EXPLORING THE DETERMINANTS OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITY: ONLINE NEWS AS NEW COMMUNICATIVE AND SOCIAL PRACTICES

Throughout this paper, we demonstrate the value and importance of the culture of web journalism, of the power relationships embedded in the mass-communication system, and of the convergence between television and digital media. On Jones’ reading, media conglomerates now typically include a range of types of media. Castells examines the specific mechanisms through which communication systems activate the mind (the media constitute the main source of socialized communication), investigating the interplay between framing and counter-framing in the shaping of the human mind through the process of communication. Wei states that new digital and interactive media, which encourage individuals’ production and sharing of their own information, break the bureaucratic¸monopoly of knowledge.