From a small town outside of Boston and around the globe the media is changing. In the latest guest-blog by POLIS Summer School students, Michael Dwyer from the USA reflects upon how the news media is changing at the grass-roots. 

Before I came to London to take this course on journalism and media I had never really thought about how I, as just another person in the crowd, was so affected by the media. I live in a small town just south of Boston, and all of the residents are issued the “Norwell Mariner,” our town paper, every thursday at no cost. An exact copy of this paper can be found online as well.

With the popularity of the internet and its wide range of use, its become more common for the people of our town to look at the paper online while going about their workdays.
Because of this, the town has talked about stopping issuing the paper to every home for no cost, rather, they would like the people who want to read the actual paper to subscribe. At first I didnt find this to be a problem at all, because I could still enjoy the same news for free online. However, after taking this course and learning about how the “new media” is changing the way people are given news and the ways they go about getting it, I now see first hand that we are in a new
age of media. My town is just a small example of how the world is rapidly turning over to a digital means of getting things done, but now when I return home and do just as I had before, reading my news online, I will think a little bit more about how much this world is changing, and will look forward to seeing what changes are in store for the future.