The New Media and Digital Divide: Knowledge Gap Exacerbated

Abstract

The Information Age driven by the internet has widened the gulf in knowledge obtained by different groups of people from the media. This paper observes that the degree of disparity in knowledge prior to the internet age is infinitesimal when juxtaposed with the present situation. It identifies discrepancies in access, use and ownership of the new media as causative factors. The paper recommends domestication of production of new media with regard to their hardware and software, incorporation of new media as a course of study in schools’ curricula and establishment of government-sponsored internet centres as remedial measures.