My understanding of key concepts from Critical Media Studies, by Aleksandar Knezi

From 1860s things have drastically changed in the domains of media, market and production which are all closely linked. What was once considered monopoly capitalism has now become multinational or global capitalism. ]Information, marketing and public relations have now replaced manufacturing, production and industrialism. The world has become service oriented in several niche markets rather than product-based in mass markets as global corporations grow ever bigger. All of this can be considered to be properties of postmodernity, an epoch existing after the time of modernity.

There are several key terms which paint a clearer picture and offer a more articulate understanding of what it means to live in postmodernity. With the transition from analog to digital signal and successful data compression media has evolved to such an extent that we can now integrate different media formats onto a single platform and spread information easier than ever, all of which was once considered unachievable but is now widely known under the term convergence. All of this has led to another phenomenon known as globalization, which encapsulates political, social and economic processes which are now conducted worldwide without boundaries and limitations such as borders and policies. Another concept to be mindful of is simulation. This term as used by Jean Baudrillard denotes a generation of an image for an example but not for the purpose of conveying external reality as it truly is but rather its use for representing a false reality. Certain concepts like family, violence and love are no longer portrayed as they truly are in the external reality but rather as copies of other copies without the original. Hence, media creates something which appears to be hyperreal more so than to represent what is actually real.