technology has impacted the traditional Frequency Percentage

mass media in regard to news papers,
television, radio, print media and advertising
It has quickened and increased the quality of the 12.5 7.1
picture with clean sound and picture motion
It keeps us up to date with current affairs 80 46
Loss of traditional culture 20 11.4
It has improved the quality of viewing giving 12.5 7.1
viewers more access and control on or over what
they see
Improved access of information through internet 50 29
Total 175 100
Source: Primary data 2014

43
From the findings in the table 2 above, 46% of the respondents said that It keeps us up to date
with current affairs was the major impact of technology on the traditional mass media in regard
to news papers, television, radio, print media and advertising, while 29% said that improved
access to information through internet was the major impact of technology on the traditional
mass media in regard to news papers, television, radio, print media and advertising and 11 .4%
said that loss of traditional culture and norms was the major impact of technology on the
traditional mass media in regard to news papers, television, radio, print media and advertising.
This showed that the major impact of technology on the traditional mass media in regard to news
papers, television, radio, print media and advertising was it keeps us up-to-date with current
affairs as seen by 46% response. The data in table 1 can be illustrated on graph as shown in
figure 1.

Figure 1: The Technology applied in New vision group of companies

mp~ caea access of It has quick iied

I nlormi lion andd increased the
throuhh Intel net quality of the
29% picture with clean
sound and picture
motion
7%

If has Imploveci
t~ quauily of
7%
los~ of iriditional
CUItlIlO
115

Source: Primary Data 2014

44
4.3 To find out the effects of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as
gathering, packaging and dissemination is concerned.

The respondents were asked questions on the second objective and the responses are shown in
table 3.
Table 3: effects of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as gathering,
packaging and dissemination is concerned
effects of technology to the traditional mass Frequency Percentage I
media in Uganda as far as gathering, packaging
and dissemination is concerned
Time shifting 50 29
Localism and virtual communities 25 14.2
Network society 80 46
Crossing social boundaries 20 11.4
Total 175 100
Source: Primary data
According to the findings in the above table 3 it was revealed that 46% of the respondents said
that Net work society was the major effects of Technology to the traditional mass media in
Uganda as far as gathering, packaging and dissemination is concerned while the other 29% of the
respondents said that time shifting was the major effects of Technology on performance in an
organization Technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as gathering, packaging
and dissemination is concerned. Data in the table 3 can be illustrated on a graph as shown in
figure 2

Figure 2: effects of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as gathering,
packaging and dissemination is concerned

45
 effects of technology to the traditional mass media in
Uganda as far as gathering, packaging and dissemination is
concerned
Time shifting n localism and virtual communities
network society n crossing social boundaries

46%

4.4 To determine if there is a relationship between technology and content consumption

patterns of audiences
The third objective in this study was to determine if there is a relationship between technology
and content consumption patterns of audiences. On this, the researcher stated a null hypothesis
that there is no significant relationship between technology and content consumption patterns of
audiences. To achieve this last objective and to test this null hypothesis, the researcher correlated
the means for aspects of technology and those on content consumption patterns using the
Pearson’s Linear Correlation Coefficient, as indicated in table 4.

46
 Table 4; Pearson’s Linear Correlation Coefficient results for technology and content
consumption patterns of audiences
Variable correlated R-value Sig. Interpretation Decision on Ho

Technology Vs content significant relationship Rejected

.356 .000
consumption patterns
Source: primaly data, 2014
The results in Table 4 indicate that technology and content consumption patterns are
significantly correlated (r =-0.356).the sig. value indicate that there is positive and significant
correlation (sig, = 0.000 <0.05) leading to a conclusion that technology significantly improves
content consumption patterns at 5% level of significance. Basing on these results, the stated null
hypothesis of “there is no significant relationship between technology and content consumption
patterns” is rejected, and thus the findings showed a positive relationship between technology
and content consumption patterns. These results lead to a conclusion that an improvement in the
technology improves content consumption patterns especially in New vision.

47
 CHAPTER FIVE
FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary of findings
The study on Technology and organization performance a case study of New vision group of
companies was guided by three research objectives that were set To identify the different
Technology applied in New vision group of companies, To establish the effects of Technology
on organizational performance in New vision group of companies and to establish the
relationship between Technology and organization performance
Data analysis using SPSS’s descriptive statistics showing percentages revealed that the
majority of the respondents were male that is to say 92 (or 52.6%) and minority respondents
were females 83 (or 47.4%). These two figures therefore justify almost gender balance in this
study.

Pertaining age, 72 (or 41.1%) respondents were in the age bracket of 26-29, and 6 (3.4%)
respondents are above 40 years of age. It can therefore be deduced that though all age categories
were represented, the youth respondents almost monopolized the study.

