Situation and problems of local media in the context of digital communication processes

Communication technologies have always been in a state of flux since the early ages of human history.In this manner, each technological development provides speed, convenience and an increase in the number of people reached in mass communication. On the other hand, it is a fact that it causes some negativities such as disinformation, information pollution and ethical violations. Both national and local press and media organizations use communication technologies. However, compared to the national press, local press and media organizations are far behind in many areas, above all financially. It is thought that some of the disadvantageous situations that local media have challenged can be eliminated by digitalization, the internet, social media and especially computer technologies. Observing the positive and negative effects of technological developments in mobile technologies and the internet on costs is one of the prime purposes of this research. The study has also examined how the local press, and their employees can use the advantages such as speed and mobility provided by social media. Also, the benefits and harms of these technological improvements are identified in the survey. Semi-structured and open-ended questions, and an in-depth interview method, which is a qualitative research method, were used in the study, which aims to determine the advantages and disadvantages of new communication technologies in addition to determining the positive and negative experiences that local press may encounter in the processes of digitalization and transition to the internet environment. In criterion sampling, people, who have the problem that is the object of the survey, are interviewed. Since there was no similar study before, the study was carried out based on Aydın province. Thus, in the research sample, there are the local press and media members in Aydın. In this context, the publishers or editors-in-chief of 10 press-media organizations which are both periodicals and internet newspapers, published in Aydın and included in the Aydın Periodicals List of the Press Advertisement Agency, were interviewed. Within the scope of the study, it has been found that communication technologies led to increases in the number of people who can access local media. In addition, it has detained that news gathering and dissemination processes have become easier, and the accessible area has expanded. It has shown that interaction has increased thanks to internet journalism and particularly social media. The effect of new technologies on the increase and spread of information pollution and disinformation has also emerged as negative results obtained within the scope of the study.