21st Century Communication: A Reference Handbook: Chapter 54: Traditional and New Media "News providers then are struggling with brand identity through content" (Weldon, Eadie, 2009, p. 7). That content is what now defines the news providers should not come as a surprise: what is surprising is that there is now so much diversity in terms of content. Whether it is Yahoo! News or Huff Post or an alternative news site like ZeroHedge, content is king, and there is more competition now than ever before. Internet users can discover independent journalists and foreign correspondents like Pepe Escobar, people with perspectives they might have never encountered before and who can change the outlook of readers who might have previously been more accepting of certain political or economic viewpoints. Indeed, the old regime of print media had always been like a hand in the glove of yesterday's political, social and economic outlook, serving as a tool of party politics, etc. "Technologies are simply tools" even today, and just as old print media was a tool of intersecting boards of directorates of big businesses and government, today's new media is a tool of diverging and dissenting opinion-setters, people and groups who want to...

Thus the Internet is a mix of tools being used to different purposes, whether it is an ISIS Twitter account being used for recruiting purposes, or a blog being used to promote financial reckoning.
The statement that "technologies are simply tools" relates to the keywords "manipulate, converge and instant" in the sense that these tools can be used to manipulate both the viewing audience and the truth/facts of the story they are running. The technologies also converge -- so with something like the Internet, print and video and sound all converge, along with communication possibilities (readers can leave comments and thus the comment section becomes a way for readers to interact as well). The technologies must also be instantaneous in their delivery. News travels fast today and within a few minutes it is already old. The Internet has diminished the shelf life of a story in this way, but it has also allowed stories to travel at the speed of light all across the globe.

Each of these keywords is connected, too, as the Internet makes it possible for yesterday's information to be delivered via a new format today.…