Regarding level of education, Masters’ respondents were the majority with 95 (or
54.3%), and 4 (or 2.3%) were diploma holders. Results indicate that this study reveals high
degree of professionalism since all levels of education were represented and better still masters
holders respondents who in most cases have got good reasoning capacity were the majority.

Concerning type of employment, users dominated the sample with 125 (or 71.4%).
followed by journalists with 23 (or 13%), editors and sales representatives with 6 (or 3.4%) and
lastly other were 21(or 12%) respondents from other disciplines.

Concerning experience 67 (or 3 8.3%) respondents had served for a period of 1-2 years,
and 9 (or 5.1%) had served for 7-8 year. This indicates that all respondents had Knowledge and
experience about the study since they had all served for at least a period of one year.

48
Concerning Technology applied in New vision group of companies, 46% of the respondents
said that Employee training was the major Technology applied in New vision group of
companies, This showed that the major Technology applied in New vision group of companies
was employee training as seen by 46% response.

Concerning major impact of technology on the traditional mass media in regard to news papers,
television, radio, print media and advertising,46% of the respondents said that It keeps us up to
date with current affairs was the major impact of technology on the traditional mass media in
regard to news papers, television, radio, print media and advertising, while 29% said that
improved access to information through internet was the major impact of technology on the
traditional mass media in regard to news papers, television, radio, print media and advertising
and 11 .4% said that loss of traditional culture and norms was the major impact of technology on
the traditional mass media in regard to news papers, television, radio, print media and advertising

Concerning the effect of technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda, 46% of the
respondents said that Net work society was the major effects of Technology to the traditional
mass media in Uganda as far as gathering, packaging and dissemination is concerned while the
other 29% of the respondents said that time shifting was the major effects of Technology on
perFormance in an organization Technology to the traditional mass media in Uganda as far as
gathering, packaging and dissemination is concerned.

Concerning the relationship between technology and current consumption patterns the results
indicate that technology and content consumption patterns are significantly correlated (r
0.356).the sig. value indicate that there is positive and significant correlation (sig. = 0.000 <0.05)
leading to a conclusion that technology significantly improves content consumption patterns at
5% level of significance. Basing on these results, the stated null hypothesis of “there is no
significant relationship between technology and content consumption patterns” is rejected, and
thus the findings showed a positive relationship between technology and content consumption
patterns. These results lead to a conclusion that an improvement in the technology improves
content consumption patterns especially in New vision.

49
5.2 ConclusiOns
The researcher in this section gave conclusion to the study findings in relation to the study
objectives
Concerning major impact of technology on the traditional mass media in regard to news papers,
television, radio, print media and adve~isiflg,46~ of the respondents said that It keeps us up to
date with current affairs was the major impact of technology on the traditional mass media in
regard to news papers, television, radio, print media and advertising, while 29% said that
improved access to information through internet was the major impact of technology on the
traditional mass media in regard to news papers, television, radio, print media and advei~ising
these findings were in line with the findings of Mumford Lewis (20W) who stated that new
technology keeps us up to date with current affairs. Information is more accessible especially
with the internet and the use of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) technology and message
alerts on mobile phones. A mobile phone is like a piece of clothii~g; weput it on in the morning
and take it off at night. There are more new demolishes being introduced to the world so it
influences everything. All current technology is being improved and new technologies are being
introduced with the older technologies being introduced to poorer countries as the prices go
down. New technologies are usually expensive and so aren’t being distributed widely but as time
goes by technology is going down in price but then the result is the market loses out unless theie
is a huge numbei being sold then the pioduct will be took off the market Theie aie
developrnei~t5 on how infoimation gets to us as broadband internet is spreading so theie is things
like 1PTV (lnteinet Piotocol Television) which is a service useC to tiansfer television
piogiammed to subscubeiS via then inteinet connection Mobile television is a recent technology
and changes the way we see television ieducing it down to something small and so it must be
inteiesting as people’s attentions spans are smaller than what they use fo be, because of digital
television as people have so much choice, we flick thiough the channels to find something
inteiesting so whatevel is shown on a mobile must be quick and snappy and to the point The
way we use phones in a way is affecting our communicating techniques and with the
intioductiOn of mobile television, we will lose out and the companies will cash in This way it
will become mole widespiead not depending on strong signals to transfer data especially ovei the
50 I~I
 APPENDIX II
TIME FRAME

The researcher will take Seven months, the three month period were expected to cover the
following activities of the research study proposal namely; data collection, analysis processing
and interpretation, writing or typing research proposal and submission of research report to the
relevant and concerned authorities.
rrle table for the time schedule is.

lstto3 rd \\leel( 3rd to 6th weeks 6th to 9th week 9th to I 2th week.
Questionnaire Data cleaning Data processing Data interpretation and
designing Editing Data analysis meet with presentation
Interview guide Coding the supervisor Approval by supervisor
preparations Meet the Actual report submission.
Data collection. supervisor

62